This is a post in Braintalk

Braintalk with John Campbell from designbump.com

1. Hi , who are you and what do you do?

I am John Campbell – self-taught designer, entrepreneur, and sometimes crime fighter. DesignBump.com is taking most of the time I have set aside for personal projects right now, but hopefully, once it becomes more self-contained; I can start working on some other personal projects.





2. Describe a typical day at work?

I usually set my alarm for 6 or 7 in the morning, and then I end up ignoring it until about 8. I get up and spend about 30 minutes trying to convince myself to go to the gym. Once I finish working out, I work on my computer until my girlfriend starts yelling at me to “come back to the real world”. After spending some quality time with her, I hop back on the computer until the weight of my eyelids tells me it is time to end work for the night. I promise it is a lot more exciting than it sounds!


3. What do you enjoy most about your work?

I enjoy the freedom. I love the fact that I am constantly presented with challenges that I have to figure out the answers to, and my time isn’t weighted down with things I think are pointless. Plus, I love learning more about design and web development everyday and getting paid for it.

4. What do you like least about your job?

I am too obsessive with my work to limit the amount of time I spend working everyday. I end up putting in more time each day than I would at any other job. I haven’t done the math, but based on completely irrational reasoning, I probably make about $3.76 an hour.


5. What is your worst enemy of creativity?

A.D.D.! For the creativity to flow I need to get into the zone and concentrate on one task. Most of the time, I try to do fifty things at once and I can’t sit still long enough to let the creativity flow.


6. What do you do when you start a new project and you have NO ideas?

I browse my RSS reader or any one of the great gallery/inspirational design websites on the internet. Nothing gets the ideas flowing like a bombardment of great creative design from people you admire.


7. What inspires you the most?

Seeing things I haven’t seen or thought of before. You think you have a good understanding of all the elements: color, textures, patterns, etc – and then you see them put together in a way you hadn’t even imagined yet, and BOOM, you feel renewed and energized. Great design inspires great design.


8. Do you listen to music while working? And if “yes” what music do you listen to?

I think I am the only one I know who doesn’t listen to music while I work. I can’t do it. When I get really into the process I wouldn’t hear it anyway. And if I am half-assing the work, I would just get distracted. That doesn’t mean I don’t love music though; music has always been a great inspiration to me.


9. How do you deal with criticism?

I try to use it as a tool. Filter out the negativity, and then take it in and use it to become a better designer or businessman. It isn’t a bad thing to have your work seen with a new pair of eyes.


10. What does your workspace look like?
Right now it looks like a tornado swept over a dumpster full of cats. I just moved to Washington and haven’t exactly unpacked yet.
(Update…I have unpacked)

11. Do you remember the very first web-project in which you were involved?

Of course! I started web development and design on a personal website before I ever started working with other people. I learned a great deal about what to do and what not to do, but it didn’t really go anywhere.

12. Is there any advice you would give our readers?

Keep it simple; be creative; listen to your user base; and have fun. If you can manage to do those four things, you will never go wanting. And, I just remembered, there are always people who know more and do things better, so never stop learning from those who can teach you.

13. What has been the most fun project to work on so far?

DesignBump.com has been the most fun project I have ever been a part of. By far. I have had a chance to work on every aspect of development and there is no end. I don’t have to hand over the project to anyone else. I get to see it through, take in feedback, and constantly tweak it to improve the experience for my visitors.


14. Imagine yourself in 15 years… what do you see yourself doing?

Hopefully, I will be making enough income from my personal projects to completely support myself. A lot of my time is spent on third party projects because the money is a guarantee. I have a lot of other ideas I would like to follow through on, but the money and time aren’t available for that yet.


15. Please tell us 3 people who we should do this Interview with (Why them?).

I have to agree with Alex Ionescu when you interviewed him and he said, “I think you should interview Sven Lennartz and Vitaly Friedman, the owners of Smashing Magazine, in my opinion the best design resources website on the market today and Nick La a really good designer and the owner of N.Design Studio, Web Designer Wall and Best Web Gallery.”


John, thank you very much for answering our questions.
So if you need some new inspiration you should visit designbump.com now.