Author Interview: Meet hqm

This month, we interview hqm! A familiar face in the community, hqm has been making news all over this month: contributing a great article on profiles, contributing our Free File of the Month for October, and we’re proud to announce he’s the newest reviewer on the GraphicRiver reviewing team! Read on to find out more about this talented designer…and don’t forget to check out his portfolio!

1. Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from, what do you do for a living?

I’m a graphic designer from Jonkoping, Sweden. I´m a coffee junkie, freelance writer/designer who does a lot of work for swedish sites and companies. I also have an education in sales that I got from my former employer a few years ago so, I guess we could say that I´m a salesman that love art and design to the point that he creates it himself.

But I´m trying to widen my horizon a bit so right now I practice to write more English articles and tutorials. And as some of you readers may know that I have written a tutorial for this blog before. I guess we could consider it outdated at the moment since the re-design made some difference for it´s usage. But it was a fun experience and I would really like to do another one soon. In the last few months I have taken my spare time to working on the web for different purposes to the point of I have become quite a popular person online.

For a living I´m writing articles and do a lot of design work for a friends company. Other than this, I moderate and reviewing designs over at ReviewMyDesign that´s owned and operated by Simon North. Even if I don´t get paid doing it I think it´s one of the those things you can do on your spare time. It´s fun to help people and to give them more experience when it comes to design.

2. How long have you been designing and what made you start selling items on GraphicRiver?

I have worked within Photoshop for almost 8 years now but only 5 of those are for graphic and web design. I have been a Tuts+ reader from the beginning but I only recently took the time to check out other Envato sites. So I found ThemeForest and got really hooked up with all beautiful designs I saw there so I had to register and purchase a couple of templates. And I guess that´s what got me hooked up here on the marketplaces.

3. Do you create files from scratch for GraphicRiver, or do you re-use work that you’ve created for a client?

I guess alot of us here on GraphicRiver have re-used an old design but, about 98% of my work I create are from scratch. And of course we all need inspiration at some point so I usually surf GraphicRiver for inspiration on colors and some different layouts. But you should never copy another authors work, make the design your own.

4. Where do you get your inspiration from for your GraphicRiver work?

I draw my inspiration from all over the place like nature, birds, music, cars and of course items here on GraphicRiver. It may vary from time to time but most of it I usually draw from the musical side. One person have inspired me to never give up even if you get pressed down and talked about all over the place. Can you guess who? Well, some of you might have figured it out and the person I´m reffering to are Michael Jackson (R.I.P). His life has always inspired me to create art and as I think, we can all agree that he was the biggest artist there is. Sure, he created music instead of real art but, he were that kind of person who inspired people to keep going no matter what.

5. What is your work flow like when starting a new file? Could you walk us through the steps you take when getting ready to create a new file?

This is the most important step for me since I always write my ideas down on a piece of paper or on my iPhone using the notebook app. After this I always start by drawing a sketch on a piece of paper with support words on it. Next step are to transfer the idea from the paper into the computer. I do this by having the scetch beside the computer screen and start to design. For the designing part I have started to use a wacom once more since my last one died a while ago. Since it´s been a while I used a wacom it is kind of hard to learn using it again but, once you got the hang of it everything works out just fine. The equipment I use are listed below and also which software I use. I have even listed my work flow so you are able to see in which order I do everything.

My equipment

• MacBook Pro 15″
• Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch A6
• Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad
• Logitech G5 Laser Mouse
• iPhone 3G

My software

• Snow Leopard
• Photoshop CS/3
• Coda
• Mamp

My work flow

• Write down the idea
• Start a rough sketch
• Making support words
• Transferringto Photoshop

6. What do you do to market and brand your files?

For the moment I don´t market my files very much. And sure, it affects my sales but then again. I don´t really have many items to market yet. So until I feel that I have enough items I will start market them more than I do now.

7. What advice can you give to authors that might help them increase their overall sales?

Be confident, never loose sight of your goal. Create useful, unique and high quality items. And the most important thing to remember are to never get discouraged if an item gets rejected. Remember, useful and creative items sells. If you need any pointers at all or if you are uncertain your item are good enough please feel free to visit us at ReviewMyDesign for some feedback. We are there to help you and to give you pointers and you should count on that you will get feedback.

8. Besides yourself, who is your favorite GraphicRiver author?

Well, this is a though question since I have a lot of favorite authors here on GraphicRiver but, my biggest favourite are Liam_uk7 from WeFunction. His icon sets are incredible and always useful for something. I especially love his Function App Icons 275 (With Free Bonus) icons. They are both beautiful and really useful. If you haven´t seen them yet please check them out, I guarantee that you will find them useful.

9. Which file do you think is your best file so far?

I think the best item I have for sale for the moment are my Exclusive Button Set. I came up with this button set when I browsed the items here on GraphicRiver and noticed that most of the buttonsets weren´t sliced and ready to use in an instant. So I started the design, sliced them up and put them on sale here on GraphicRiver.

10. What one thing would you like to change about GraphicRiver if you could?

Since the re-design of GraphicRiver I haven´t found any big things I would like to change. Then again I would like some more features. One feature I would like are the ability to create a giftcard for giveaways on your own site. This would be an awesome giveaway for your own blog or site really. So I´m hoping Envato will look into this feature and maybe create it as a nice update for all marketplaces.

11. When you aren’t creating graphic files, what do you do for fun?

I usually review a lot of designs and hang with my friends playing some video games,watching movies and drinking alot of coffee. Sometimes I even hang out in the gym and, I do try to make a habit of it because sometimes you feel like a sack of potatoes. One thing I always do, even if I´m designing is that I listen to a lot of music.

12. Would you like to give a sneak peek or some information about the latest file you are currently working on to our readers?

I have alot of work on my table this month since I got a couple of new clients and I need to finish of my own portfolio as well. And in the end of this month I will launch my very own video blog. But when it comes to the marketplaces I´m working on a theme for ThemeForest and it´s actually in redesign for the moment since I wasn´t so happy with it. But in the image below you get a small sneak peak. If you wish to know when it´s released you should follow me either on the marketplaces or on Twitter.