Instructor Interviews

Get a behind-the-scenes look at HOW’s online design education programs with instructor and presenter interviews that include tips and advice on how to advance your design career.

Why Design for WordPress?

HOW U instructor and WordPress guru, Jesse Friedman, talks about why WordPress is where it’s at when it comes to content management systems. With all the content management systems out there, why do you think it’s the WordPress community that’s seeing a lot of the growth? Well, powering nearly 20% of the entire Internet is a big reason. WordPress has had explosive growth. At this point designers and developers want in on “the” thing. It’s an investment in their future … Learn More →

Why Peer Feedback and Advice is Important

In a recent interview, one of our reviewers for the new Design Critique Services program talked about how mentors and peer feedback helped to shape his career, and why he feels it’s crucial to ongoing creative and professional development. What role has peer review and advice from senior designers and mentors played in your career? Peer reviews and advice from senior staff played a significant role in my career. I was fortunate enough to work with an extremely talented and … Learn More →

Mastering the Logo Design Process

In a recent interview, author and HOW U instructor Jim Krause takes an in-depth look at the logo design process. Even with your depth of experience, when you finished writing The Logo Brainstorm Book, did you find that you’d learned anything new about the process of developing logos? Creating several hundred logos for The Logo Brainstorm Book was two things: Difficult, and a blast. I mean, it’s kind of a designer’s dream to be given the chance to dive this deeply … Learn More →

The Importance of Identity Systems

In a recent interview, HOW U instructor Amy Peck gives an in-depth look at logo design and identity systems. Why do you think it’s important to not only invest time in a name and logo, but to really think creatively about the full identity system? I think that coming up with a creative and interesting logo and identity system is so important because it instantly tells a potential client, investor, etc. about who you are and what you represent. Life … Learn More →

Chris Converse Talks HTML and CSS

In a recent interview, designer and HOW U instructor Chris Converse talks about the advantages of learning how to design for the web: What are some of the common fears designers have as they think about learning to code? I think a common fear is that the feel HTML and CSS are “programming.” In actuality, CSS is primarily for the presentation of the HTML. Once designers start to pick up CSS, they begin to see how they can take control … Learn More →

Why Type Matters

In a recent interview, author and HOW U instructor Denise Bosler talks about why type is crucial to good design: When you’re selecting fonts for a design, what factors do you consider? The number one factor I consider is connotation. Communication is a key part of design and it’s important for the typeface choice to enhance that communication by exuding the right feel. For example a clean sharp sans serif can give a modern feel while an old style typeface … Learn More →

Why Should You Learn Web Design?

If you’re a print designer wondering whether it’s worth the investment to learn to code, here’s something for you to consider—HTML and CSS power the content delivery of pretty much every web device. For example, ebooks on the Kindle are nothing more than ZIP files of HTML pages. If you consider what interfaces in cars, televisions and refrigerators in the future will look like, I think you’ll find that HTML will be the display mechanism of choice. Designers need to … Learn More →