About William Stewart
Stewart and Company began in 1999 when William realized he could earn a living from doing what he loved. Since then he has grown into a successful freelance graphics designer and scriptwriter for companies all across the United States.
What is the first question you ask when you start designing?
Who is my target audience? Design is more psychology than it is art. Knowing who will be reading the advertisement, glancing at the billboard, or perusing through the website helps me understand what techniques to use to appeal to them. If you’re selling knitting equipment to grandmothers, I’ll keep the hot colors locked in my bag of tricks.
That question helps me answer a second one: what do they want? Many businesses erroneously approach their product or service exclusively from their perspective. They have a product and this is why it is good. I find it more effective to discover what their demographic wants and capitalizing on why my client’s product or service meets their need. It may seem like a useless exercise by a guy who needs to get out more, but believe me, properly laying the foundation for the design turns mere words and images into marketing gold.
What programs do you know?
I am proficient in
- Adobe Photoshop CS
- Adobe Illustrator CS
- Adobe GoLive CS
- Macromedia Fireworks MX
- Macromedia Dreamweaver MX
And know my way around
- Macromedia Flash MX
- Adobe InDesign CS
Do you work solo?
I do except when it comes to heavy programming. Although I am proficient in XHTML, CSS, and some PHP, when it gets to complex coding, I outsource to trusted programmers I have used for years.
When it comes to coding a website, I do everything by hand from scratch.
What do you do for kicks?
Among other things, I enjoy singing gospel music with my family. In our heyday we traveled infrequently across the country and made great memories doing it. Since everyone has grown up and gone their ways we have less opportunity to sing together, but I enjoy it whenever I can.
When I’m not singing, I’m practicing on my guitars. In fact, I usually have a guitar on my lap as I design on the computer. Slumping over a guitar certainly helps my creative juices flow but is horrible for my spine.
When it’s baseball season, you can find me most nights at Charleston’s local Single-A division baseball stadium watching the West Virginia Power play.
