Chris Design Art

What are your main areas of specialization?
Graphic and web design, redesign, design and construction of corporate and personal websites, online stores, web portals and optimization. Print advertising: planning and design of advertising banners in any format.

When was your company established?
In 2005.

Who are your clients?
Titan Zlatna Paniga Ciment, Story Consult Ltd., the “Standart” newspaper, Planet Travel Centre, Lux Invest Ltd., Vital Sun Studio Ltd., Night Flight Ltd, Favia Ltd. and other.

1. What projects are you currently working on?
We are currently working on a large project about online training and we put a lot of enthusiasm in our work because we have developed new ideas and this motivates us to look for the best solutions. While working on this project we are working on other smaller projects in various fields of activities.

2. What makes you feel inspired by your work?
“Inspiration is a higher form of intuition, for it comes as an idea, as a complete theme with its improvisation". Doing work that truly inspires you every day means to believe in yourself and your qualities. My inspiration comes from my love for the work and the creative process where each idea is a new challenge for our team to create something meaningful, when I can realize my ideas and our customers are satisfied with our work. Sometimes the idea itself can inspire me, and sometimes I am inspired by our clients. Through good relations and trust in each project we achieve our goals and finalize our projects successfully.

3. Which is your best project over the last year and why was it successful?
The best project is the one that proves that really helped our client to boost his business or to establish new business relationships. The recognition that you have done a really good job is the best reward. Each project is unique and has its own charm. The time and efforts that we invest in a large-scale project can turn out to be the same for a smaller project with a more unusual idea.

4. Which is the best project, designed by another graphic designer, which you have seen over the last 12 months?
The computer games websites, sites for movies and web advertising have always fascinated me because of their great number of effects, but this feature is not always very functional. There are many talented teams. The site that I liked the most lately is http://liveafrica.com and I fell really in love with that animation created by Solei Noir http://portfolio.soleilnoir.net/nespresso/variations2010/

5. What are the main stimuli and tools that you use in your work?
Our main tool is our personal motivation and passion in developing a concept, the application of ideas in the design, technical implementation, detailing of the project work, the optimization and also the client consultation. Of course, there are certain tools without which we will not be able to develop our projects, such as our copyright innovative platforms through which we manage to create really functional, dynamic, flexible and modern sites, that do not require support on our part, and also enables our customers further to develop their sites and be more independent. The rest are technical means, such as software and hardware that are not much different for different companies.

6. How do you deal with clients who are not quite sure what they want?
We treat them with respect, patience, enthusiasm and creativity. Customers often come to us with a vague idea. I trust my intuition and experience and I believe that our customers can show me the right way to achieve their ultimate goal, so that they can receives the answer to all their questions and be pleased with the final result. If I have managed to win the confidence of a difficult client, it means that I have been able to cope with the challenge of the task, and that I have turned the disadvantages in a client's concept into a client's advantage. In my work I need to be like Arthur Hailey and also a very good psychologist in order to build the right concept and most of all a concept that works, and also to be totally committed to the idea and the theme so that you get the feeling that you have already gone through the whole process of creating and achieving exactly that particular goal. These types of projects prove to be the most successful because I have the freedom to come up with the idea as I see it, and if the client likes it, what could be better than that.

7. Which is the biggest challenge you have faced so far in your work?
It is one of the projects for online stores. It has a very different feature of shopping and calculating prices, which required implementation of new modules in our content management system. Also, each project in a new area is a challenge. Not only do clients learn from us, but we also learn more about what our customers are looking for.
8. Who would like to do a website redesign for?
There are many websites in the Internet but in terms of their technical and aesthetic values they are weak. A professional and attractive website works for the client’s business. Many of the sites of some state institutions need redesigning and restructuring. As a field, however, I would prefer a theme of art, music, books and children’s world.

9. What do you think of web contests?
They are a form of expression and comparison of achievements in different categories of web design. They provide an opportunity for sharing experiences and revealing new skills, as well as for promoting businesses in Bulgaria and abroad. They can serve as good advertising tool both for companies in the web industry and their customers.
10. What do you think of the mobile web?
The vast variety of devices and the development of technology will impose the tendency of using the so-called responsive design. I hope that better devices and platforms will appear soon with more advanced features and less drawbacks. There is still a lot to be desired.

11. What are the challenges facing web site for mobile device?
Given the fact that a website on a mobile device should be as light as possible, with minimal design, fast, easy to control, with minimal consumption of traffic and very concise and synthesized information, it is really a challenging task to maintain its charm and vision.

12. What do you focus more on - efficacy or effectiveness of a website?
The website performance is developed exclusively accordance the client’s activity. High efficiency indicators are such as quick navigation and easy operation of the website, but if dull and unattractive, the website does not attract visitors’ interest. An attractive website has a strong impact. When you succeed to attract the visitors’ attention at the moment of their first click, it is definitely a step towards increasing the number of future clients and visitors. The efficacy should not be at the expense of functionality, so it is important a balance to be found and whatever great idea a designer wants to be embedded in the site, it must comply with the objectives of the site.

13. What is more important in your work - teamwork or individuality?
Without individuality there are no magic and creativity. My individual work and role are related to important decisions on the overall concept, vision and design of the website. In the process of the technical implementation and project development the most important point is the team work and spirit. I am lucky to work with outstanding professionals who have been working for Chris Design Art LTd. for a long time and we have achieved a very good working environment, without which we would not be able to cope with overwhelming deadlines and demanding clients.