http://beta.lepouttre.be

Geen bloed, zweet en tranen, maar gevloek en een hoopje frustratie. Maar uiteindelijk is alles (al bij al) goed gekomen. Wordpress in verbinding met Coppermine. Geen sinecure. But it works.
Allen daarheen!

ps: de URL zal (na de geboorte uiteraard) nog wijzigen, naar voornaam.lepouttre.be

Massief stalen uitvoering, glazen achterdeksel (je ziet de binnenkant echt “werken”), anti-reflectieglas en waterdicht tot op 200 meter diepte. En het leuke is: je hoeft het uurwerk niet manueel op te winden. Door de beweging van je pols, windt het horloge zichzelf op. Draag je het slechts sporadisch? Dan kan je dat ook (regelmatig) manueel doen.

Eerste indruk na een 3 tal weken? Ik ben er weg van. Degelijke kwaliteit, maar de sluiting van het stalen bandje kon wel iets steviger.

Just like many people that work in the internet business I spend most of my day on line. Unlike what many people think, all the things I ever did with the internet are scattered all around the place. There’s no coherence. There’s no unison, no central storage of everything that’s “Thomas Lepouttre“. This website should change that. Should…

This website will never be ready and constantly evolve into “something else“. This time I will be playing some with existing plugins and themes. Next time I’ll put some effort in creating a theme on my own. We’ll see.

Design is Dead is one of the few larger design companies that really made a solid name. How long is Design is Dead running by now? Do you still remember the days when it all started?
I founded Design is Dead together with my brother Jan in 1998.The first team consisted of Wim (who left the company a year later) and Stef (who is still with us) and we worked out of my living room. It were hectic times and we worked hard, but we had great fun. One thing I will never forget is our first day: it was May 1st, so went out to break feast

Being a well known company, doesn’t make it easier to approach new customers I think. Clients will probably expect more and most likely expect a serious bill in the end. Is this way of thinking correct?
Clients always expect more, but I think they are entitled to do so. A website is an important image building and communication tool, so it better be the best it can be. As to the bill, I think we have always concentrated on the final result, rather than being obsessed by the budget. So when clients now come to us because they expect more, I think we can take that as a compliment.

Why ‘Design is Dead’ and not ‘Design is Alive’?
We wanted a name that was provocative and made people take notice. Also we effectively believe that “design” has lost the association with “quality” and “innovation” it once had, and has become synonymous with “in” and “trendy”. There is nothing wrong with that, but we try to take things a step further.

Design Is Dead has a large portfolio-list on its home-website. Is the site updated very often? Who’s in charge of that and does this happen in his / her free time?
Updating our own website is a major and recurring problem. Currently we are preparing a new update to add 25 projects to the portfolio, unfortunately the last one dated from September of last year.

If I would be interested in joining the Design Is Dead-team, what should I do?
Try to be as good as you can be in what you like to do most, and contact us.

Do you expect only the best of the best to join, or are the ‘average’ designers welcome too?
We are a small team, which makes every position in the company important. What we look for are people who have their own field of expertise as well as an eye for “the bigger picture”. So being “the best of the best” is not really required, being the right piece in the puzzle is much more important.

Education is an important role in a designers’ life. Does Design Is Dead support these youngsters? For instance offering jobs during holidays for students, training period for design-students (stage), … ?
I think you are right: (continued) education is important and every year we try to provide two or three internships for design students. Furthermore, we partner with the art centre Villanella to support young designers.

Do you also work with freelance designers, or do you have a complete in house-team?
Most of the projects are done in house, but when a project requires specific know-how or the client works with his own designer, we set up a team with other designers and/or developers.

The projects DID works on, can all be labeled as ‘jaw-breaking’ and ‘drool-inducing’. Who’s in charge of all this eye-candy design?
Thank you for the accolades. Our projects really are a team effort and a lot of the time the whole team is involved: Stef, Nicky and Tim on the design end, Ivan and Johan on the developing end. Ideally we like to get as many people as possible involved in the first stages of a project: design is one part of the equation, but there are more issues to be considered: usability, content, development,… and they are all related.

How did you personally made the switch between graduating and finding a job?
I must say that I have been lucky in that regard. After graduating I worked as an intern for Evans Denver in the US.. When I came back I started working for what is now called Sanoma Magazines till I was asked in 1996 to join Endemol Interactive’s Hall of entertainment web project. When that ended I started Design is Dead.

Thank you very much for the time and effort. I hope you enjoyed it, and best of luck with Design is Dead!
The pleasure was all mine. And the best of luck to you to.

Interview conducted with Hendrik / Design is Dead for Vacuum-Magazine (2004). Visit the Design is Dead website at http://www.designisdead.be/

Personally I don’t really like milk (do like cookies though!), I prefer to dip the cookies into the milk so they turn out to be all soft and wet. Is this blasphemy for a natural-born-cookie-eater as yourself?
Yes it is truly a pure blasphemy! ? No no, I know people who drop ‘cookies’ in coca-cola. In the land of milk and cookies: anything goes! Great, hum! That’s why we live there!

Some months ago, Milk&Cookies was looking for an obsessed ActionScripter. Have you found that person already? How was the hunting for the right person?
We (that’s my stunning partner in crime -Tim Siaens- and me) found that entity in a man called Lenzz (Reginald van De Velde). A crazy, funny, actionscripting design-guru-kinda-boy.
We are very pleased. But … people DO have to continue to send resumes, send us work samples: we liked it. And we love meeting new people.

Milk&Cookies mostly works with freelance-people, right? Why is that? Isn’t it harder for you to keep administration and all the paper-work flowing with new people coming in and out all the time?
Design/graphics are done in-house. Concept too. But for photography, sound and other stuff we like to work with young people (crazy bastards). There are a lot of great photographers, sound engineers, … in Belgium! We are the land of many creatives.
For video, 3D, sound and animation we have a big surprise coming up for clients and future clients! We are doing new things in those areas. Be curious, veryyyy curious.
The paperwork isn’t sooo hard (that’s maybe because I don’t have to do it!). Excel and Word are our friends.

You gained a lot of succes the last two years. Is that the result of a solid fanbase, lots of advertisments, or just because clients are happy and spread the word?
We never looked -prospected is it called hum- for clients. “I thank boodah for that every day, being that lucky”.
Didn’t do any advertising also (sent 1 newsletter in 2 years! Ehum!). We do the things we do. We like it while doing it. That’s it. No big secrets (My partner Tim had to Sex-up some clients, tough). We thank the people who love us. We love them.

If I would like to work at Milk&Cookies, what should I do? How would I conquer a spot in the Milk&Cookies building?
You HAVE to like cookies and be eager to eat a lot of them during the day. We eat cake for breakfast, ësjoekes’ (in Brux they are called Èclairs … space hum) for supper and finish the day with chocolate-sprinkled-cookies. We do work a lot at milk. We play and relax a lot too. We live the good life I think.

You moved from Dendermonde-City to Brussels-City. How was the move and do you like the result? No regrets?
We work in the best place in Belgium (Grande Place). When we open our windows we smell pancakes, pitta and pizza. It’s great. A vacation atmosphere the whole year long.
When we are sick of working: we take the metro to Kinepolis/UGC, visit the Kaai Theater or just take a walk in this superb city.
You have to visit us one day!

There are some big chops among the M&C clients. How did you attract them? I can assume Canon Europe isn’t the easiets client ever, just because they have an international market to please…
They came to us. That made the whole process a lot easier. Tim talks to the clients. Makes them happy (veeeeryyy important! We have a great relation with those people). A lot of great clients are not even on our website yet. I’m happy to say: We do ëmore fun’, exciting work every month. It grows. The cookie is getting bigger. There are a few BIG SHOTS that we will add to our list! YAAHOOOOOOOOOO!!! HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY.

What education did you follow, before you started M&C?
I think there are a lot of teachers happy that school is finaly over for me I guess. I went to many schools. I was not a rebel student. I just … did … NOTHING.

What advice would you give to 18-year olds, interested in (web)design?
YOU CAN MAKE IT.  It’s a harsh business. A lot of competition. Great (MUCH BETTER THAN WE ARE) companies, designers in Belgium. You can be one of them. Why not!?

Thank you a lot for the effort and time, and good lucking milking cows!
We love cows!!! And we accept visa!?

comment for the picture
Bernard Bertrand (photographer), some hot milk-lovers (la fille d’O and Rebecca) and Tim (milkandcookies / bearded + long hear guy).
(Great picture!    Because I’M NOT IN IT !!! that’s why!!!! ?   )

Interview conducted with Stijn / Milk&Cookies for Vacuum-Magazine (2004). Visit the Milk&Cookies website at http://www.milkandcookies.be/

The book isn’t cheap at all (about $70!), but it’s worth every single penny! It’s an investment for the future, a perfect way of finding ideas and returning to the basics of graphic design…

As you state on your website, you’ve won several awards. Can you name us your favourite, or just the feelings this gives you, knowing that your work is highly appreciated all over the world…
I don’t really have a favorite, but I can tell you that it’s very refreshing to know that some great designers/non-designers appreciate my work.

Your interface is one of those that is simple and special. Once you saw it, it never leaves your head. Was this the intention of it in the first place? What was the basic idea of making the interface as it is right now?
Well… I really think that less is more… if you have a certain idea of what you want of a project before you begin sketching, then you don’t need to begin adding elements or effects. In a design, if you take out something and it keeps working, then that element was a nuisance. The basic idea of my portfolio was just what you see: having my work developed on me.

People can order pictures through your website. How does this go? Can we choose between the digital format or the printed format?
It goes better than what I expected! I’m offering prints but I’m also open to sell them in digital as royalty free pictures.

Never had the idea to sell high-resolution pictures on CDROMs?
Not really. The thing is that the cost for that kind of stuff would be too elevated compared to any stock image source and I think people wouldn’t pay what I belive all my pictures are worth. Anyway, I would consider any offer.

I think it’s quite rare that we hear about top-notch webdesigners from parts of the world like Argentina. Not that there’s a lack of them in your country, but somehow they don’t reach us out here. What do you think the reason for this is?
Hmmm… I think that’s because here it is difficult to reach European/USA markets. Believe it or not, we have one of the best graphic design universities in the world (with a lot of weak points too) and many people get surprised with the quality of pieces of artwork made by argentinians/latin-american designers. The language may be a big issue as here not many people speaks other than spanish. If you go to Spain you will find lots of great argentinian designers working for important agencies. I believe that in some years, when designers here really realize about the potential of our work in foreign markets, you will start seeing a lot more of latin-american web/graphic work.

By the looks of your interface, you like the outdoors a lot (grass, birds singing, …). Are you an outdoor-person?
I love being outdoors but I must accept I’m quite extreme on that. Sometimes I spent weeks without leaving my home, working on my computer and barely leaving home to see my friends and family. But then, when I plan a trip, I like to be out as long as I can, sometimes in a lonely place, in a tent and without electricity. My trip to the north-west of Argentina, Bolivia and Peru, for example, lasted about 4 months. Now I’m planning a 6 months trip to Mexico and Guatemala… that’s a place I’ve not yet been to and that I really want to know.

What’s your favourite spot you ever went to?
Hmmm… that’s a difficult question! There are lots of places I love. The city of Cusco in Per˙… that city is an exiting/rare/sad mixture of European and Inca culture, it has a strange attraction and it is difficult to leave! La Habana, in Cuba is also a city that caused me a strange mixture of sad/happy feelings… cuban people are great. From Europe I loved Barcelona but I think I was too young when I was there to really appreciate it… I hope I can go there again sometime.

Name one location, no matter where, you want to visit, and why that particular place?
As I told you before I would love to go to Mexico/Guatemala. I don’t know exactly why. I love latin-american culture and mexicans have some kind of thing that makes me love them. All mexicans I knew where very friendly and helpfull. Moreover, Mexico has tons of great and beautiful places.

You once started with the first version of Flash (Macromedia), not like most designers that thought Flash was just a trend that would blow over. How do you think back on that time? Was it a revolutionairy piece of software?
I strongly think so. It’s true that in lots of cases we, designers, make abuse of it. But I think that it’s within sight of everyone that there are sites that display really amazing experiences we wouldn’t ever imagine to see on the internet some years ago. We don’t have to forget that Flash is only a tool and without an idea/concept there’s no app that can make our site different from others.

If someone would ask you some good advice on ‘how to start as a freelancer’, what would you say?
First gain some professional experience working in an agency and then, when you finally feel you are ready to go on your own, take your time to build up your portfolio, and find the way to differentiate it from all the others. That would not do everything but would drive potential clients to your site for sure.

These days, it’s hard to get a webdesign-job without any knowledge of ServerSide scripting at all. Do you think this is correct? Can you deal with major projects without the use of ASP(.NET) or PHP?
That’s right. It’s good to know some PHP/ASP code but it’s difficult to be updated in everything. So, for major projects I work along a programmer who can deal with that kind of things faster and better than me so I concentrate in the interface design, which is my main concern.

Maybe an odd question, one of my best friends is getting married with a girl from Argentina. Can you advice him to go and live in Argentina and build a life from scratch overthere, or should he stay in Europe?
jajaja! I don’t really know what to advice him… it depends on what he wants his life to be like. If he likes tranquility (not in terms of peaceful places that we surely have, but in terms of economic and social peace) I would suggest to really think it twice. Personally, I love Argentina and, in some way, we are a mixture of latin and european cultures so perhaps it would be less strange than to move to Bolivia for example, which is a lovely country but which has nothing of european but its churches. By the way… we have the best women in the world!

That’s it i’m afraid. Thanx a lot for the interest and effort for this interview. It is -ofcourse- highly appreciated. You may end in beauty…
My pleasure. I invite you all to browse my site and leave me your comments. Thanks!

Interview conducted with Emiliana Rodriguez for Vacuum-Magazine (2004). Visit his website at http://www.emilianorodriguez.com.ar/

The 2Rebels-catalogue is -without exagerating- looking sweet and amazing. It both presents perfectly balanced fonts and nice typography. Where did you get the eye-on-typography? In other words, how did you learn about typography in the first place?
__I’m not sure if it’s really “eye-on-typography” or simply passion for typography. I came to the world of design (I was a ballet dancer) because of type. It was in 1990 and I saw something David Carson did. It was before he became the star he is. At my point of view he was approaching design the same way I was approching dance. I was doing contemporary dance (based on classical) and I always refused to dance the prince charming. When I saw what he was doing with type, I was already in a career change, it just confirmed that I was switching to the right field. I then was really hard on myself and worked long hours to achieve my goals.

When being a small kid you have dreams such as ‘I want to become an astronaut’. When you were still young, did you have the dream of designing top-notch typefaces?
__No! I wanted to become a truck driver. Life has made me a ballet dancer for 15 years and now turned me into a full time designer, part time type-designer, sometime motion-graphic-designer and always a full time dad.

If I would have created a new typeface, how would it be able to get it distributed by 2Rebels?
__It would be very simple. You send us a print out of the typeface. We (Pol, Fabrizio and myself) look at it, and if we like it…it’s in.

2Rebels is from Canada. Isn’t it hard to keep personal contact with the international designers? Does it all happen through phone and email, or do you regularly meet each other?
__No it’s not hard. Just a bit more expensive to go visit. Most of all communications are happening through e-mails and phone.

Who typographer do you look up to? Who do you admire in the typography-world?
__Oh man, this is hard. So many good typographer out there. It has to be typographer-designer Ed Fella. Not only for his work, but for his passion about his job and his enormous generosity.

I’ve seen you distribute the work of Olyff (Clotilde). Are you happy with the work she delivers?
__Yes very much. For one reason, her work is very intelligent (so is she). When you know the thinking behind her fonts, it takes a new dimension. I like her very much. She’s also a nice and sweet person.

The use of good typography is often underestimated. Can you tell us something about the importance of good use of typography?
__Good typography makes good design. No mather what kind of fonts you use (clean or fucked up) if you don’t use your fonts well, you can destroy your work.

What advice can you give for upcoming designers? Do you consider them as competitive designers or as people to learn from?
__1) The most important thing is to design with your heart. If you like what you do, it will show in your work.
__2) When I teach at Université du Québec à Montréal, I always say to my students that I surely learn more from them than they learn from me.

Where does the name 2Rebels come from?
__I think the word rebel fits the way I approch design. Anyway in 1995 it did make sense. The name was already incorporated in Canada so I just added the 2 in front.

By the looks of the typefaces you designed, you’re also keen on the ‘alternative’ scene. The more grungy looks, distorted without turning into chaos. Is music important when you design? Do you get a creative kick out of listening to particular bands?
__Music is important for me period. When I do anything. It will kick your ass when you need it and will calm you if you’re stressed. Well, it’s working on me anyway.

I’m afraid that’s it. Take care, thanks a lot for the opportunity and good luck with 2Rebels!
__Thanks for inviting me in this issue of your magazine, I’m honored.

Interview conducted with Denis / 2Rebels for Vacuum-Magazine (2004). Visit the 2Rebels website at http://www.2rebels.com/

If I would want to have some custom-made stickers, how would I have to approach you?
Just send me an email. I get a fair amount of commissions and jobs from people visiting the site and dropping me an email. It’s often the first point of contact. If you wanted you could send me a big bag of money, felt tip pens and cake – that’s always a good way to approach someone.

The things you do as a designer / illustrator, have you learned these on yourself, or did you follow an education for it?
I studied Fine Art at university in the city of Nottingham (famous for Robin Hood and drunken youths). I learnt bits and bobs on the Fine Art course but my real education came once I started trying to make a living on my own. A lot of the stuff I know (which isn’t much admittedly) I learnt through experimentation and studying design books. Working and lots of practice has been the best form of learning for me.

How did you witness your ‘college-period’?
My time at University was fun but probably a bit misguided. I wish I had used the equipment a lot lot more. They had screen printing rooms which I dabbled in but didn’t use to its full potential. I would love to go back there to use them – only they scrapped the screen printing workshops and replaced them with computers.

Once you graduate, the most common thing to do is find a job. Was it that simple for you too?
I had a job during most of my time at college so I was lucky – I just continued working there after I graduated. I designed boxes, bags and packaging for retail and promotion. It was a great job, I learnt how to do a lot of things on the computer and gained a lot of experience. Also it meant I could use the office supplies for my own stuff – on the sly of course.

The designcommunity is one that sticks together firmly. But on the otherhand, it makes it harder for people to earn a living from it. What do you think about competitive design? Only the best survive?
No, the best don’t survive – it’s much more complicated than that. And the best are only the best in some people’s eyes. Design is like any other creative industry, talent will only take you so far, and it’s not always the most talented that are the most successful.

In what way do Pixelsurgeon, Design is Kinky, Day14, One Huge Eye and other support you?
They are my friends and they often put in a good word for my site when it gets a rare update. Day 14 are publishing my first book too, it’s called ‘Hello Duudle’; a collaboration of drawings between Sune Ehlers of www.duudle.dk and myself. It should be out very soon.

When you go out in weekend, are you the person drawing on beer-cards and napkins?
Once I was eating in a restaurant, Wagamama, where they have paper place mats on the table. Whilst enjoying my noodles I penned what I thought was a really nice drawing. I was being especially careful not to spill my lunch and ruin it (normally I am really messy as I shovel food down my throat). As I was finishing off, I was thinking about how I was going to scan it in later at home, when the waitress came along and snatched away my bowl, screwing up and throwing away the place mat underneath…
Leave anything clean near me for a few minutes and it’ll probably get drawn over.

You featured tons of cool graphics (and workshops) in magazines such as Computer Arts (projects, special), SL Magazine, … How did all this happen? Did you send in a portfolio or have they contacted you themselves?
They tracked me down and held my arm behind my back until I agreed to do some work for them.

How important is a portfolio for a designer anyway?
It’s still pretty important, though I think it can take different forms such as on a CD or online now. The classic ‘work in a folder’ is still what most people like to see. Nothing on screen can beat a nicely printed piece of work.

You recently made some buttons / badges. What do you think of the final result?
They came out well I thought seeing as they were all hand drawn. Wear It With Pride made a really good job of them. They’ve nearly sold out now so people must of liked them too.

Have you got any final advice for the upcoming designers?
Not really, just remember to be open to experimentation, always carry a sketchbook with you and to enjoy your work.

Interview conducted with Jon Burgerman for Vacuum-Magazine (2004). You can visit his website at http://www.jonburgerman.com/