About Me in Black & White
Peter Michaels Allen (that's me) is currently a Freelance Designer with a focus on Web and User Interface Design. Over the past three and a half years, I have established a practice that has earned the respect of clients and design firms throughout Maryland and Northern Virginia. In that time, I have worked on projects that require a wide variety of styles while maintaining an aesthetic that can easily be defined as “Peter did that. ”
Aside from all that professional jazz you can read in my portfolio or my resume, I occasionally do like to do something other than stare into the face of a monitor. I enjoy countless hours of playing video games and playing guitar (not, I repeat, no Guitar Hero or Rock Band though I can shred those as well). I also enjoy traveling as I have lived in, or visited, places such as Italy, Canada, Spain and 25 of the 50 United States.
Favorite comedians include Lewis Black, Louis CK, Don Rickles, Dave Chappell and Dennis Leary.
I love most of Mel Brooks and Quinton Terintino films while making room for the occasional “Shawshank Redemption”.
Where do you stand on browser support?
Internet Explorer 6 must die. There is no way any forward thinking professional feels differently, but if we are going to be true professionals we have to plan each project as opposed to having a blanket policy. Visitor statistics, target audience and budget are probably going to be the three biggest variables in making the decision of what browsers you will support the most.
The intended audience for my website audience is most likely to attract users with web standards based browsers and their most current versions. My visitor statistics support that theory, and my budget of $0 (aside from my time) really drives the story home. The added variable however, is this website is also intended to practice new CSS 3 and other theoretical design techniques I have conceived - the sandbox approach to see what works and what would need extra effort.
Jeremy Keith's infamous “I reject the premise of your question” is exactly right attitude in reference to a SXSW '09 panel in which the topic was on browser support. Support is a relative term as it is impossible to deliver the experience of a HTML5, CSS 3 and web standards browser (Safari 4) as you would an obsolete browser (IE 6).
What is your design philosophy?
I make a conscious effort in every project to design for what I call “The Client's Story” and building an experience for the user around that story. Every client has a brand (or something that resembles) and something to say; my job is to translate their fundamental vision and strategy into design environment that is meaningful to the user. Design is about advocating for your client and your user, without prioritizing one over the other, to bring the two together.
Who is your favorite client?
All clients present unique challenges with unique perspectives so you are looking to apply to an absolute truth to a problem with no absolute answer. If I am working directly with my own client, I love working with people that ask questions, trust my judgment as a designer, follow through on their responsibilities as clients and offer insight to their potential users.
In working with a team of creatives, I like working with people that are flexible and open to reinterpretations of their ideas for the success of the project. If I am asked to consult in specific capacity, I generally go about doing my job as asked but will lend suggestions about what may communicate better, or provide a better user experience.