Sitting Down with Robbie Pearce

Here’s another great read in our designer and developer interview series. This time we’re joined by Robbie Pearce, a wonderful visual designer based out of the UK.

Culture Milk: Hey Robbie! Thanks for sitting down with us. Can you tell us where you’re from and what you do currently?

Robbie Pearce: Hi! :) I’m born and bred in Exeter, in the south west of England. I’m currently freelancing through my site, Heart of Pixels, along side some part-time for for my parent’s family business.

CM: Sounds great. How many years have you been designing? Did you have formal training, or are you self-taught?

RP: Like a lot of designers I started in the desk-modding scene, which I was involved in ever since I got my first computer, and it was that which inspired me to start on my own icons. My first attempt was in early 2008… They weren’t the best (to say the least) but everyone has to start somewhere! I am completely self taught with a little help from Google and tutorials. I did do a graphic design course at college and although I didn’t learn much in the way of photoshop techniques, I learnt a lot of traditional, more practical skills. 

CM: It seems like self-teaching is pretty common in the freelance scene, which is pretty impressive! What are some of your other interests outside of design? 

RP: Design is my hobby as well as my job, so it’s a huge part of my life and what I get up to most days. My partner, Tim, has been teaching me a bit of HTML and CSS which I’m really enjoying too, and that’s taking up a lot of my spare time. Other than that you’ll find me spending time with my friends and family, and when finances allow – shopping! Oh, and you can’t beat snuggling up in the dark with a good horror movie! 

CM: Anything you’re working on currently that you’d like to share?

RP: Tim and I are starting a little company called Fabulous Apps, which will be invading your iOS devices soon with our first app, Novus. It’s a Google Reader client designed to make catching up on the very latest news as quick and easy as possible. I’d love to take this opportunity to show Culture Milk readers an exclusive little preview of some of the UI!

NovusPreview

CM: Wow that looks fantastic! We can’t wait to see more of this in the (hopefully near) future! Thanks for sharing!

While we’re on the topic of previewing work, what are your thoughts on communities like Dribbble and Forrst? Some people complain that there isn’t enough or there’s too much criticism. Where do you stand? What do or don’t you like?

RP: I am a massive fan of Dribbble, and I look at it daily. I find its a massive source for inspiration and I love seeing what other designers and friends are working on. Sites like these are mostly up to the users how they work and it’s really what you make of it. If you want to give critique you should feel more than welcome to do so, and if you want to receive it, all you have to do is ask. If you don’t want critique, you don’t have to pay attention to it, but at the end of the day, that is pretty much the point of these sites – they’re not portfolios.

I have of course read the blogs and articles by those who believe that posts can just end up becoming a massive ego-stroking fest, and I have seen examples of this – especially when some of the biggest designers do the smallest amount of work and it makes the front page simply because they have so many followers. But hey, nothing’s perfect and I don’t think these sites pretend to be – they’re constantly improving and updating. I also don’t think that people should be afraid to critique the ‘big’ designers either, no one ever stops learning or growing – no matter who from – and I think that is something we all need to remember in order to stay humble.

CM: How about family life? Any partner, spouse, etc?

RP: At the moment I’m still living at home with my parents. I have one older brother, Matt, who recently got married and asked me to design bits and pieces for his wedding which was seriously great fun. As I mentioned before, Tim Davies is my boyfriend who I met on Twitter in early 2010. We currently live about 4hrs drive apart at the moment but hopefully the new year will bring a house for us to move into together :)

Oh, and I have a hamster. He’s called Harold. He’s really fat. 

CM: Most designers and developers get inspiration from someone. Not necessarily style, but someone who really got them interested in the field. Was there anyone like that for you? 

RP: Oh my, there’s so many! When I first started there were of course the greats such as Jonas Rask and Laurent Baumann. My biggest inspiration for small icons was the fabulous Natalie Nash, who thanks to the power of the internet is now one of my closest friends and second mother <3. I’ve also known Prekesh Chavda for a long time and I’ve found it really inspiring watching him grow and produce ridiculous amounts of excellent work, I wish I had half his energy or talent! These days I’m really getting into typography and I’m loving the excellent prints by Luke Beard and truly amazing hand-drawn works of Drew Melton.

CM: Thanks so much for taking the time to share all this great info with us, Robbie. We really appreciate it!

RP: You are more than welcome, and thank you, too! :)

You can check out Robbie’s work on his website or his Dribbble profile. Feel free to follow him on Twitter as well (He’s hilarious!).

About Nate Boateng

Nate is a devoted husband, dad, and part-time media student. Nate's fanatical about technology, good design, UI/UX, good coffee, music, and film. He dabbles in photography, video editing, and the like. You can find him on Twitter at the handle @nateboateng.
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