Interview: Asaf Shakham, Interactive Web Designer and Founder of the Mones Concept, Development and Design Company

Whether is developing some of the most innovating commercials around, or strategically developing a creative marketing strategy, Asaf Shakham is always ready to implement the freshest design applications to any of his varying client’s strategic needs.

With most of his experience in print, web application design and video broadcasting, Shakham is in expert in interactive web design.

Continually exceeding his clients’ expectations, Shakham creates a unique and productive work environment, which promotes creativity and personal growth for corporate parties such as Merrill Lynch, Rizzoli Publications, Random House, Inc., Fodor’s, and Comedy Central, according to Shakham.

Shakham also services several smaller companies by generating an array of personal websites and implementing web-based services such as motion graphics and video production.

As founder of the Mone8 interactive media group, Shakham is always establishing innovative marketing techniques with his extensive experience and inimitable expertise.

Shakham agreed to answer a series of questions to be published on Planet Blacksburg. What follows is an edited selection of the questions and answers.

Q: What sparked your interest in interactive media design?
Shakham: I started out in print and I think a lot of designers have been doing this for years. Starting in print before the web was a big deal. There weren’t as many opportunities in the web in the beginning. I started doing tee-shirt designs and that kind of led into doing CD covers and at that point the web stuff started picking up. People wanted small graphics for their websites and things like that.

Q: What part of your education helped prepare you for the progression from print design to more web-based technologies?
Shakham: The opportunity for any digital design was basically in print. I think the print was the only thing out there at the time that was actually paying. But I didn’t start out doing this for money. It was more something that I had always wanted to do and had always found interesting.

Q: How recently has interactive design caught on in the public realm?
Shakham: Interactive design has been around since the early nineties. As soon as the web opened up, it went crazy toward the mid to late nineties. Then the door opened up to designers to start doing some graphics and things they could deliver online. Before that, people were doing it for TV and animation.

Q: Which of your clients have been the most inspiring in terms of your passion to do what you’re doing right now?
Shakham: When it comes to clients, there’s a big difference between working with a corporate client and working with an individual company. Individuals are basically paying their way and their site. The individual projects are a lot more work, but end up being a lot more fun, while giving me much more freedom to be creative. Corporate parties basically come in and have much more of a working feel for what they want, you just follow the guidelines. Design wise, it’s really fun to work outside the box when you’re working with the smaller clients. However, once you have established a relationship with the bigger clients and you get the feeling for what their looking to do, the project ends up being a lot more fun. Working for someone like Comedy Central is a lot of fun when you get to see your stuff out there and actually help the TV show with its promotions.

Q: In addition to the amount of creativity you’re given with the smaller clients, how much creative freedom are you given in the larger company’s vision concerning the assigned project?
Shakham: Usually the bigger corporate clients have an idea of the concept they have in mind depending on what they have. They allow me to do a bunch of design for marketing, whether it’s with Comedy Central, Merrill Lynch, or BMW. Usually it’s a creative concept which I help develop by sending them a prototype for the direction their project is heading. Then I just implement the design and move forward.

Q: Has your job become easier which each client that you undertake, or is each job a challenge in it of itself?
Shakham: Every client is different. Every designer has a style, no matter what they say, and every job is a challenge. You have you make each project fit; if it doesn’t fit, you don’t get paid.

Q: What has been your greatest accomplishment or project you’ve become a part of to date?
Shakham: We just finished working on a project called Books Online for Random House which is a little bit different than an e-Reader. It’s basically an online book jacket you’re interested in, which you can simply click on and read. It’s basically just a new, fun technology which I was really happy to be a part of.

Q: Who would you say in your career has been your greatest influence? Or, has your own determination and personal growth helped guide you the most throughout your transition in the industry?
Shakham: I’d have to say I don’t really have a personal influence. It’s just basically me driving me. Because you enjoy it, I think anybody’s passion about something makes them want to push harder. If you’re into football and you want to get better at it, you spend every hour you have just going out there and trying to be better and better. That’s what I do. I spend most of my extra time reading up on new technology, while practicing design.

Q: I also understand that you’ve recently become a father. Has that had any impact on your career?
Shakham: It absolutely has. Becoming a father definitely changes things. At first, I thought it was going to kill my creative buzz, but it hasn’t. It’s just a little harder because it’s a fine balance between being creative and paying bills. You love doing what you’re doing and wish you wouldn’t even have to deal with the money, but in reality, you do. Especially when you have a child, it becomes a little bit more realistic.

Q: How do you continually exceed your client’s expectations and jump ahead of the current trends in the industry?
Shakham: My biggest advice, both for everybody and myself, is that I try not to follow any particular trend. I just have to do what I feel I need to do and try to push it that way. The only thing, when it comes to design, is to keep up on everything, especially the technology behind it. Beyond that, you can’t retrain yourself to keep up on fads of design. It’s a stylized thing. Either you do a certain thing, or you don’t. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I think it just comes out of you naturally.