1. How and why did you decide that you want to be a programmer?
Well, originally when I went to college I wanted to be an Optometrist or Ophthalmologist. I ended up getting a job working in the field, and after a year or so realized that the field was changing. Big companies were taking over most of eyecare and the results were far from good, for both doctor and patient. I decided then to change major to do something with computers. Ever since I was a kid I have loved computers so I figured it fit. Once I took a few programming classes I decided I wanted to do that – it was amazing to create something really cool out of nothing. It was also very satisfying.

2. Which aspects of programming do you find most challenging to you?
I think the most challenging thing about programming is working with other people’s code, or old uncommented code. Programs can be designed a multitude of different ways, and unless the person is sitting right beside you it can take quite awhile to figure out the architecture or hardcoded secrets tucked away in some random class.

3. How do you keep up on track with the industry? Do you read blogs, network, magazines, etc?
I read news aggregators, blogs and search for particular things I am interested in. I have yet to find a really good single site that applies to my interests, so you might say I wander around online looking for things that apply to me.

4. What programming solutions do you like to work most on?
I get the most enjoyment out of design and architecture. I am always trying to find better ways of doing things, and a good architecture will separate functionality and add clarity to your code, while allowing it to be reusable. Its like you are building your own swiss army knife of code, and if you ever need to use that tool again you just open it up and use it, no more rewrites.

5. Since you spend most of your day coding, do you dream about it too?
Rarely. When I do, I usually only dream about a problem that is difficult or complex to solve, but occasionally I will dream about mundane blocks of code.

6. How would you describe Imulus?
Hmmm, I am not really sure how I would describe us in a few concise sentences. The phrase “The best job I will ever have” comes to mind. I love the work and the people even more. We are a flat organization who is constantly changing and getting better. It’s the whole package. I talk a lot about Imulus to my friends, and every single one of them is jealous of me and wants to work here.

7. What’s the best perk you enjoy at Imulus?
Can I do two? I would have to say xbox on the flat screens and beer in the fridge..

8. If you were about to travel the world, where would you go first and why?
Hmmm. That is a tough one – I want to go a lot of places but right now I am itching to go scuba diving again. So I would probably start someplace with awesome beaches, snorkeling and scuba diving. So I would probably say someplace like Belize or Bonaire, or maybe back to Hawaii.

9. How do you like to spend your personal time?
Doing just about everything under the sun. My favorite is sleep. When I am not doing that, I enjoy my weekly Krav Maga sessions, ice hockey, working out, snowboarding, mountain biking, camping, shooting, hiking, fishing. Just about anything outdoors puts a smile on my face. I love a good fiction book, enjoy (to varying degrees) movies and like two different types of video games – the online ones that are pure competition, and the role playing ones that tell a story.

10. What’s the last book you read and how did you like it?

I read Ender’s Game (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender%27s_Game) just last weekend. It was really good – it was thought provoking and entertaining with good character development of the main character (Ender). I am planning on reading a few of the sequels.

1. Give us a bit of background on who you are, and what you do at Imulus.
Hello world! I am the Graphic Designer at Imulus. I get to create all day long, drink coffee, speak with my Bosnian accent, and sometimes play Halo. You should hear my non-sense jokes…yet everyone finds a way to cry their tears out. So yes, I was born in Bosnia and moved to Colorado in 1995. I graduated with a Fine Arts degree in Multimedia from University of Colorado at Denver and love the work that I get to do everyday. I am a graphic designer because I am a problem-solver, thinker, maker, and believe that the world always needs progress.

2. Describe the most exciting thing you think is going on today in our industry (service, trend, idea, etc).
Web apps, iPhone, Twitter, social media.

3. Who is your favorite designer, and why?
I don’t usually favor anything. It’s just a thing I have, but I do have a few designers that I admire. They are all great designers with passion, ambition, and dedication for the love of their work. Ellen Lupton, Stefan Sagmeister, , Paul Rand, Hillman Curtis, Milton Glaser. That’s my short list.

4. If you could change one thing about people’s attitude towards the online world what would it be?
I would ask them to dump their IE 6 browser and move on to a modern browser. Life at that point would be so much easier for designers and developers.

5. What’s the number one design mistake you see made now days?
I would say bad typographic choices. Also, a redesign of some brand logos that look worse than what they already were.

6. If you were forced to carry a medieval weapon with you at all times what would it be?
A dagger.

7. If you were allowed to only use one computer program the rest of your life what would it be?
For the rest of my life…I feel violated! I think it would be a browser. Definitely not IE. I would prefer Safari / Firefox. With a browser I can do anything and I am not completely restricted. I can e-mail, design, develop, and communicate.

8. Regarding fruit. What is your favorite kind?
Strawberry and Figs

9. What song or artist have you been listening to the most recently?
James Blunt and Letu Stuke <--bosnian group

10. Where do you look in your life to get design inspiration?
Everything around me is design. To be a great designer it’s important to observe the outside world, away from my desk and a computer. When I am aware of my surroundings and observations that’s when I get the inspiration. On the other hand, I also get inspired with the talented team of people at Imulus, turning pages of annuals, reading essays on graphic design, collecting ideas from compelling work.

11. If Imulus were a person, what kind of personality would (s)he have?
If Imulus were a person…The type of personality that Imulus would have–well see answer to question 14.

12. You have to choose between being blinded or losing both arms, what would you choose?
Ouch! Hopefully this loss of my abilities would not include torture. I wouldn’t want to lose either, but I would rather choose to lose both of my arms rather than being blind. Since my profession is heavily based on visual, I guess I can learn my way around things. Type & move the mouse around with my feet and toes.

13. What’s your most used keyboard shortcut when working?
Command+Z to undo. Command+S to save.

14. Thanks for your time, to finish can you give me one word to describe each of your Imulus co-workers?
Scott – understanding
George – determined
John – passionate
Steph – wonderful
Mario – intriguing
Kat – amusing
Bruce – ambitious
Taylor – kind
Corey – entertaining

As I wrote these words down, one word is not enough, but rather all these words and many more could describe each one of us and that’s what really makes us great. We are one great team, but above all we are a family.

Give us a brief introduction to what you do here at Imulus, and maybe why you are fondly referred to as ‘The crusher of hopes and dreams’
I am one of the owners and the Creative Director. I work with clients to solve their design, branding, marketing, and interface problems in creative ways. Internally I oversee the design team and push them to create better solutions. That’s where the “crusher” nickname came from. Sometimes one of our designers will think they have a great solution, and it is my role to say, “But did you think about this? What if the user does that?” And in doing so I “crush their hopes and dreams.”

You are a co-founder of Imulus. Since Imulus has been around for awhile and is doing great, what advice would you give to would-be entrepreneurs out there?
I really think you need to create a business out of doing what you love to do. If you are just in it to make money you’re going to be unhappy and burn out quickly. Starting a business takes a lot of dedication and time, so if you aren’t spending all those hours doing something you enjoy, it’s not worth it.

What one/few things would you boil down Imulus’ success to?
I think the three owners skills are a great fit for the work that we do and our personalities mix very well. While we have different strengths and weaknesses we all share a desire to constantly improve and are always asking, “How can we do that better?”

What do you like most about your job?
I love solving problems and I get to do that on a daily basis. I also really enjoy everyone I work with. Well . . . almost everyone ; )

Least?
Lack of time is always a challenge. There are so many cool ideas that would be great to pursue, but we can only do so much.

What is your dream car?
Do I have to pick just one? I think my current favorite car has to be the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione It is such an incredible mix of classic sports car lines with modern details. It is truly a piece of automotive art.

What do you think is your most valuable skill?
When you are designing you really need to be able to put yourself in the shoes of the target audience. I feel like I do a good job of looking at the design through their eyes and not getting to emotionally attached to anything if it doesn’t seem to work from the target users point of view.

You are quiet a lot. Tell us what is going on in Scott’s head when he is quiet.
You know, it’s the quiet ones you have to worry about. Actually I have always been one to think things through before I form or state an opinion. I believe that words are very powerful and that they should be carefully chosen if you care about their outcome.

If someone offered to buy Imulus tomorrow for 59.2 billion dollars tomorrow and you decided to sell, what would you do for the rest of your life?
See question 6. After buying that and a few other cars I think I would play for a few years. Travel the world, race cars, run, learn to scuba dive, play tennis etc. Once I got that out of my system I would figure out what kind of business I would like to start.

Who is the most influential person on your work and why?
I don’t know if I can pick a single person, but I would say that the Bauhaus movement and the Swiss Style have had the most influence on my as a designer. I have always felt that the simplest solutions are always the best and that the best designs get out of the users way and let them what they want.

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to remove.”

— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

You used to be anti-twitter, and then you hopped on the bandwagon. Thoughts on tweeting after being through both phases?
I was very hesitant to get involved with Twitter because I am not what you would call a “self promoter.” I figure no one cares what I am doing on a daily basis. I think Twitter has an amazing ability to allow someone to broadcast to a worldwide audience very easily. For business it offers a great way for a company to broadcast directly to their customers and also for customers to interact with a brand. For me, I get a lot of inspiration from seeing what Lance Armstrong and Bernard Legat did for their workout today. I will sometimes post my workouts as well. Maybe someone will get inspiration from me, who knows.

Have any good designer jokes?
1st Designer: “Wow, you always have so many fonts, where do you get them from?”

2nd Designer: “Oh they come from Monaco, Geneva, Chicago, New York… I get them delivered at various Times throughout the day…”

1st Designer: “By who?”

2nd Designer: “A Courier!”

Your favorite piece of art
I don’t have a particular favorite, but I would love to have a Rothko on my wall.

If someone told you that you had to author a book and really be into it or the world would blow up, what would you write about?
I would write a book about the best running trails and the best driving roads around the world. It would obviously take a lot of research ; )

If you could choose to be in a movie, which movie would it be and who character would you be?
James bond in Dr. No

Name, rank, and occupation soldier!
My name is Taylor Smith and I’m an Interface Developer. I take all the pretty pictures the designers draw all day and turn them into functioning, interactive websites.

What was the first development project you worked on?
The first websites I can remember working on weren’t exactly what I would call “development projects.” They were more like personal sites put together with the limited knowledge of HTML and CSS I had back in the late 90s. At the time I was more into photography and messing around with Photoshop, which sort of naturally led me to web design. From there, it seemed that becoming better at HTML and CSS was the next step I needed to take in order to get my designs online, so that’s what I did.

At six, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a front-end XHTML/CSS/JavScript specialist with an emphasis on user interface design and usability, obviously. I also had a short lived interest in becoming a Ghostbuster.

In this field, who do you look up to?
The people I look up to most in this field are the people who blur the lines between development, design, and interaction. There are a lot of talented people specializing in just one of those fields, but the people who can take a step back and understand the overall experience of a website are the ones I find are creating the most compelling content. People like Dan Cederholm, Jason Santa Maria, Dave Shea, Shaun Inman, and many others are not only actively engaged in furthering their skills as front-end developers, but they make it look damn sexy in the process.

What podcasts do you listen to?
I listen to a lot of podcasts. Taking the bus between Denver and Boulder provides me with about 3 hours a day of downtime, and my commute is only made tolerable by the likes of This Week in Tech, Macbreak Weekly, This American Life, You Look Nice Today, Car Talk, and Diggnation. The nice thing about these podcasts in particular is their length; they usually span the entire length of the commute. I have to say, however, that my favorite podcast is The Moth. These are much shorter, but I have yet to hear a story that hasn’t moved me in one way or another.

What nerdy things do you do outside of work?
I use internet lingo in everyday conversations, apply Twitter hashtags to situations outside of Twitter, and have been known to text in lolspeak. I also go lollersaking, ride in a roflcopter, and have an escape route planned for the impending zomgie apocalypse.

Tell us the funniest thing you saw online?
I spent way too much time “researching” this question and have decided it’s impossible to narrow it down to just one, so I’m going to list five that come to mind. Auto-Tune the News #2, Motherf***ing Parking Ticket (NSFW), Cat vs. Printer, Lazy Town Remix feat. Lil’ Jon (NSFW), and David After Dentist.

If you could take a Delorean back to your freshman year of college but only 10 seconds, what would you say to yourself?
“Go snowboarding. A lot.”

How would you change HTML?
My biggest gripe with HTML is definitely the amount of time it takes for upgrades to be implemented. It is unlike almost every other technology out there. HTML5 includes some amazing advancements, but is slowed down not only by the people creating it, but also by the implementation of all the major browsers, AND the adoption rate of customers. Ian Hickson, the editor of the HTML 5 specification, has estimated that HTML5 will be completed in 2022. That’s right. Thirteen years from now.

What is the best part about working at Imulus?
The best part about working at Imulus is almost certainly knowing that everyday I get to work with a group of immensely talented and passionate people. Not only that, but I get to make a living doing something I genuinely enjoy doing, and something that I can actually see myself improving at everyday.

What’s the problem with radio today?
The biggest problem with radio is that there’s no diversity; every station sounds the same. In their defense, it’s a tough industry to be in these days, but I think they brought a lot of that on themselves. Their attempt to appeal to the lowest common denominator has resulted in there being a lot of stations with zero personality. When a new station emerges that tries to do something different, they are often short-lived. Indie 101.5, for example, had great programming, but has recently brought their broadcast online and been replaced by The Pole: Stripper Radio. Sounds like a winner.

If electronic devices stopped working, how would you cope?
I think I would cope pretty well. I could be wrong, but I feel most people who work very closely with technology have the occasional urge to leave it all behind and disconnect permanently. If I were ever in a scenario where I could no longer do the work I do I’d probably find some remote part of the country to move to and find a job working outside. Although I would certainly miss working on the web.

What’s the first thing you do when approaching a new project?
I do not have one specific thing I do when approaching a new project, but I’m beginning to realize there are many things I should be better at doing during the initial phase of a new project. Specifically I am trying to be better at foreseeing how the finished product will work from all points of view: from the view of Imulus, the client, and the audience. The specific tasks I take to achieve this is constantly evolving.

Name the best prank pulled at Imulus.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t working for Imulus at the time of what many refer to as the best prank, but there have been some good ones since I started. I was particularly fond of the prank I’ve always wanted to pull myself. I think it worked out pretty well.

What would you saaay. . .you do here?
I make sure the TPS reports have covers on them. Aside from that important job, I am also a Project Manager. I have all the day-to-day contact with clients. They tell me what they need, and I make sure it gets done on time and within the budget. I task out all of the work to my glorious team. In short, I stack bomb.

What is your most embarrassing moment?
Oh boy. Do I only get to chose one? Alright, as a college Freshman, I was playing in a soccer game. My teammate, Kealy, got very badly hacked in the ankle, but kept playing and limping around. In soccer, in order to stop for injury time, you have to sit on the ground, the ref blows the whistle, and the person can leave. Well, everyone was telling Kealy to sit down, and she wouldn’t. She was playing defense and I was in the midfield. My coach yelled, “Hoffman, drop for her!” Well, I assumed he meant “drop to the ground to stop play” rather than drop back to defense to give her a break. Well, like the dutiful minion I was, I plopped on the ground. The ref, my teammates, and the entire sideline were laughing at the blonde dumbass sitting in the middle of the field. I, unfortunately, was the one who had to leave the field, since I was the one sitting. Yep. Good times. Idiot. Never lived that one down all 4 years of college soccer.

If money were no object, what would you do with your life?
I’d be a stand-up comedian. I’d probably dance, play soccer daily, and travel the world while telling my jokes.

Dogs or Cats?
Daawwwwggggss!!! I have puppy fever. Bad.

What is the funniest thing a client has ever said to you?
At my old company, we put together a postcard mailer design. We presented the design with Lorum Ipsem in the copy as a text place holder to show the overall concept (like we had done 50 other times for this client). He said he really liked the design, but was concerned that most of his audience wouldn’t be able to understand Latin. Oh boy.

So we’re all jealous of your trip to Europe. What was the best part?
There were so many amazing parts. I loved my day in Toledo. Amalfi was the most beautiful town too. Pompeii was just unbelievable. I have to say my favorite was probably Rome. The architecture, art, and history are just so amazing. Our hotel was in the perfect location to walk to all of the amazing sites: The Pantheon, The Coliseum, and The Sistine Chapel. Doesn’t get much better than that!

What Office character are you?
I don’t actually watch the show. I would say Pam is a safe bet, but I am certainly not as shy or awkward (I hope). Unfortunately, I think I may just be the crazy one…

Creed Bratton
The most eccentric office employee, Creed keeps a blog called Creed Thoughts filled with musings like “If I ever go[t] the chance, I’d take a bath in a giant fondue pot. No lie.”
http://television.aol.com/insidetv/2007/09/21/the-office-character-guide/

What is your favorite movie of all time?
Boy, this is tough to narrow down without a specific category. I prefer comedy, so that’s what you shall get.

I think I’m going with Office Space. Although, Wedding Crashers and Van Wilder are both up there. I’m also going to put Singing in the Rain and The Little Mermaid out there, too. Yep.

Eagles or Broncos?
Yes.

Who would you most like to meet?
Well, you’ll probably mock me for this, but I would have loved to have met Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter. I have never seen someone get so much joy out of everything he did and truly live his life to the fullest every day. I would think 5 minutes in a room with him, and you’d have a totally different appreciation for everything big and small.

However, I assume this question refers to the living, so I would have to go with Ronaldinho. I can’t imagine I’d have a whole lot to say to him, but it’d be the coolest thing ever to stand 10 feet away from him with a soccer ball. Now, there’s a guy who’s loving life and is awesome at what he does.

If you could have a super power, what would it be?
I think I’d fly because then I could travel anywhere I wanted to for free.

Of course, if I had ESP, I could guess what clients wanted before they even asked for it. Talk about best Project Manager ever.

What website can you not live without?
I’m going to be an ass and say Google. I was going to say The Denver Egotist, Digg, or Fark, but really I couldn’t survive without Google. I’d be like a lost little puppy.

Best “That’s what she said” heard at Imulus.
Mario: “I used to have massive forearms from stick handling.” #TWSS
Taylor: “When it’s early in the morning and I want to grab a pair.” #TWSS
Steph: “Can you just fake it for the time-being to get it done quickly on the site?”
Mario: “I can fake anything.” (PS That was on a client call) #TWSS