This
group has won several awards, not the least of which is Web Design Library’s “Usability
of the Month” award, which they received in November for their
site Grasaro.ru. A brief history: In 2001
Alex Kushpel and Vyacheslav Ahmadullin decided to work in web design. Founding
the Dominion Group at the end of the same year, they hired Alex Efremenko as
a technical designer, Olga Slivatkina as an SEO and news consultant, and Alexey
Stenshin as an HTML coder. Each member worked alone at home, occasionally meeting
at Vyacheslav’s house. Then came March, and the group found their first
office. Since that time, Dominion has acquired five more members, including
the lovely technical designer Anna Glinskaya, who contributed the drawing of
The Lion from her personal sketchbook. Original Group: Vyacheslav Ahmadullin, Alex Kushpel, Alex Efremenko, Olga Slivatkina and Alexey Stenshin (serving as translator for this interview).
Current Group: Vyacheslav Ahmadullin, Alex Kushpel, Alex Efremenko, Olga Slivatkina, Alexey Stenshin, Anna Glinskaya, Alex Makarov (update), Alex Kornev (copywriter & content coder), Dmitry Fitiskin (programmer), Anna Glinskaya (designer) and Michael Chehovskih (project manager).
WDL: What did you do before the Web? This is the part where you get to impress us by telling us about your wide experience and deep knowledge. Go ahead, dazzle us.
Dominion Group(Alexey Stenshin): It's not so easy to find a period in my life that is not related to the Web. It's so because web design is not a consequence of specific actions; web design is a wide range conception.
When I saw the Internet the first time, I understood that it's my vocation and that I wanted to know everything about it. It was easy for me, because my hobby which brings lots of positive emotion for me became a job which brings income. In that way, after reading lots of literature and creating many web sites, I decided to become a professional web designer.
The Dominion Group won Web Design Library’s “Usability of
the Month” award in November for this site.
WDL: What kind of computer do you use and what kind of software did you use while creating Grasaro.ru software programs and do you often switch software between projects?
Dominion Group: As somebody said: “Each way is good to reach the aim.” While making Grasaro.ru, we used a PC with standard software. The graphics part was made with Adobe Photoshop, software realization – PHP + MySQL.
WDL: Where
do you get inspiration? Tell us what your 3 favorite resources are. Dominion Group: If these questions are related, I'll answer this way: My job consists of solving different problems that must be decided in creative and logical ways.
Inspiration for solving problems concerned with creativity and arts I take from communication with my colleagues and friends, music and the Internet. Solutions for logical problems come when I concentrate on the problem. In other words solutions for logical problems come from me.
WDL: Designing with standards ensures that your web sites will be visible today and tomorrow in any browser, breaking the cycle of coding and recoding; so, if your focus is usability, and you did receive an award “Usability of the Month” from Web Design Library, why does not one of the sites from your portfolio validate using the Markup Validation Service v0.6.7?
Dominion Group: Our aim is to make web sites visible for all users. Our latest projects are visible for 98% of web users. We try to make our work good, and sometimes we prefer usability to standards.
WDL: One of you - Alexander (Alex) Efremenko - is a technical designer, with an interest in graphics and the other - Vyacheslav Ahmadullin - specializes in user interface and usability areas. How often do you disagree on the way things should be done? What sort of negotiation goes on behind the scenes? Any fisticuffs?
Dominion
Group: We have discords every day, and I think that this is just due
to having two professional points of view. I think that it's not possible to
make something really good without different views on common problems, especially
in the Web where there are no rules and edges but plenty of creative decisions. WDL: How many layouts do you outline when you are working with clients for the first time?
Dominion Group: The quantity of layouts is different in different projects. Usually there is only one layout, excluding lots of little modifications. :)
WDL: How often do you have to encourage your clients to talk during the initial steps of the design process? While we're on the subject, tell us how you arrange initial meetings with clients, what sort of atmosphere you try to create, and so on. You've probably read Pelevin's “Generation P”…
Dominion Group: We rarely talk about the initial steps of the design with clients. If a client knew the particulars of design, he wouldn't ask about it - in other words – he relies on us. Besides it's a long process. Clients are different and we try to find an individual approach for each of them. So, initial meetings are unique each time. As a rule, we work with such companies whose front line representatives are people who do not make decisions concerning graphic design and don't realize the advantages of creating the web site for their organization. During the initial meeting, our managers try to grasp the goals of the web site and “extract” potential problems which can be solved with the help of the web site and web technologies.
WDL: How many Russian associations and how much professional Russian literature exists for web designers?
Dominion Group: I have no idea about associations. As for professional literature, we have only translations of foreign publications and as a rule they are out of date. Usually we use information from the Internet (the word “Internet” in the Russian edition of MS Word is mark as incorrect, so what can I say?) and that information doesn't come from Russia .
WDL: Is there any UNIQUE Russian project, which has an idea that is not present in the international Web at all?
Dominion Group: It's hard for me to talk about the originality of a project, because I should know about every project in web to do it. I like projects for designers like c-art.ru, where each user is offered to make a part of the common work, but it's not unique already.
Sanita website - work of the Dominion Group
WDL: If a newbie wants to become a professional in web design, what does he need to do? Does he need to get a degree or learn some software etc.? And how long do you think it will take for the average user to achieve this?
Dominion Group: As I said, web design is a wide ranged conception; it includes plenty of different professions. In Russia , you can study some of them at university. Another way to become a professional is to get wide experience while working. As for professional software, I think that each program product is just an instrument to reach the aim. Everyone can choose what he likes. As for becoming an average specialist in Web technologies, you should understand the bases of information, perception, graphic, ergonomics, usability, automation, programming and coding.
How long it will take? A couple of years of uninterrupted working. ;-)
WDL: Can you name the best Russian web design studio (besides yours, of course)? :)
Dominion Group:
• Actis Systems (www.actis.ru)
• Art. Lebedev Studio (www.artlebedev.ru)
WDL: Is there any celebrity for whom you'd like to make web site?
Dominion Group: Our web sites make celebrities from our clients. ;-)
WDL: Thank you for taking the time to be interviewed.
