Brad Woodard – 7 Design Questions Interview

Designer – Brad Woodard
Website – bradwoodarddesign.com
Blog – bradwoodarddesign.com
Twitter – @bradwwoodard

1. How much time do you dedicate to learning design every day?
Well, at the very least I spend the 8 hours I spend at my full-time job to learn about design. But I also work freelance in the evenings and weekends, so I would have to say most of the time I am either thinking, doing or discovering design. Design is my life and passion, so it isn’t a matter of dedicating time because I live it.

2. What other designers do you have contact with on a regular basis?
Oh boy, where do I start. I mean, I am contact with so many I can’t keep track. The design world is so friendly and inviting! I love that, majority of the time, if I reach out to a designer (no matter how ‘famous’ they are) I will hear back from them. Designers want to see other designers succeed. My advice to designers is to make friends with everyone. Ask for critiques, try to meet them, and help each other out! I can’t tell you how much work I have received from friends of mine in the design community.

3. Who are the top 2-3 designers that you respect and why?
Ray and Charles Eames because they made their whole life about design. They were able to fuse their family life with their work, and they were fantastic teachers.

Charlie Harper is another designer/illustrator I truly respect because he was able to find the essence of something and simplify it to simple shapes, yet still look beautiful and accurate. He was able to find relationships in any shape.

4. What’s your favorite website or design you ever made and why?
I don’t know if I can pick a favorite, but I do very much like the spreads I was able to design and illustrate for Outdoor Life Magazine a while back (http://bradwoodarddesign.com/Deer-Depression). I just enjoyed being able to use my design skills to layout a magazine spread, and then incorporate iconography and illustrations throughout. I love both those things, so it made for a really fun project. The predator icon/illustrations were my favorite part because making them was like a challenging puzzle. And, let’s not forget, the thing was printed in a magazine. Who doesn’t love that?

5. Have you ever been published in a book or magazine? What books or magazines?
Like I mentioned above, I was published in Outdoor Life magazine. I also have had work published in a few University’s magazines, Geico, Entreprenuer, tech magazines, and a few others.

6. What’s your favorite color in hexadecimal? How often do you find yourself leaning towards it with design projects?
#F7A02D. My favorite color is orange, so I try to slip it in when I can and if it is appropriate to the design.

7. What’s your most recent project we can look at?
I am working on a map of old Los Angeles for Herb Lester Associates that will be printed and sold on their site soon. I am taking a very mid-century modern feel to it because it is about more historical areas in LA. It is going to be super colorful and fun to look at, so I am excited to finish it this week! Check out a few screenshots of my progress here.