iainclaridge.net

about this site

This blog functions as a broadcast medium for my news, a braindump for ideas, a repository for snippets of code and chunks of creative inspiration, a means of communicating my own personal views on life, and a simple tracking system providing an overview of current interests and activities.

Powered by Wordpress, the site uses my own custom theme based on the classic K2. I call this theme, Kaput, and may well tidy up the hacks and release it one day for download, if I ever find the time. There are whizzier themes around with widgets a-gogo that could enable me to give the site more of a magazine format and I have considered this approach but I find a more traditional old school blog layout best suits my purposes.

If websites were cars then I would consider my blog to be a Citroën 2CV - on the face of it not overly pretty but solid, functional, reliable and fit for purpose. It’s also fun to tinker with when I am not striving to produce the web equivalent of Aston Martins for Netsight and my own personal clients.

I have recently added advertising to this site which just about covers my hosting costs. I only advertise products and services I have actually used or think may be of interest to my readership. You can read more on my policy regarding advertising on this site, here.

For the lowdown on my commercial and consultancy work, go to Iain Claridge Studio.

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about me

I am a designer, photographer and art director, currently based in Bristol, UK. With a background in graphic design and photography, as well as extensive experience of working within interactive design, I handle work across a broad range of media.

I strive to create appropriate work with purpose, honesty, beauty and function. Whether it’s photography, graphic design or interactive design, the core values of my creative process remain the same - flexibility, craft consciousness and a commitment to deliver within budget and on time, time after time.

I design with Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash and good old pen and paper. I code sites in XHTML and CSS, using the occasional dash of Actionscript, JavaScript, and PHP, a lot of usability, accessibility, and web standards together with a comprehensive understanding of database driven solutions. Brought up shooting stills on film, I now shoot predominantly on high-end Nikon digital kit, retouching in Photoshop on an Apple workstation when required.

I currently work as Senior Designer and Head of User Experience for Netsight in Bristol in addition to running my one-man cross-media practice, Iain Claridge Studio. I have experience of working with clients all over the world and will consider offers of contract and freelance work or collaborations of any kind.

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/Iain Claridge