Design director sheds light on web design world

Design director for Pikselin, Brian Smith, shed light into the world of web design to a full house of students and non-students alike today at Spark.

People being road blocks in a designer’s world and the need to “move fast and break things” were just a few of the things covered in Smith’s presentation.

In a quirky presentation, Smith began talking about his irrational love for post it notes.

“Despite the fact of being a completely digital agency and having computers run the entire show, post it notes run our lives, it’s how we get things done day to day,” he said.

Pikselin, formerly known as Shift, has worked with major companies throughout New Zealand such as Telecom, the National Bank, Tourism New Zealand, Meridian, TVNZ on demand and Met Service.

“I really do love what I do,” Smith said.

“Every day’s a new challenge, rarely are two days ever the same.”

With the fast paced world of the internet, Smith said he is aware how everything is changing.

“People are definitely thinking of the broader range of stuff but New Zealand’s a funny market because we’re so small and everything’s so expensive, people want to know if it will bring value.”

It’s a massive step up from when Smith first started working with the internet around 1993.

“A friend of mine got a position at the University of Washington and started to do this crazy cross media thing with this thing called the web; I had no idea what it was so I went and visited him in Seattle.”

Intrigued with what he learnt Smith came back to New Zealand and started a class in Wanganui to teach students how to use the internet.

He started working for Pikselin in 2000 when he was asked by a former student, and the creator of Shift, to come in and talk to his studio and do a bit of work.

“Before I knew it I had a desk, then a phone, business cards and then I was working there and kind of never left.”

Wintec tutor and former student of the design school Smith taught at, Mark Liu, was really happy with the presentation.

He said the students needed to see someone that was really up there in the world of digital and web media and Smith was the perfect person for the job.

“I loved it, it taught me so many things, even though I’m in this field what I learnt today is more than what I’ve learnt in the last few years,” said Liu.

For more information check out http://www.pikselin.com/