Jennie, thank you for taking the time to provide www.eyesonpixel.com with this interview.
Please, introduce yourself?
Hi my name is Jennie Routley, but I am mostly known just as Badger! I live in a tiny village in the middle of the Yorkshire Dales, England, where Sheep outnumber people by about 100 – 1. I am a graphic designer, but love bringing my work to life on the internet more than anything else.
_
Are you a self taught artist or have you been to a art school?
I taught myself to hand code web sites and worked for a magazine for 10 years before going freelance so I picked up alot on best print design practices there. My mother is a fantastic professional photographer so I think I got her eye when it comes to knowing what looks good!
_
Where does your inspiration come from?
My inspiration comes from wide open space and nature, nature is beautiful because it is pure and clean, its colours are outstanding.
_
Who is your idol, do you have one?
I admire alot of people on the web that I follow, Jeff Way for his ability to explain and share the talent he has to others, also Veerle Pieters of Douh, her design work is simply outstanding, I also admire David Airey who is the most amazing logo designer I have ever come across. Of course not forgetting those that have left us like Gaudi – amazing!
_
How does your job as an artist influence on your everyday life?
I don’t even see it as a job, it is who I am, I am a very visual person. I visualise everything and I think this influences my take on things greatly.
I am always making pictures out of the things I see, framing things in my minds eye and looking how things grow and form. Spring is my very favourite time of year as I get to see natures projects grow.
_
What kind of hardware and software you use?
I work on a Macbook Pro and use Adobe software for my design work, mainly Illustrator, Photoshop and Flash. I then use Coda for the coding of my websites. If I have to get down into the hard core end of programming like PHP then I use textmate.
_
Tell us about your typical work day?
Well, being a freelance I tend to start late and work late, my typical day I would be at my desk by 10am and then often not leave that spot until 8 or 9pm.
I mix my day with a variety of work, some design, some coding and illustration. I work closely with a software engineer as well, so I do a lot of user interface creation too. All in all though my typical day feels fun, because i love what I do. People often say to me, “Don’t you find it hard to be disciplined working from home?” – my answer is always “No, I love my work, and other than trekking up a hill there is nothing else i would rather be doing.”.Working from home also suits me because I have Tourettes which means I can tic and cluck much more freely!
_
What are your favourite websites?
If the question is based on those i visit most often, I would have to be honest and say BBC News and Facebook. But favourite in terms of quality and things I get out of them I would say net.tutsplus.com as it always has fantastic articles and tutorials for web designers on it. I always learn something extra when I visit.
_
Where and how do you see yourself in five years?
I see myself living right where I do know, but professionally I would like to have worked on many exciting projects and maybe even be more recognised in the industry by other fellow professionals. The web is always growing, and I tend to grow with it!
_
What makes you happy?
The countryside, being outdoors and my work, bring on the day mobile phone signal is strong enough around here that I can work from the top of a hill, then I will be as happy as I can be! It also makes me very happy when I check my code in Internet Explorer and it works perfectly, that is a very happy feeling!
_
Can You Please Describe Yourself In One Word ?
Creative!
_
Thank you very much for the interview.
Name: Jennie Routley
Date of Birth: 21/04/1980
Location: Yorkshire Dales, England
Email: jen@jennieroutley.co.uk
Web: www.creativebadger.co.uk
Jennie Routley Gallery
