Between his time as a possible contender for single man of the year, and posing for various Chicago magazines, Shawn Hilgart is doing what a lot of our visitors to Assault.it are doing–listening to music, designing websites for bands and clothing lines, and laying down code for Chicago idea house, We Cant Stop Thinking.

In the past, he’s done work for Friends Or Enemies, Fall Out Boy, Clandestine Industries, Empires, The Academy Is…, Q101, Plain White T’s, Boys Like Girls, Warner Brothers, and Patagonia. We Cant Stop Thinking recently launched The Music Trust, a collective of high profile DJs and artists.

Assault.it: How’d you get started in actionscript and php?

Shawn Hilgart: I got started with actionscript after being a designer at a small shop in the suburbs of Chicago, and being required to use it for projects. I got into php when I got thrown into a fire learning it when I started developing the friendsorenemies.com online community.

What are your major responsibilities at We Cant Stop Thinking?

There are so many – where do I even start? I guess day to day I am programming about 5-6 hours of the day, and the rest of the day is managing clients, making sure everyone gets paid on time, trying to improve our process, project managing. You name the job, I’m probably doing it.

Is WCST ahead of the times a bit when it comes to interactive design? (My last job used to basically just plop PSDs of designs in front of us and say build it with absolutely no specs or functionality documents of any kind – have you ever had that happen?)

I would like to think we have a pretty good process here. I think the scope of the projects you do really affects the process. When we first started it was trial by fire – my partner Nick would design something, I would slice and code it up. Now we have different phases. We research the competition, do information architecture, wireframes, and then design. Once you get a psd, you also get nice IA docs to back up that design. Having IA really helps. It allows you to see all the paths a user can take spelled out in a clear form. Another benefit of this process is the whole team gets all this time to think about how to make the project better for the user through each phase. Of course we’re not perfect, and some projects just need to get done. Then I get a PSD just put into my drop box and the real fun begins.

When it comes to breaking down something you’ve seen to try and recreate it yourself in actionscript, what’s the process?  (I know this is old, but this site is one I always use as a benchmark for design and you replicated it: http://www.iamalwayshungry.com/VERS7/)

First off, that site is amazing, I remember first seeing it and being taken back by how smooth it ran. Over the last 2 years I’ve developed a collection of home grown classes that I have been using to put together my flash sites. So when it comes to breaking down a site I first think about what chunks of code I have laying around that are similar. So in this case I think of different navigations I have done, and if I have any drag-and-drop or image tiling libraries. If I don’t have something around,I will start to craft a specific library for that task. I try and code everything in reusable classes if possible. Once I have all the parts I just start to combine them into a way that works. I think replicating a site is much easier than creating a new one – you can have the perfect block of code, but when clients start to make changes it can get really scrambled. All of a sudden your vision for that code is destroyed. On another note I have never been much one for swf decompilers, just copy and pasting code. That won’t really teach you the lessons of going through the process in your head.

I saw you’ve done some work with Empires, one of my favorite local bands. Can you describe what other kind of work you’ve done as it relates to the music business?

I really started out developing when E-cards were huge – every band wanted an E-card, and every label wanted to pay for one. So that’s kinda where I started getting some flash skills animating and pulling all these external content feeds. My partner Nick played in bands when he was younger,and we both have friends in bands so it just came naturally to be in that industry. We don’t do so much music stuff anymore. Just here and there, normally to help out a friend.

What’s been the most challenging piece of actionscript/php you’ve put together in terms of complexity?

I built this touchscreen wall out of a projector, IR leds, and some cameras, so this was electrical wiring nad coding. It was fun. I haven’t taken it out in a while but it was complex in terms of logic and execution. The code was all in as3 and it could turn any surface into a touch surface which was pretty rad.

What piece of your work are you most proud of that people may not even know you worked on?

I worked on this piece for Patagonia called “the footprint.” It was this complicated flash piece that mapped out all the places your clothing travelled before it got to your door. It got tons of press and won a couple awards. It was a great team to work with and I ended up laying down close to 95% of the code for the original.

There was a time when I thought flash was the glue between the web and television becoming a completely interactive experience when it came to UI and architecture of websites and mobile devices in general. It seems, though, that since JQuery became so popular, this may never happen. Do you see interactive and motion graphics ultimately overtaking the static html/js/jquery-based world anytime in the future?

I will be careful with my words here as to not start a flash vs. html5 fanboy riot. I don’t think html5 will inch out the demand for flash. I think html5 is coming to do the same tasks that flash pioneered 4 years ago when video on the web really started exploding. We could always play video without flash in html – you may recall the object tag that let you play quicktimes, right? So while the html 5 spec is getting ironed out, the problem I see is, it’s not a browser plugin, but rather part of the browser. So if html 5 can do what flash can do currently, what will flash be up to in 5-10 years before we see html 6? I think Adobe’s ability to push a new plugin version to users lets them move quickly on new tech, and html will once again be stuck catching up.

I’ve heard Steve Jobs called Adobe lazy–is it Adobe or Apple that’s the real culprit behind why we can’t get really any sort of flash on our iPhones? Do you think Flash will ever make it’s way onto the iPhone?

I don’t think flash will make it on to the iPhone or iPad. I think that Adobe and Apple each have their own agendas right now, and I believe that will hurt designer/developer loyalties to Apple. Adobe certainly has its work cut out for them but with cs5 being able to compile to iPhone apps, I think the concern over flash being on the actual device doesn’t concern me as much.

I’ve always said that Macromedia Flash was like Skynet–as soon as someone finds a way to exploit it, we’re all fucked because it seems to be installed on everything. Is there any validity to that?

I am sure there is some validity to those claims, but slightly exaggerated. There are so many variables that go into making a piece of software and one that runs in multiple browsers across multiple operating systems with very little system requirements. Also your plugin can only be as secure as the OS it runs on.

Vampires or zombies?

Zombies. Giving blood doesn’t sound as bad as having my brains eaten.

What’s one place you go for inspiration besides the internet?

I listen to music all the time and walk everywhere. It gives me tons of time to think and come up with ideas.

Are there any websites you visit on a regular basis within the design/development community?

I keep up with my flash news on theflashblog.com. I also read this blog called yewknee.com, it’s great for Friday videos and design/html/ajax stuff. Also a whole mess of gadget and tech blogs.

Are you working on anything major right now that you’d like to share?

I can tell you I have been working on the same project for months now, so it’s big one. It will be one of the most complex builds I have got the chance to lead and is using just about every scripting language out there. But that’s all I can really say!

Almost two months ago, Assault had the honor of being reviewed by Buy-Tees.net.  After reading what came from that review, I felt compelled to dig in on the mind of Paul, co-owner and main contributor at Buy Tees.  I was very impressed with both the writing style and in-depth review of the art itself, rather than just a bland t-shirt review.  If you aren’t familiar with their site, I recommend you BEG Paul to check your stuff out; he has this uncanny ability to actually tell you things about your work that you may not have known.

I had the honor of interviewing him to try and get a little insight into what drives him, enjoy!

First and foremost, what is buy-tees.net?

Hmm… well I suppose the clue is in the name heh. It’s a t-shirt reviews blog first and foremost–although it’s probably not quite like any other you’ve read. I do have a tendency to quote the world and his wife and just about every homespun philosophy imaginable when I get cracking on a review. I am probably what you’d call a ‘natural blogger’ – I’m from a creative background in both the fine arts and literature and so I suppose it made sense to hone my abilities by venturing into blogging. It just so happens that I use the excuse of t-shirt reviews to express my opinions to the world.

What drove you to start it?

There are two answers to this. The first was simply to promote a few of my own t-shirt designs, way back when I’d decided to set up my own independent t-shirt label, I was sick of the enormous profits and poor service that many major print-on-demand sites were offering and so I thought I’d have a bash. Promoting the label was a total nightmare, besides which the overall costs of setting up a label were beyond my reach at the time and so I thought a blog would save on marketing costs and be a good way of drumming up business. The second reason came along within a week or two of blogging. Essentially, I found that a lot of other designers were in the same proverbial boat – vis-a-vis they also hadn’t two pennies to rub together and needed quality sources of promotion and marketing without the extortionate expense of traditional advertising such as Adwords or hiring an SEO expert. So I filled the gap, featuring designers’ work in return for a back link to the blog.

I know buy-tees.net is made up of yourself and another silent partner; is there anyone else that is part of the team?  Do you ever have guest posts and if so, how do you go about selecting the individual?

Short answer no – I have had offers – although for the main part they’re rather self-promotional in the main. I’m not exactly an objective reviewer myself, I am however an artist and so I know when I see something conceptually or visually superior and that always urges me on when it comes to deconstructing the mindset or ethos of a brand/designer. I’m also not ‘in it for the money’ as they say – I make a few dollars from the odd banner now and again but it doesn’t even cover hosting most of the time.

I have always enjoyed the company of artists, whatever medium they may choose to specialize in – it just so happens that I believe t-shirt design has until recently been treated as a rather lowly distant cousin of say illustration or graphic design and thought it’d be rather satisfying both personally and for the arts community at large if someone could give this niche a boost.

My partner helps out with some administration of the site from time to time and we discuss our reactions to designers’ work, we like to bounce ideas off of each other and see if there’s anything more I can add to the review than the usual ‘pic and click’ offerings out there.

How did you go about setting up your site, and what tips/suggestions can you give to others?

In truth I’d say exactly the same thing now as I always have, if you enjoy what you do, if you take pride in your work, if you can offer something truly original in whatever form the world will slowly rub its eyes, stand up and take notice of what you’re doing. There are plenty of options out there for marketing but I’m not the best person to ask, I am not a marketing expert, I simply enjoy being creative and sharing the results.

I designed the blog myself, I suppose I could revamp it but ‘if it ain’t broke why fix it?’ There are plenty of gorgeous looking sites out there with very little to say or offer, no matter what niche they cover, it’s funny how people make a distinction between the online and offline world.

Salespeople annoy me, they are for the most part impatient, desperate to sell their wares and rarely listen to their prospects views and opinions. I’ve actually worked for a few major companies in a marketing capacity (many of whom probably rather I hadn’t) and they all seemed to make the same common mistake, forgetting that the public consists of millions of individuals, each with their own way of seeing and doing things. The only thing I have learned about marketing this last year is that excitement is infectious, if you can share the thrill of what you do then others will want to as well.

What sets buy-tees.net apart from the many other resource sites/blogs out there?

When I first set up Buy Tees almost every t-shirt reviews blog out there knocked out posts with a title, a photo, a price and a link. They may not like to admit it but I’ve seen a lot of those very same blogs turn my way, almost all of them will now,  at some point or other, wax lyrical about a designer or label. I am of the opinion that if you can’t pour your heart and soul into what you do why bother?

I have received so many emails from designers thanking me for helping them reach the next level of success, for saving a brand, even reinventing one that I can’t keep track anymore. I suppose the biggest difference, without wanting to sound arrogant, is me. I am different, I am an artist and I need constant sources of inspiration and so it’s a two-way street, creative people contact me, ask for my opinion or help and I, for the main part, am glad to help. You could call it a calling, or perhaps that’s a little over dramatic, but it certainly adds something special to my life.

You appear to get very personally involved in each of your reviews.  What approach do you take when reviewing a brand or particular shirt?

I can’t say there’s a formula, I’ve always been good at ‘reading people’, I don’t mean I am some kind of psychic, I don’t tell fortunes or read tarot, I just understand basic human motivation, especially when it comes to creative outlets such as t-shirt design. It’s as if I sit down and look at a body of work and imagine I have created the tees in front of me, then I work out why, where the inspiration came from, and how well it has been conceptually resolved.

I do have a habit of making up my own layman’s terms for things and this I’d call ‘logical progression’. You take things, no matter what they are, one step at a time, a creative mind follows a pattern, built up over years of experience, interactions, events, actions. If you for instance had been a backpacker for the last decade I’d expect a lot of cultural reference in anything you did, an openness to new experiences, an understanding of geo-political and historical boundaries, a longing for freedom, a zest for adventure. That would show in any creative outlet you pursued. I suppose I’ve specialized in ‘what makes people tick’ and try to connect with them personally through my opinions of their work.

Being creative is rewarding, connecting with other creative minds is probably as exciting as it gets for me.

I am very impressed with your writing form and style; do you have a background in literature?

Thanks, I have to admit I do get quite a bit of praise for my writing style which even now surprises me. I write the way I talk, which yes, must be exhausting for everyone involved. My mother was an English teacher, she taught me to read and write within the first few months of my life.

I’m the guy at the party at the end of the night, when you’re trying to get everyone to go home, who just won’t shut up.

I did write a screenplay once, it was almost accepted by Fox Searchlight in the mid 90s, they decided against it in the end saying it was too hot to handle, imagine The Matrix with more body parts and you’re half way there. I actually trained in conceptual arts at college, don’t ask, it’s all twaddle, but the tutors did force us to justify everything we created, however absurd the reasoning, and so I got into the habit of deconstructing everything and everyone around me until I felt I was about to burst – hence the outpouring of opinion at the slightest opportunity.

Are you involved in any other sites other than buy-tees?  If so, what?

Yes, I’m an artist, you can visit my site at http://paulbaines.co.uk – there’s also my arts blog at http://paulbaines.co.uk/category/blog where I review other contemporary artists. I’ve recently been approached by a major arts publisher who wants to feature my designs in a student textbook for illustrators which quite surprised me as I’d never considered I was an illustrator – but there you go.

I work on rather a large scale, at the moment I’m offering digital prints up to 44″ x 55″ in size however I’m in the midst of creating my own silk screen print studio and will be hand printing limited edition signed and numbered A1 prints by the end of summer if all goes well. It’s hard to explain my work, you will probably either love it or hate it. I have a few ties with the UK graffiti movement, I’m also hoping to have a few outlets and galleries selling my work by the end of the year.

Where do you see buy-tees heading from here?

Who knows? I was recently offered a very tidy sum for the blog, a major t-shirt producer wanted to buy it, and keep it as an archive which was very tempting and rather flattering. However I’d had so much feedback asking that I continue I didn’t have the heart to sell up. So what does the future hold? I really couldn’t say, perhaps it’s time for a t-shirt book? In the long term if the art career really takes off I will have to find a worthy successor, if not I will probably continue to review t-shirts until I drop. Either way it will be an exciting ride!

After attempting to debunk how Tom Muller did some of his work for Wired magazine I decided to ask him a few additional questions such as  where he gets his inspiration from, and how he got involved in graphic design. Here’s what he had to say…

AssaultBLOG: You mention in pretty good detail how you got out of college in Antwerp and were sort of poking around the yellow pages looking for a “real world” job as your father had pushed you to get into as soon as possible, and that you wanted to get into “THE COOL STUFF”. I know that looking back on college there was a few things I wish I had done differently… and was wondering if you could go back would there be anything you would do differently?

Hmm… Not really. I had a great time in college actually. I didn’t always see eye to eye with my teachers (who does?), but overall I had a good experience; and especially my graduation project was something I had complete control over and that kind of kick started my professional career. The only thing I’d change if I could go back is pay more attention to design history.

AB: Are there any somewhat non-traditional or unusual places you look for design influence?

Anything and everything really. I don’t go looking for specific things to get inspiration. Can be anything – something I see, read, hear… very random.

AB: Most designers struggle with knowing when a project is complete, and personally I know I always have a hard time deciding when a design is done–Can you think of one or two projects in the past ten years in that you were most satisfied with the results? Was there ever a really challenging project that you had a hard time nailing down ideas, or deciding when a design was finished?

To be honest I’m really happy with the stuff I’m currently doing. That’s not to say that my older work has lost its value, but looking back I can see the errors and me struggling a bit finding my way and style if you will. I’d say the work from 2004 onwards is the work I’m most proud of, where I feel that I finally got into a direction I’m happy with – with the Mam Tor Publishing and Ashley Wood projects in particular.

AB: You mention in your blog that you were highly experimental with Photoshop in its early stages ten years ago when it had a 99 layer limit. Since your beginning use with Photoshop has there been one feature, or technique that you can remember learning that totally changed the way you work and design in the software?

Well, “highly experimental” is mildly overstating that I basically didn’t know what I was doing in the beginning and just playing around finding my way around the application and being very impressed with lens flare effect and the like.

I think the computer as a whole changed my way of working, because I got into it pretty late (I was 24 when I finally got my own Mac at home) and used to draw and paint more. So going digital was a complete change for me.

AB: The design work on hellomuller.com spans a broad range of mediums–is there one particular medium that you’ve found you enjoy the most and if so why?

Its all of them. Its all graphic design, just applied to a different medium – be it in print or on screen. I like both, thats why I do them. Although I love doing web design, I need to be able to do some print work to counter balance looking at html and work at 72dpi all day.

Being able to switch between designing a site, or a book, or a logo is what keeps everything fresh and interesting. I don’t want to be doing the same thing all the time.

AB: Are there any mediums you would like to transition into in the future that you may have not already tackled?

Designing a title sequence for a feature film would be interesting to do I think. And comics/graphic novels of course. That one is always high on the list, its just a matter of finding the time and putting my money where my mouth is.

AB: I know you recently launched a website collaboration with your wife…what is it like to collaborate with her, and do you find that collaboration in general makes for better design? Or is there a perfect formula for the number of “chefs in the kitchen” where the design work tends to turn out the best?

Collaborating with her is great. Design-wise we really click in terms of what we like, how we approach a problem and execute it. She’s much more technical than me, so when we’re designing a book for example more often than not she’ll end up designing the actual guts of the book while I play with the more superficial stuff like logos etc. She’s also really good in cutting through the design bullshit and go for effortlessly simple solutions, whereas I’m always trying to come up with needlessly complex visuals and over design it to the point where a seemingly random dot is actually placed in some grid I made up. Just for that dot.

AB: Do you feel it’s important for designers to do personal work and use their skills to address social and economic issues as well as to keep their own voice?

Well, one aspect of being a graphic designer is that you have to realize you’re working in a service industry, and that its our job to communicate other people’s messages. Whether that’s for a global corporation or the local salvation army.

On the other hand I think its very important that designers initiate personal work, if only to keep things interesting and grow creatively.

Relevant Links:

• Comic Book Tattoo – The graphic anthology of the year
  
• Hello Muller
• Tom’s Blog
• Mr. and Mrs. M (Tom and his wife’s site)