FAQ
An interview with me. The interviewer is also me.
Who are you?
Jessica Jones. I work as an independent graphic designer, serving clients who need brand identity design or surface design. That means I work on logos, brand style guides, business cards, websites, and other collateral. And I create patterns for fabric, wallpaper, and housewares. In my spare time I made this blog.
What’s this blog about?
How About Orange features DIY tutorials, decorating ideas, printables, fonts, and design resources.
Huh. So why’s it called How About Orange?
I sat down to choose a blog name and looked around my office for inspiration. Maybe something to do with orange? My office has lots of orange stuff in it. My logo is orange. "How about orange?" I thought. Yeah. How about orange. It's a blog name and a suggestion all rolled into one.
Why do you like orange so much?
Because it's the best color.
Why did you start writing a blog?
My plan was to become a millionaire by selling handmade things on Etsy.com, and this blog was going to be a self-promotion tool. Except I found it super tedious to make handmade things to sell on Etsy; you have to love it or you'll lose your mind. So I closed the shop. But it turns out blogging was fun, and I did it for 7 1/2 years.
What's your favorite adjective?
Fun.
Where did you find cool stuff to put on your blog?
Google searches, emailed submissions, or occasionally other blogs I subscribe to, in which case I state that the item is "via such-and-such site."
Do you mind if I litter your blog with spam comments?
Irrelevant comments with links promoting commercial sites will be deleted. That means you, Buy Viagra.
Your photos of things sometimes turn out half-way decent. What kind of camera do you have?
I have a Canon Digital Rebel XSi and I love it very much. Then I bought a Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens for it, which I also love very much.
What design software do you use?
I use Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator.
Will you write me a tutorial on how to use Photoshop?
Ha, no. It's too complicated. They have videos and classes for that. How did I learn? A university degree in graphic design, plus years of working as a designer.
I see you design fabric, too. How did you get started?
See this post about that. If you're asking because you, too, want to design fabric or other nice things, I don't know much about how other people typically get started. This post and the comments at Decor8 might give you some hints. You might also check out Lizzy House's e-book How to Enter the World of Textile Design, Kim Kight's A Field Guide to Fabric Design, or Alex Russel's The Fundamentals of Printed Textile Design.
What kind of conditioner do you use, and how often?
I buy a different brand every time in the hopes that the next one will make my hair sleek, gleaming, and TV-commercial worthy. And then I try to remember to use it every day, but sometimes I'm in a hurry so I skip it. I guess that's why my hair doesn't look like a Pantene ad.
Are you a dog or a cat person?(I'm actually going to guess you may be more of a bird person.)
Cats! Dogs are stinky and birds poop on you. I say this from experience.
