January 1998: James Novy

---

January 6, 1998

The following article was originally published for the Site Builder Network Workshop (now MSDN Online Web Workshop.)

I hope those old ads on TV come true; all that stuff looked really cool.

James Novy got hooked on Web design when a college professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art took some time out of his intermediate computer graphics course to teach HTML and Web graphics. After earning a BFA in graphic design a little over a year ago, James is now a Web designer at a New York Web shop, Broadway Interactive Group (BIG) . One of the highlights of his career so far was working on the online comedy show This Is Not a Test for MSN. "I got to design games and animations that were really way out there. Some were a little risqué and pretty much offensive, but they were really funny. I feed off of that kind of stuff." His other design work includes projects for Sony S-Link , and the Burly Bear Web site for College TV Network.

SBN: Why do you think humor is important to Web design?

James Novy: It doesn't have to be funny ha-ha; it can be the way people play with type or the way they play with the graphics just to make things a little spicier, a little more interesting.

SBN: What creative tools do you use?

James Novy: Man, without my CD player, I'd be mentally locked up. I can't work without my design soundtrack going on in the background. I use my sense of humor and love of cheesy dance music to inspire myself. As far as software, mostly Photoshop and Illustrator. Right now, I use a lot of Macromedia Flash. I find that helps a lot with the graphics. If there's something that I want to do in Illustrator that will take tons of time, I can just import graphics into Flash and take care of it that way and export it as an Illustrator file. So Flash is a really cool app that I'm using now. (Editor's note: For more information on using Macromedia Flash to create graphics and animated GIFs, see Design Tips: Using the Flash Palette.)

SBN: What would you say are the keys to good Web design?

James Novy: A graphic approach that is appropriate to the subject matter and a well thought-out information design -- meaning good navigation, how the information flows from one page to another, pointing out the most efficient way of getting to different sources of information throughout the site.

SBN: How do you approach a new design assignment?

James Novy: It depends. Sometimes, I can get really heady about what I'm doing and over-analyze and research a project, but mostly I just go with my gut. Design, for me, is more of an art than a science. On a typical day, I design Web sites and draw cartoons -- and sometimes around 4 or 5 P.M., I practice a little salsa and swing dancing in the office. It offers me a release for a lot of the tension built up during the day.

SBN: Where do you look for inspiration?

James Novy: Sometimes I check out other really well designed Web sites and TV or movie graphics, but mostly I look for inspiration in music, at clubs, and just goofing off. I find that my creative juices swell when I'm just enjoying myself.

SBN: What impact do you think the new Web technologies will have on fine art?

James Novy: I think fine art has had more of an impact on Web design. That's why you see more sites that are graphically rich and stunning instead of using that default gray background and cheesy rainbow colored rules, although they are still popular and thriving with the federal government and science community.

SBN: Do you think there is likely to be a cross-fertilization from the work that's being done on the Web to the realm of fine art?

James Novy: Well yeah, I've seen a lot more fine art that either deals with a digital theme or that's rendered digitally. I think a lot of fine artists are moving right now more towards producing artwork digitally -- they see it more as a tool now. I guess before they saw it as a threat to the old school or something. But now I think they're using it more as a tool for expression.

SBN: How is the Web changing the design profession?

James Novy: Design has shifted from being primarily print based to Web based. It's much easier from a production standpoint. Graphics can be prepared for the Web without the lengthy process of print based graphics. A traditional graphic designer would have to take some Web graphics classes, but good design is good design. If it sucked to begin with, it's gonna suck on the Web.

SBN: What advice would you offer to someone interested in a career in Web design?

James Novy: See what's out there on the Web right now, and if you don't like it, change it. Be true to your design instincts and your style. Don't try to be someone else.

SBN: What new technologies do you foresee on the horizon, and how do you envision using them in your work?

James Novy: I want to use more video and live video on sites.

SBN: Why not just work in television or film?

James Novy: I'm just saying that, instead of the traditional TV format, it would be nice if I could use more video, but use it interactively. The same elements you'd see on TV, like if you were watching a TV show and you saw a character run off to the bathroom, you could follow that character into the bathroom just by clicking on the bathroom. You know, that kind of thing. Something more abstract than television -- whereas television's a little more linear. Something a little more amorphous.

SBN: What do you think is the future of Web design and of the Internet itself?

James Novy: I don't know, but I hope those old AT&T ads on TV come true; all that stuff looked really cool.

SBN: What do you think will be the biggest change in the way we use the Web 20 years from now?

James Novy: The machine we use the Web on.

Photo Credit: Michael Moore/Microsoft Corporate Photographer