1. Hi , who are you and what do you do?
Bleep bloop, my name is Patrick Algrim. I am a Web designer and developer from the cold and windy city of Chicago. I focus in Information Architecture, the idea of Grid Layout, and design based on great typography. You can see all of my projects at p41studios.com, hellyeahdude.com, and now juglir.com (the iPhone application!)

2. Describe a typical day at work?
Each day is different. Some days, I have too many phone calls to make, some days I am able to focus completely on innovation and design. Mainly, I try to wake up, drink some coffee then get right into it. I won’t lie, some days I don’t shower until lunch. Since the business is run from my home office, I wake up at work and go to sleep at work. Sometimes, it’s not the best idea either, because you find yourself working 12 hour days way too easily. For those creative driven days, I spend hours and hours literally sitting, thinking, looking at, and trying to create inspirational content. In the midst of it all, I try to do some community management, by tweeting about my day and having conversations with others. But those creative days are not easy to come by, and some days I find that it’s just not working and I’ll have to wait until the next day. My muse goes on a lot of vacations, but when it comes back, I like to think it’s pretty great.

3. What do you enjoy most about your work?
Being able to engage in all types of projects, not just for others, but for me as well. For example, I have been working with a couple of team members in the past two months on developing an iPhone application that can hopefully simplify the need of managing multiple social media accounts and updating your status’ for those accounts. Being able to have independent thought is not something I take advantage of. It’s a privilege and curse.

4. What do you like least about your job?
The repetitive nature of the process. Working with new clients is great, but every time I speak with a new client I begin to understand what type of a person I am working with. Through experiences I have learned how to engage with multiple personality types and how to best show myself and the company. Overall, the only thing I can say is that I am real. I am not going to sell you on things you don’t need, I am here to help you. If they don’t let me help them, then I guess they are not allowing me to do my job.

5. What is your worst enemy of creativity?
Not having any. I don’t work on too many projects at one time, and since I am the main designer for the studio, I cannot spread my creativity too thin. I would rather be able to focus on one client at a time and give them everything I have got. Constantly rethinking, innovating, and designing the perfect product for them. Unfortunately time is money, and some situations, it’s impossible to do exectue that kind of thought. When I have no creativity, I stress over it, and you just can’t do that. I have learned to deal with a couple of types of my own creative road blocks.

6. What do you do when you start a new project and you have NO ideas?
Nothing. I personally think each person has to find their muse, and the best people that do this are those who work in research and development departments. Similar to how Google may accommodate their employee’s with extravagant interior decor and technologies, you must find the perfect environment for yourself. With that said, a Venti Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks helps me, and if I have absolutely zero creativity, I do nothing. I would rather have my employee’s wait until they have that extreme brink of brilliancy in thought, than to waste time doing something that they and everyone else is unsure of. Watch a movie, take a nap, play Rockband, as long as it helps.

7. What inspires you the most?
Typography, old book covers, illustrations, and radical layouts. QBN.com is a great place for me.

8. Do you listen to music while working? And if “yes” what music do you listen to?
Most times. It depends if it’s late at night or early in the morning. Morning, something like Vampire Weekend or MGMT. Night, something like Yelle or anything on hypem.com (keeps me awake and going).

9. How do you deal with criticism?
Everyone’s a critic, in my opinion, you have to have the knowledge about the subject to criticize someone on that subject. I see a lot of criticism from people in the industry who think that just by critiquing that they are contributing. I don’t know too much about gardening, so I am not going to go on a garden walk and start saying how they should move their roses over there instead of here. If your knowledgeable about the subject, you will be knowledgeable about your critique.

10. What does your workspace look like?
My workspace is pretty simple. Dark wood table from Crate and Barrel to hold my laptop. I am still working on the area and really love huge spaces, but I would rather have something comfortable than extravagant. My aeron chair is my favorite part. I can sit on that thing for hours, and most times I do. Sorry, I don’t have a picture, but it’s nothing special. I don’t work on crazy equipment, just an old PowerBook G4 (this is going to change though).

11. Do you remember the very first web-project in which you were involved?
Yes, I was 14 years of age, and it was for a small store in the area I grew up. I was spoiled from the beginning, they let me be creative right away. I learned quickly about the whole “making changes” rule of being a Web developer. Let’s just say she had my phone number on speed dial.

12. Is there any advice you would give our readers?
Continue to learn new things, not just about the computer, but about people, business, marketing, everything! You cannot teach others until you have taught yourself. Whatever you do, just make sure you do your own thing. I don’t care if it’s good or not, I just want to know that you are attempting to be an individual. Force yourself to innovate. Yes it will kill you, give you headaches, make you want to scream, but it’s worth it. The people I am best friends with online, I respect the most just for being who they are and trying to do what they feel they should be doing.

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

A new design for another designer. Haha! It was the best type of person to work for, and will continue to spoil me even more. But it really allowed me to step it up a notch and make something great!

14. Imagine yourself in 15 years… what do you see yourself doing?
Wow, that’s a tough one. I have 5 year plans for myself, but 15 is tough. I would love to have an office space, just for creative individuals, somewhere that my employee’s could have fun and not make work feel like work. I think the best creativity comes from a mixture of happiness, laughter, and inspiration. If I can somehow combine all that into a work space that isn’t stressful or pressuring, I think I could make the best products. I know right now, I want to get my company away from services, and more into products.

15. Please tell us 3 people who we should do this Interview with (Why them?).
First person that comes to mind is Travis Hines. Personally, I think he is one of the great developers and has a really brilliant mind, but not as many peoople recognize him as they should. It’s sad to see brilliancy be underminded by those who are entertaining. I think Travis has a nice mixture of both though. Travis concentrates on theadfeed.com now, but was one of the masterminds behind younggogetter.com

Second person is Joshua Covarrubias. A very good friend of mine, who has inspired me along my entire path as a designer. Me and Josh are in the same boat, where we love what we do, but sometimes wish others would love it just as much. I think they call that being a struggling artist. You can find his amazing work for Starbucks’ Good magazine flyers at joshuacovarrubias.com

Third person is actually two people. Young guns are the way of the world, as I get older, I realize that the younger kids are going to be better at what I am doing. I am really young too, but still hold more responsibility, and thus cutting my creativity levels with a stress filled butter knife. Dan Philibin and Michael Castilla of WPCandy.com definitely deserve mention. These guys are smart, learning about themselves, and entering the design world with a resourceful Web site.

Patrick…thank you very much for answering our questions :-)
So if you want to visit Patrick you should do that now: Visit http://hellyeahdude.com/ or leave him a comment here! :)