I got started in graphics design about six years ago now with the launch of a fan site for the Harry Potter series. Because money was low I couldn’t really afford anyone to design a site for me, so I had to learn how to do it myself. I had to improve each time I designed something new to keep up with the leading sites at the time and that actually forced me into learning the stuff properly. A little over four years ago, I started my design company, XLD Studios which has helped to evolve my work tremendously and still does all the time. The need to keep up with the new ways of making things, new styles and trying to get into new areas as well.

@egower – Will this lead to any collaboration of artwork with you two in the future? A round robin type of project between your two different styles would be fun.

You never know what the future may hold. We enjoy working together, and right now – anything is possible. The main reason why there is nothing planned is because we are both swamped with things and that’s the reason we decided to make this article only once a month. But, we are open to new ideas and right now – anything is possible. 

@weewood – What does the "datchic" in "datchicfirgs" stand for?

This is a question for Firggy, so if you want to see her answer you’ll have to check my site – http://www.bernskiold.com/. 

@shadowcall – Are you afraid of bees?

I most definitely am! Can’t stand them, get moving quickly when they are too close to me!

@b_e_creative – What artists have influenced the most through your career?

This is a really tough question. Honestly it’s very hard to say for me as I don’t really have a special artist that has influenced my designing. I’m constantly influenced by small things on websites or big things like structure for that matter as well as well as things I see done around me. It’s very hard to know most of the times who did it which means my answer to the question shifts more to "What inspires you" rather than "What artists…". I just don’t know any individual artists that have influenced me more. 

@b_e_creative (site link) – Where do you find inspiration when you hit a "wall" during a project?

Another very good question and very personal as well. I find that a really hard thing as well. I’m going to start with what I do when I hit the "wall" during a project or before I start on one. The first thing I’m going is to take a break and do something entirely. Usually I’ll sit down and play music (a great passion of mine) which takes my mind of what I need to do. Most of the time, it’s the stress that is making my mind blank out. Mostly, I browse around the many showcase websites online to get some inspiration. I also find that browsing deviantART will give me some great art to look at as well. Combine that with taking a break and I guess that’s how I mostly solve my designers block.

@Squiretwizz – How do you cope with having a busy life and still find time to do tutorials, twitter and blog updates, and respond to all the emails you must get? must be very busy with no time to rest let alone breathe!

It’s actually a wonder, and up till recently, I would have said that I had no idea. I however discovered recently that my life probably wasn’t as good as I had forced myself into thinking and had to change around a few things. I’ve started to plan my things and taken use of batch processing tasks to free up a lot of time that I used to procrastinate tasks before that I didn’t want to do. That way, I didn’t feel free from work when surfing the web as a preventive way from doing certain tasks that still had to be done. I just plan in blog posts and tutorials into the work that I have to do and do them in batches, which allows me to be more productive. As an end here, I don’t get a lot of emails actually and I quite wished I got some more. I’m always glad to help by answering questions so you’re just welcome to send them to me, here, I’ll even give my email to show that I really do mean it; erik@bernskiold.com. =) Until I get too many flooding me, don’t be afraid to shoot me mails =)

@CreativeWisdom – Would you consider yourself a SM expert – and do you plan on integrating SM into your design company?

I’m far from a social media expert although I know the basics of it. I do plan to integrate social media more into my design company as well, but perhaps not to the extent that I’m doing it into my media company. It’s mainly time restraints and also because I feel that my media company could benefit from it a bit more than my design company. Plus most of my social presences are in my personal name, giving me the opportunity to use some social media for my design company, some for my media company and then some for both. It’s not a perfect mix by any means and I’m working on some planning as well to incorporate it better, but those are plans I cannot evolve into more.

@UseR2006 – How do you choose what gear you use for certain shoots?

Simple, I usually lug around most of my gear with me. Well, that’s just true for landscapes really. For things like portraits and events, I try to use a reasoning on what focal lengths I might need, how the light will be etc. but in the end, I end up carrying more than I need with me anyway.

@aj_wood – Do you Mac or PC? Why?

I use a MacBook Pro (recent upgrade). I’d been a PC user my entire life up until two years ago when I moved over to the Mac. For the first, I think the Mac is a cleaner, better designed platform that I enjoy using day in and day out without getting mad at it for not doing what I want. I also find it to be very stable which is really important when relying on it that much.

@aj_wood (site link) – Was Photoshop the first imaging tool you used, or did you use a lesser known product first?

No it wasn’t. I got into Photoshop late at version 7 (almost at the release of CS) and I’d been using Jasc Paint Shop Pro for a couple of months before that. However, the first art that I did and published more formally, was done using Photoshop.

@mcgregorlink – What impact does the growth of Social Networking have on your approach to Web Design?

That’s a tough question. I think social networking has made me understand and get a grip on the importance of user interaction on websites. The flourishing of social networking I think proves just that users like to interact with the websites they visit, and offering them a good way of doing so, while still keeping the website to its point is a great way. It’s also made me realise the importance of marketing through word by mouth especially. The way a user can spread the word about something today is superior to any other way possible before. It does really have an impact on me as a designer, to make sure users can interact with the website and social networking for the common interest.