This week I was lucky enough interview Jad Limcaco who is the editor of Design Informer. Through this interview Jad has given us all an insight in to his world as a leading designer as well as a top blogger.

If you are a design newbie or you have recently setup your own design blog, then I am sure my interview with Jad will give you plenty of inspiring information and experience from this top designer.

So let’s get started

You have an amazing blog but when did it all start and how?

Thank you for the compliment Michelle. A little over 6 months ago, I redesigned my personal portfolio, Jad Graphics, and along with it, I included a personal blog where I can share my thoughts about design, client projects, and any other things that I found interesting. Anyway, I started receiving positive comments from designers and from people in the design community and this sparked my interest in starting a separate design blog. I wanted to have a blog that was more community based, and although I could have kept blogging with Jad Graphics, I believe that if I started a blog that was separate from my personal blog, I would have a bigger audience and be able to reach more people. Another thing was that I wanted to separate my freelance site with my design blog. So that is the story behind the start of Design Informer.

How has your blog impacted your role as a freelance designer?

Great question! Since I have started blogging, I have received freelance work from people who have visited my blog. Also, I have learned much more about design which in turn have helped me with my freelance work.

Another thing that blogging has helped me with is that I have a lot more credibility with my clients. When clients see that you have a popular design blog with many designers who follow your work, they definitely give you more trust with their project. Blogging is definitely something that every designer should consider. I also wrote an article on why I can’t stop blogging. There, you can find my reasons to why I blog and the benefits that I have received from blogging.

What is your background? What types of degrees, skills, and experience do you have? What college (if any) courses have been most helpful for your career?

Well, to be honest with you, I have never taken a college course or a formal design class. All the knowledge that I have about design was learned from books, tutorials, blog posts, and trial and error. That’s why I have to work twice as hard as designers who went to school because I have to get caught up and learn on my own the different design principles and practices.

The only advantage I have is that I started young. While I was still a freshman in high school, I was already messing around with Photoshop and HTML (with tables). But if I could, I would definitely take some classes just to get a proper and solid foundation on design. Education is definitely a plus! Also, it doesn’t hurt to have a degree as well.

What do you do during a typical day?

I’m actually very busy with so many different projects so my weekdays are crazy. I wake up, go to work full-time as a web designer, then it’s back home where I relax, eat dinner, and exercise. After a little bit of R&R, I’m off to the living room to my desk where I work on freelance work and on Design Informer. I typically don’t go to bed until 3 in the morning or later. It’s a lot of hard work but I definitely enjoy it.

Name 5 skills that are needed for the initial setup and maintenance of a blog such as Design Informer.

Here are 5 skills that I need in order to run Design Informer.

1. Design Skills (Photoshop, Illustrator)
2. Development Skills (PHP, WordPress, XHTML/CSS)
3. Organizational skills are needed as well.
4. Communication and Writing Skills
5. Hard work! This isn’t a skill but it’s absolutely necessary if you want to succeed in blogging.

How many hours per week must you commit to Design Informer to maintain it as well as you do?

Well, in the beginning of the blog, it was about 4-6 hours per day that I committed to the blog. Writing posts, promoting, commenting on other blogs, tweeting, organizing, designing, testing, and many other tasks took my time. Now that the blog has been established a bit, it’s a little bit easier but I still spend around two hours a day with blog related work.

You have told us that you are currently working on a redesign, could you give me any examples of what to expect?

Well, I don’t have a screenshot to show yet, but I can definitely describe it. The blog will still keep the same logo and colors, but the design is a lot simpler. It is very minimalistic and the focus is definitely on the articles. I have also included a much larger footer with more information. It will be very unique, and it will look much different from other blogs. Also, I’ve shown it to some of my designer friends and I have received great feedback thus far. It is now on the WordPress stage, so that can take a while.

What aspects of your job do you find most rewarding? (Pros)

Most rewarding? I would have to say that the most rewarding part of blogging is being able to learn so many new things. Because of blogging, I have learned many new skills that I wouldn’t have been able to learn otherwise.

Also, it’s a very rewarding experience to be able to help out other designers. I’ve met so many kind and friendly people through blogging.

Least rewarding? (Cons)

Umm… that’s a tough question. Least rewarding thing about blogging is the countless amount of time that I have to spend. It can be very daunting to see an inbox full of unread emails, and from time to time, you also get burned out and stressed. There are also times where you temporarily run out of ideas and you get into a rut. It’s never fun to deal with these things but I would have to say that the pros of blogging definitely outweigh the cons, in my opinion.

Do you have any advice for others that are interested in setting up their own blog similar to yours?

Yes, just do it! At the same time, if you do decide to do it, you need to make sure that you are prepared and that you really want to do it, because blogging isn’t easy and you definitely will have your work cut out for you. If you want to blog just for the money. Don’t do it! There are other fields out there that you can jump into if you want to just earn money. Don’t get me wrong, you can definitely make some good money from blogging (I’m not there yet) but more often than not, bloggers who are just in it for the money don’t tend to do real well. Let me just give you 3 important things you need to consider before starting your blog.

1. Do I have the time to blog? Blogging can definitely be very time-consuming so you better be ready to spend long hours in front of the  computer.

2. Do I have the motivation to blog? You need to be very motivated to blog. You have to be a self-starter. If you can’t motivate yourself, then don’t blog. There will be times where you don’t feel like writing an article but you will have to push through and be consistent. If you don’t have a consistent schedule, it will be very hard to grow your blog.

3. Do I have the knowledge needed to blog? If you are just new to the community, I suggest that you start off by just reading other blogs first. Once you have a little more knowledge, then you can write guest post for other blogs. Once you have enough confidence in your abilities and you have stored enough knowledge, then you can definitely start a blog. If you start blogging too early, you might run out of ideas and just start to pump out meaningless content. Remember, quality is better than quantity.

What advice do you have for readers who are interested in improving their design skills? Are there any particular resources you would recommend?

There is nothing better than practice! If you want to improve as a designer, then you need to practice. Athletes do it! Musicians and actors spend their time rehearsing. So should we! It’s a little late, but you might want to consider taking on the Daily Design Challenge.

As far as resources, there are tons of them. I recommend reading some of the top design blogs such as Smashing Magazine and Web Designer Depot. You can also check out the Tuts+ Network for in-depth design walkthroughs and tutorials. I would also suggest that you get as many books on design as possible. Don’t just learn how to do a certain design, but learn the principles behind that type of design. For instance, it’s very easy to learn how to design with a grungy style, but do you know when it would be appropriate to use that style? Learn the basics. Typography, color choices, negative space; these are all very important things that every designer should learn. By the way, I have been designing for a few years now and I still have a lot to learn. “Good designers never stop learning.”

Well, I just want to close this interview by thanking Michelle for allowing me to share some of the lessons that I have learned about blogging and design. I really appreciate it and consider it a great honor to be able to talk about my past experiences and to also be a help to others. I hope you learned something from the interview.

About The Author:

Michelle Kirkbride

Michelle Kirkbride has many years of experience as a web developer & consultant, she currently lives in Yorkshire, UK with her two beautiful children and loving partner. She spends far too much time at her computer and is currently addicted to her work. Michelle Kirkbride the founder of Kaplang is also a business Mentor with D100, a Success Doncaster mentoring programme run by Deloitte and funded by the Doncaster Council.