Let’s get to know you first. Tell us about yourself.
My name is Stefan, but most people call me Stef. I currently live and work in London. Economist by education, designer by heart. I’m in love with anything digital and I firmly believe that there is no successful project without professional and user-friendly look. My favourite colour is white and I always keep my Mac’s wallpaper just plain white. That helps me to concentrate and clear my head of any distracting thoughts. I’ve been in the web design industry for about 7 years now and I always find something new to learn, and hopefully that’s never gonna end. Being a good designer means to be an obsessed perfectionist, always hungry to learn something new and never afraid to try something unusual.
Cool, so what’s the story behind your website and its design?
There is no story. I had the idea in mind and wanted to see it. The only way to see it was to create it. I wanted to express myself and my idea for beauty and style. There was no client brief, so I was the only one who was setting up the rules. Isn’t that great? :) I wanted to make it really sleek and clean. I love clean white websites with beautiful typography, small details that make sense, contrast and creative ideas behind every single aspect. I’m usually joking that the perfect clean websites are “angles”…However, mine is not there yet.
What part of your website is your favourite, and why?
I think the blinking eyes is the strongest element. They say much about myself and I think they’re a great first “Hello”. The reflection in the glasses show what I’m working on - coding (right eye) and Photoshop (left eye), which illustrates much of what I’m doing - Design & Front-end coding. I also think that eyes are the most valuable and beautiful human’s organ. Without them the world would be a dark place, with no colours, beautiful shapes and forms, so we really should appreciate what we have. Eyes say much about people’s personality, as well. This is my attempt to make an eye contact with people on the other side of the screen. I’ve even tatooed my wife’s right eye on my back, so I can say that I’ve got an extra eye for details ;)
Is there anything you wish you knew when you first started building your website?
Well, one of my main aims when I start working on a new project is to find stuff which I haven’t done before and would be suitable for this particular project. This may be a code, or a particular UI element, effect, new process, anything…But I prefer to keep what I didn’t know for myself only. I always try to push my boundaries, as that’s the only way to progress in web design…And perhaps in anything else. I highly recommend this approach to any web designer, no matter if he is junior or senior.
Technologies, languages, frameworks, or libraries?
- Clean HTML5, CSS3, jQuery, JavaScript
- Zurb Foundation Framework
- Wordpress
Any upcoming changes we should look out for?
New projects in my portfolio. That’s the ultimate aim, isn’t it?
