CurdBee Interview: Adelle Charles

At CurdBee, and at of course at Vesess, we believe that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are the future of the web, and featuring them here is one of the most awesome things we do all month. Conducted as a supplement to our CurdBee newsletter, we hope you enjoy this interview as much as we did!

Adelle Charles is a Designer & Blogger, Principal, Creative Director of Fuel Brand Group, and runs Fuel Your Creativity. She is an obsessive email checker and highly addicted to Starbucks. Loves to add “fuel to the fire” any chance she gets. Her dogs Chino and Jameson jot down ideas for her while she’s at work. They are obviously the secret to her success.

What does a typical work day look like for you? Tell us a little bit about your workflow as well.

I stroll in between 9-9:30 (yes I’m late!) with my Starbucks in hand and usually have a couple of meetings to start with and I usually spend a couple of hours answering emails. Then I get down to business being the Art Director for a local news station here in Rochester, NY. After that I go home and work on a number of freelance projects as well as putting time into a company that I’m a partner in called Fuel Brand Group in addition to working on FreshID, another great company I’m involved with.

What tools, both online and offline, do you use on a regular basis? Where does Curdbee fit in to all of this?

I use Yammer, Skype, Tweetdeck, Things, NetNewswire, Dropbox, Textmate. I also use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator as well. As for CMSes: WordPress. CurdBee is a great tool that I use to invoice all of my freelance clients.

What do you find most rewarding about design and interaction, especially on the web? Also, what do you find most frustrating about this sphere?

The web is a great way for designers all around the world to meet and exchange ideas and feedback. I find it frustrating because we’re such a close-knit community so ideas seem to overlap frequently.

As a designer and Internet entrepreneur, what are the challenges you see for yourself and the community as you step into 2009?

It is always a challenge to stay ahead of the curve and constantly reinvent yourself and your company so you can consistently produce products and services that customers want.

What advice do you have for newbie designers who are just starting out in the field? What tools, tricks and techniques can they use to stay competitive in the veritable jungle that is the web of today?

Frequently check out other designers’ work and leave comments to get your name out there. You will find that we’re a friendly bunch and will return the favor. Also, I recommend getting back to the basics and sketching everything. It will be a great brainstorming activity and you may be able to get future designs out of it.

Well, that’s it from Adelle! Thanks for reading, and see you next time.