I had the pleasure to sit down with a close colleague of mine and amazingly talented designer, Luke Hodsdon of Nine Three Studios and pick his brain for a few minutes. Considering how busy this guy is, a few minutes was more than enough time. Click below for the full interview and photos of some of his amazing work after the jump!

- Who are you and What is ninethreestudio.com?
My name is Luke Hodsdon and i’m the creative mind, if you could call it that, behind Nine Three Studio. Basically, Nine Three Studio is an all purpose, one stop shop for graphic design. It’s still in the building stages, but someday soon, or so i keep telling myself, the site (ninethreestudio.com) will contain tutorials, inspiration, and freelance to contract graphic design work. There’s still a lot in the pipeline for Nine Three Studio, so stay connected to get all the new updates. Currently we’re in the process of a complete redesign which will help to encompass all the aforementioned changes, plus many more in the near future. Re-branding is the new black.

- Why did you choose your current career path?
Well, it all really started back in junior high for me, I know, hard to believe. Being a little bit of an introvert, I found solace in early style, HTML based chat rooms. We tested the limits of what we could and couldn’t get away with with HTML and Javascript code. We kept the moderators on their toes, that’s for sure. They constantly had to figure out safewalls for our “destructive” code. We didn’t do anything to ruin the rooms, but we did figure out how to format probably every piece of HTML code the site would let us. So, really, that was my intro into Web and Graphic Design. I think i’d had a new avatar weekly as I’d teach myself new techniques and poke around in graphics programs.

- What’s the best part of your job?
Three things. The freedom. The creativeness. And frankly, the fun I get to have learning.

- Worst part?
That’s tough, because I try as hard as possible to make everything a learning experience, but if i must say something then it’d be indecisiveness and last minute deadlines.

- What are your goals for your company?
Eventually i would love for Nine Three Studio and ninethreestudio.com to be a self sustaining entity. I’d love to be able to work with more consults on projects and get a real think tank of creative people all working under one roof, or at least a teleconference call away. I mean, let’s face it, the internet IS the future.

- Tell us about a typical day in the life of ninethreestudio.com.
Am i allowed to give plugs in this interview? Haha, just kidding. A typical day for me and Nine Three Studio consists of massive amounts of “new”. Daily i try to immerse myself in a pool of design elements and aspects. I search for faster, more efficient ways of producing and try to enhance my skills to eventually trickle down to the benefit of my clients.

- What and/or Who inspires you? Why?
I find inspiration everywhere. I’m a pretty tough critic when it comes to artwork, and many times find myself asking “how is it that this guy/girl is selling that product, have they no pride in their work?”, but in the end of the day my biggest inspirations would be the people around me who i can directly learn from and share ideas with. I think there’s nothing more useful that creative criticism and brainstorming. Currently though, online inspiration comes from a couple key places. Fabio Sasso with abduzeedo.com; This guy has got “it”. His designs are cutting edge and always with a skilled execution of his craft. If i’d have to pick one, it’d be him, but since you’ve given me carte blanche to say whatever i want here, I’m going to plug as many of these people as possible! Tina Roth Eisenberd with swiss-miss.com; Jacob Cass with justcreativedesign.com; and of course my local colleagues, yourself included Justin Moore-Brown with bighdesign.com; Brandon Jaime currently without an online presence, but we’re working on it; Albert Ornelas with ocgente.com; Jenny Ewaski with breakthrudesignstudio.blogspot.com;

- Describe your style or approach to your work.
I really like to think of myself as a fresh, clean concept designer. I like things to be new, hip, fun. I shudder at the thought of Papyrus, and when a client specifically requests it, i fight them tooth and nail. When i sit down with a fresh project i like to look for inspiration in images, color schemes. I try to get the best feeling from a client and then help them to expand on that in a modern world. Advertising isn’t your grandpa’s old newspaper anymore. My personal feeling is that if you’re not on the top of your game, then someone else is going to pass you by while you’re still playing with old techniques. It’s just like cooking, which reminds me, i probably should have put cooking under inspirations (above)

- What do you keep on your desk? Any flair?
Any flair says he! My desk looks like a cubicle monster threw up on it. The desk itself is clean an organized, otherwise i’d go crazy, but the flair is abundant and reminds me that i still have a fun environment and i’m not working in some sterile world. I currently have a bunch of small scale garden gnomes, a papercraft Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, and a Silence of the Lambs figurine set.

- Mac or PC.
Really? PC – Piece of Crap. No offense to anyone out there who hasn’t had the pleasure of working on a mac!

- What was your first job in your industry?
My first full-time job was actually as a furniture designer. I used to build 3d Models of furniture for a local shop here in Newport Beach. It really was a great experience and i never would have thought i’d be designing furniture. The accomplishment of seeing something you build actually in real life was quite a feeling!

- What is your best or favorite project you’ve done so far? Why?
I’ve done a lot of projects that i’ve enjoyed, but i’d have to say the building and designing of ninethreestudio.com has been by far the best. It’s given me a chance to really expand my knowledge of the web as it pertains to design. I’m really looking forward to the redesign of the site which hopefully will be done by mid-year.

- If you could choose only one design software what would it be? Why?
If i could choose the suite, i’d choose Adobe Master Suite, but if it had to be one specifically, i’d say Illustrator. I’m becoming more and more comfortable with the environment and i love the lossless design of vector.

- What do you do to get away from your work?
Well, this might sound kind of lame, but i really love doing tutorials. I think they keep me sharp and they teach me all kinds of new techniques. And when i want to get away from a computer, i’ll still enjoy a fun round of Tower Defense maps in Warcraft 3. It’s a strategy, self-test feeling to finish them. In fact, last night i just finished a map that i’d yet to complete. I can’t be idle, i need my mind to run itself out before i can feel finished for a day.

- 1 word that describes you.
Diligent

- Any recommendations for our next interview?
Well, if you can manage to nail the guy down, Brandon Jaime is doing some amazing work and i hear rumor that he may be getting a website together soon.