Sep, 28, 2010

Interview: Grace Smith, Owner of Postscript5

Website: http://postscript5.co.uk
Twitter: @gracesmith
Bio: I’m a 27 year old web designer and owner of a small (but perfectly formed) design studio called Postscript5 based in Northern Ireland, which specialises in Blog and User Interface design. I help entrepreneurs and small business owners create a unique brand and online presence which gives them a powerful platform to reach out to their customers and markets.

I started Postscript5 in 2005 and have worked with a range of amazing people and companies, based both locally and internationally. Otherwise you will often find me tweeting, writing for Mashable or blogging at my personal site.

Tell us a bit about yourself. What are your hobbies? Where have you traveled to? Coffee or tea?

I love spending time with friends and family, traveling on photo walks around Ireland and going to music festivals and gigs. I’m also something of a ‘movie addict’ and can often be found at the cinema or in front of a great DVD.

I’ve travelled throughout most of the UK as well visiting Holland, Belgium and Spain. I haven’t travelled as much as I’d like to, but I’ve planned at least four mini-breaks starting with Rome later this year, so I’m excited to see a little more of the world!

Living in Ireland, I have to say Tea for the win! I don’t drink much coffee at all.

Have you always lived in Ireland? How’s the Mac scene over there?

I’ve always lived in Ireland, and while I complain about the weather on a weekly basis, I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.

The Mac scene seems to be growing and growing, especially with the opening of the Apple Store in Belfast in 2008. I’m certainly doing my best to introduce and convert my family and friends!

How’d you get into design? How’d you know you wanted to make a career out of it?

I’ve always had a passion for art and design since I was a kid and all throughout school. While studying for my Art A-Level, I knew that I wanted to pursue my love of technology and design, so I found the perfect course at University – Interactive Multimedia Design.

After leaving university it was a fantastic learning curve working as a designer for a large firm. This enabled me to realise I wanted to found my own studio and take control of my career.

What blogs/books/magazines do you read? Where do you look for ideas and inspiration?

I usually read Computer Arts and .Net magazine and some of my favourite blogs include:

For inspiration I try to veer away from looking online and find flicking through books, magazines, sketching and even my photography to be much more creatively inspiring. I also feel it makes for a more ‘organic’ design process.

What do you find most rewarding about your career?

A combination of the challenges and possibilities. As each project is a culmination of research, conversations and experiments and while the design process may be similar on projects, the outcome is always different.

What were you up to before Postscript5?

Before founding Postscript5, I studied Interactive Multimedia Design for 4 years, after I graduated I worked as a Graphic Designer for a local Newspaper group and also managed their web presence.

Tell us a bit about Postscript5. What’s a typical day like over there?

A typical day means having breakfast and a read through my RSS Feeds (in Google Reader) and morning news at 8am. I also use this time to go through my emails so I’m ready to start work around 9. I work through my prioritised tasks until around 10.30 when I have a morning break (at least one cup of tea is involved in this!) I also use this time to return phone calls or contact clients.

I work through to 1pm when i stop for lunch and then finish at 4pm. I usually leave the office for lunch and meet with friends/family as I feel it helps re-fuel my creative energy for the afternoon.

I finish earlier than most because I like to take 20/30 minutes to plan my tasks for the next day, prepare invoices and generally tie up any loose ends from the day’s work. I also try to spend at least half of each Friday working on personal projects.

How many employees do you have working with you? How do you keep them motivated?

I’m the sole employee, though I collaborate regularly with two other designers and developers on certain projects, when required. I’ve had a long-term partnership with each for several years and love collaborating with them whenever possible.

I have no need to motivate them as they’re both successful freelancers themselves!

Where do you see the studio in 5 years?

I don’t honestly see too much of a change in the way the studio is run and progressing from the present. I’m able to cherry-pick projects that excite and challenge me, which allows me to schedule my time so I can also pursue other interests such as writing and photography.

It means I never burn out or become stuck in a ‘creative rut’, which allows me to keep my passion for design fresh.

Although perhaps in 5 years time I could see myself working on more mobile apps. As this is an area I’ve just started working within, as the lead designer on a large iPhone app project currently going into beta.

Any client horror stories?

I had one non-paying client which was pretty difficult and caused the end of that working relationship.

Apart from that, I’ve been unfortunate enough to have worked with a wealth of talented and professional individuals and companies, which means luckily I don’t have many client horror stories to tell.

On the contrary, any extraordinary clients that have really stood out?

Tough question! Honestly, too many to mention. I’ve been privileged to work with the likes of Leo Babauta, Glen Stansberry, Jay White and Muhammad Saleem, to name a few.

However, Michael Riedijk is one client who stands out to me. He’s the driving force of the DotGov team, who I’ve been working with since January. Straight from our very first conversation, he’s given me fantastic creative freedom and trust and is both extremely knowledgeable and professional.

What kind of hardware and software does your studio use?

In terms of hardware, my office consists of:

20″ iMac
Mac Mini with dual monitors
Three 1TB external hard drives, two for backup and one which holds all my iTunes & media
HP Photosmart Premium printer

The main software I use consists of:

(Honestly I could go on, but those are the main apps I use)

I use Chrome as my main browser, Google Apps (email/docs/calendar), Notable for project feedback, Curdbee for billing and invoices, On The Job for time tracking and have recently started trialling QuoteRobot for proposals.

Any advice to any designers looking to start a studio of their own?

There is so much advice I could offer to designers looking to start their own studio, but I will focus on what I believe to be two key points:

1) Get Networking – Real, proactive networking isn’t about boring sales pitches or sharing what you had for lunch on Twitter, it’s about building genuine connections. You need to actively engage with others and participate in the community around you, both online and offline. It will take time but you will notice your visibility will improve and others will start taking note of you and your business. Of course one of the most important elements in being successful in networking is to inject your personality!

2) Build Your Brand – It’s been talked about so often, it’s nearly become a cliche, but building your brand is important. Your aim is to expand your network and provide value to build awareness, trust and reputation in your brand. For any designer or business owner this means developing ongoing, genuine and valuable interactions between your target market and your brand.

By genuinely and sincerely engaging others and proving to be a valuable person in peoples’ networks and a thoughtful contributor to the community, you will be rewarded over the long and short term.