Web designers can spend hours looking for inspiration. We’ve all been there, up at 1 in the morning trying to work out a project you’ve got lined up but nothing seems to be hitting you. Whenever I’m at a design roadblock I usually turn to typical web design blogs to get the juices flowing again.
Alex Ionescu, the well-renowned designer and blogger over at CrazyLeaf Design Blog was nice enough to have a small interview with us. We asked a few typical questions, getting to know what it’s like as a web designer and running a blog. It’s a great read for all web designers and anyone interested in being an aspiring web designer.
Where did you get the idea to create CrazyLeaf Design Blog? What sites did you use for inspiration when building the site?
Well, CrazyLeaf Design was started with my associate, Bogdan, over a game of pool. We had an established list of customers to work for. After we started the company, a design blog seem like the next logical step, especially since when we started there weren’t that many good design blogs to find resources and inspiration on.
What first got you interested in blogging? Have you noticed any differences in your writing styles since you first started until now?
I was and am interested in providing people resources to make them better designers. That’s why we started CrazyLeaf Design Blog and that’s why we keep it. There’s a huge difference in our writing style now from the one when we started out. I think we grew with the blog. Three years ago when we started I didn’t know much about the design industry. I just knew how to design and code. After 3 years in the field we have a very good idea about what’s going on in the business, the trends and such. So I think we’ve matured along with the blog.
What are the most common types of articles you post to CrazyLeaf Design Blog (tutorials, lists, etc)?
The most common types of articles people will find on CrazyLeaf Design Blog are design resources lists. We would love to post more tutorials on the blog but we just don’t have the time for that. Both me and Bogdan have other jobs (I’m a dentist and he’s a programmer) and basically we’re blogging as a hobby right now.
Where do you go or what do you do to get inspired for your post ideas?
The process is really simple. We think of an idea people may like to see on the blog and then there’s a 3-4 day documentation period. After that we select the best info for our readers and we post the article. I can’t say I get inspired from something to write the articles. I just think what our viewers might enjoy reading.
What type of CMS/Blogging system do you use to run CrazyLeaf Design Blog, and why did you choose that?
We use WordPress, version 2.8. I had a blog on wordpress.com a few years back and fell in love with the platform from the first use. So when we started CrazyLeaf Design Blog there really wasn’t another option in my mind. Worpress is a really, really good blogging platform, and I wouldn’t trade it for any other.
I see you use BuySellAds for publishing, which is a very popular site among web design and graphic design blogs. Was there a particular reason you chose to go through them?
We used Google Adsense before BuySellAds and was going really well, until we broke by mistake their terms of service through our web directory and got our domain banned. Soon after, BuySellAds was created and we decided to give it a try and I’m glad we did because it’s a really good and serious advertising program.
About how much traffic does CrazyLeaf DesignBlog get daily/monthly?
Depends. We had days with 40,000 uniques / day. On average, we get 5000-6000 uniques / day so about 150,000 – 200,000 uniques / month with about 220.000-250.000 impressions / month.
What advice would you give to someone looking to create their own web design blog?
It’s really hard to make a name for yourself, especially with all the design blogs nowadays. Never give up, post great content, don’t follow others, do something unique with your blog and in time you’ll see the rewards.
