GfxDiary

[GfxD] What is your REAL name?
[SF] Shane Feenan

What is your date of birth (day/month/year)?
24/08/1984

Where are you from - tell us a bit about yourself?
I am from N.Ireland, Co.Down, I am a graphic and webdesigner and i am in the process of opening my design firm, Its based in Co.Down, I have been doing webdesign for 4 years now and graphics for 3, I started out with a simple page on expage i think it was. After that I made a site at spree then hypermart.

Describe briefly a typical day that you go through?
When I wake up it's usually not that long after i went to sleep lol, but i get up stagger my way to the bathroom relieve myself lol then have a nice long refreshing shower, then I clean my teeth put on me then comes the long part, my hair lol, takes about 3-45 mins to spike it right. then get my backpack, laptop and files and head of to the office. When i get to work I get a fresh cup of coffee and turn my pc on and read my emails. Then i go about my daily business, designing sites, talking to clients and getting their feedback on the work I've done for them. After work I head round to my girlfriends house, have dinner and then well that's none of your business lol.

What is your nickname/handle and what's the story behind it?
My first nickname was DarkAngel which i still use sometimes, it just sounded cool and i chose it 2 years b4 the TV programme started just incase you think i used it because of that show, My nickname now is Static Element, Its a one of a kind nick name, I thought it up when playing counter strike.

What is the name and address of your website?
The name of my site is Firewire Design, The url is firewiredesign.co.uk

Is this your first website? And how long have you had it for?
No its my 5 website, I had the site up for 6-7 months but it got hacked and everything was lost. It couldn't have happened at a worse time because there was an electric storm and my harddrive got fried.

Do you have any other sites that we should know about/be on the look out for in the future?
I was thinking of opened my old site up again, DigitalGamers, but i decided not to as i dont have enough free time, by the way I am selling the domain name, digitalgamers.co.uk if you are interested email me.

Do you design and create all of your art/images/layouts?
Yep, I design everything, I start out by drawing the plan of the site on paper, make a detailed sketch of everything I want.

What programs do you use to create your work?
I use Dreamweaver 4, Fireworks 4, Flash 5, Xara X Photoshop 6, 3D Studio Max.

When designing do you use plug-ins and filters and if so what are they?
I don't use to may plug-ins but one i have been using lately is icon factory. I love pixel based design so i am learning icon factory.

Do you use programming languages on your site such as ASP, PHP, CGI etc.? If so, tell us how you learnt them?
Yes i use PHP and CGI and some ASP, I just read lots of tutorials and practice lots till I learnt them.

What type of content do you have on your website?
My site at the moment will have all my portfolio work plus all my art work and graphics I have designed.

What's your site's traffic levels like? Give us your average hits/visits statistics?
Average hits are about 800-1000 a day. But as I have not got my new design up its dropped to 500-600 a day, but hopefully it will rise again when i get the new site up.

Give a brief description of why we should visit your site? What does it offer?
Well, I hope you would enjoy looking at my portfolio and my art work, Plus i have a large affiliate section so there would be plenty of art and graphic sites you can visit through my site.

What is your favourite food?
That would have to be fish, and Pork, you have to try the Ot roasted pork in white wine with garlic fennel and rosemary, hmmmmmmmm, I love to cook so there are so many dish's I love.

Favourite desert?
Ice-cream and chocolate sauce

Favourite video game?
Counter strike

Favourite artist/band and music genre?
NU-Metal and Linkin park

Favourite colour?
Orange

What are your Likes?
My girlfriend, good food, having a laugh with all my mates at the weekend, going clubbing and just really enjoying myself.

What are your Dislikes?
Men who treat women like dirt, cant stand to see a woman in pain. also i really really hate the new helmet i got for my motor bike its to small and it flattens my spikes lol.

Favourite website(s) you visit besides yours and why?
Oh besides mine awww no fair lol. Well I visit Toeng.com allot its a great art website, I also visit the Aprilia websites, I love my Aprilia rs 250 motorbike.

Who is your host and why have you chose them?
My host is Pulsehost.com, I chose them because my mates owns them and they have GREAT hosting plans.

Do you make any money from your site?
Yep its how I get some of my clients.

Has your site ever been hacked or stolen? If so tell us more.
Like I said up there yes it has, It was hacked and was totally lost.

How long are you usually online for per day?
I am online including work about 13 hours.

Tell us about some of your online activities that you like to do?
I love to chat to my mates on msn, I love to buy of the internet, I buy lots of music and dvd's and clothes.

Tell us about some of your offline activities that you like to do?
I love to ride my girlll.......em i mean motorbike (hehe) and i also do boxing and Tae Bo.

What do you think of the Biomutation website?
When will the freaking game be finished I want to play it. Other that that the site is great.

Closing Remark:
I just want to thank Biomutation for interviewing me. Over the last 2 years or so i have learnt allot more about webdesign that i ever did, I was always making business style websites, Now I make sites that I've always wanted to make, Pixel based designs and so on. I want to thank Morph owner of precisionart.net I it wasn't for him i never would have meet Bio or all my mates at toeng and ofcouse I wouldn't be as good as i am now if it wasn't for morph. I want give you a wee tip.. Never give up, If you have an idea or you know what kind of website you want but cant design it, read the tutorials and study hard, It will pay of in the end. My future plans are getting Firewire Design really popular here in Ireland.