Issue 1 (6/4/02)

Jeffrey Zeldman

What things inspire you?

The way light strikes a building at sunset, the unexpected musicality of a backfiring truck, a snippet of overheard conversation: anything and everything can be a source of inspiration.

I'm inspired by the selfless creativity of the independent design, writing, and open source communities. This kind of creativity and sharing comes along infrequently in human history, yet it's the very soul of the Internet. We are lucky to be alive now.

I feed the machine by constantly watching films, reading fiction, listening to music, and walking around my home town of New York City.

The greatest inspirations are love and hope.

Have you had any memorable "ah-ha moments" you can share?

I realized I could be with the woman I loved if I had the courage to act.

Many young web designers/digital artist start work directly on the computer. What is your process (i.e.-draw & sketch out ideas) when you are creating a web site?

I used to sketch ideas when I was in advertising. It's not my process for websites, though. On client projects, I do the usual research: what's the site about, who's it intended to serve, do the people in charge understand the people they're trying to reach, does the service map to the need.

There's a lot of conversation and thinking. The architecture comes from that place. I can only work on sites that actually meet needs, and can only work with smart clients who understand the medium, their message, and their audience.

Brand and "look and feel" are abstract and come out of a completely different process. I do that work onscreen, but I don't set out to design an entire interface. I play with colors and grids. I make ugly things in Photoshop until I suddenly make something not so ugly. Other times I design in code.

Some small idea can trigger the larger entity, like a doorknob giving rise to the building that contains it. Jeff Veen talks about designing sites from small, modular components that solve particular architectural or usability problems. I do something similar to that, though it's less rational than what I've just described.

Which part do you get the biggest kick out of: the creative PROCESS or the RESULT?

I like playing. For a moment I may admire the end result (or be ashamed of its defects). Then I have to move on, either to a new project, or to an update of the existing one.

Websites are never "finished." Web publishing is a continual process. It's rarely about a final, fixed result. That fluidity works for me. It encourages me to tinker and rethink as I update. To increase clarity and simplify while solving some unrelated, client-driven problem. The client asks me to solve A; while doing so, I fix B and C.

And of course with my independent (self-published) sites, I can continually rethink and fine-tune. I'm not big on meaningless redesigns. I don't think sites need to change just because their owners are bored with the existing look and feel. Site owners burn
out on look and feel long before visitors do. That feeling of burnout means nothing and should prompt no action.

I prefer to evolve a site's brand and architecture slowly, over time, making aesthetic and usability improvements bit by bit.

It's an organic process that seems to bring a sense of life to any site. (Other things that bring life: continually updated content, and interaction with the site's audience.)

When doing web work, do you ever visualize "in code"? How do you work between the creative (design) and the technical (code)?

Very often an idea begins with some CSS concept, as in, "I wonder if this could work."

I've been designing in code since the bad old days of 1995, when we had to use tables for everything.

Sometimes, during the initial design phase, I'll find it easier to "design" a site in XHTML and CSS rather than comp it in Photoshop.

What I'm describing, though, is still pretty two-dimensional stuff, not that different from print design except that it has parts that light up and a shape that may change to better fit the viewer's monitor.

To truly design in code would be to design transactionally (behaviorally), as a flow of possibilities instead of a series of pages. I rarely achieve that level of designing in code. Some DOM whizes do, and some Flash artists do.

What do you do when you are stuck?

When I'm stuck, I avoid the problem. I open Photoshop and design wallpapers or header graphics or huge images that serve no purpose at all. I write about something other than web technology and business. I answer email, return phone calls.

Somehow when my conscious mind is focused elsewhere, my unconscious is able to solve creative problems that have eluded my efforts.

Who is someone outside your field that has influenced you creatively?

Hitchcock. I know his films inside and out. There are other great filmmakers, new and old, and I love many of them. But I'm genetically mapped to the films of Alfred Hitchcock, particularly those from 1946 to 1960.

I don't know what that says about me, and I don't know how much of my love for those films is about their technique, and how much is about their content. With great art it becomes impossible to separate the two: technique is content, content is technique.

If you could switch places with another creative in any field, who would it be?

I wouldn't change places with anyone, but it would be wonderful to work with a director like Scorsese, as a screenwriter, composer, or both.

Basically, though, I'm delighted with the medium I'm lucky enough to work in, and with the communities that make it so remarkable and so unlike previous media. I wouldn't trade places with anybody.

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