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Alek: What area of design is your favorite?
To put it another way: If you could get paid to design anything
what would it be? (I assume flash animation, but is there anything
less applied, more in the fine art realm you'd really like to be
doing?)
Ben: Animation is obviously my strong suit, but
I'd love to progress beyond Flash into the bigger areas of motion
design -- namely, more television commercials, movie trailers and
movie credits. Did you see 
that
first Ocean's 12 trailer? Or the closing credits to Lemony Snicket's?
That's what I'd love to do -- it's the logical extension of Flash
for the web. I did do a TV commercial once, but it was for my dad's
company, so it doesn't really count; I'm still waiting for someone
to come to me asking for film work. Aside from animation, I still
think architecture could be for me. In the end, who knows? I'm pretty
confident that I won't go into any king of drawing or painting,
though over the past year I have developed a pretty strong interest
in music composition.
Alek: For you, what are the most important factors that go into a successful and original design? What is it about your work that sets you apart from other designers?
Ben: There are tons of sites out there with distinctive
graphic designs, but for me, what sets apart the men from the boys
in the Flash world is the quality of the animation, and this is
where I'm strongest. I animate to a rhythm. First, for a given transition
animation I decide when it will be insane, whether it will start
slowly or launch off, or whether it'll be low-key. I then animate,
piece by piece, fitting everything together almost so it flows as
a piece of music would. If you were to watch me brainstorming on
an animation, you'd literally see me waving my hands around and
making whoosing 
noises.
I kid you not. Bottom line is, many Flash designers are equal to
or better than me in the graphic art realm, but only a select few
equal me in animation; I pour myself into every animation. I think
it conveys a real upbeat vibe, a sense of humor, a sense of fun.
Alek: What do you see as the future of web design? What technologies will be most important for a designer to learn over the next few years?
Ben: Flash is still taking off, and one day will be a more dominant technology. Thus, I recommend future designers learn Flash and After Effects, since that type of website will be around for a while. But not forever; I think that, eventually, the Internet and television will merge into one, as they're starting to do with these complex satellite TV + TiVO systems. TiVo even announced a partnership with Netflix. TV and the 'net serve similar purposes, and I don't think the two will be distinguishable 20 years from now.
Alek: What are your plans for the future? Art School? Local Comm. College? "Who needs college, I've already got it goin' on"? What are you most interested in learning that you don't already know?
Ben: I plan on maintaining my design company for
as long as I can, but probably as a side job (as it is right now).
Next year I plan to go a major university -- my top choices are
Brown, Princeton, Caltech, Stanford, and Northwestern (though I
don't know where I'm in yet). I 
doubt
I'll major in art, but I will definitely take design course wherever
I go. That said, I also applied to RISD (the Rhode Island School
of Design), and if I go there it'd be for a very different future
than if I got some type of science degree at Caltech. I could also
strike it really big with WebFeats potentially and just devote my
life to it full-time. My future is a big question mark right now!
Regarding design stuff I don't yet know that I'd love to learn,
I want to take traditional design classes. I've never taken one,
and I feel taking a few would help my skill as an artist perhaps
to the point where it could equal my animation.
Alek: What advice would you give to young designers trying to get started in the web/graphic design industry?
Ben: The web is filled with very helpful Flash forums and endless cool sites directories. It has never been easier to find inspiration and supportive friends. That said, be individual; try to find your own defining feature, something to set you apart so people can instantly recognize your work. In terms of getting clients, the easiest way is to start with a few sites for friends, and from there people will start linking directly to your site.
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