David Seah Interview
Mar 26, 11:21 AM by Marko
Interivew with David Seah at davidseah.com
Marko: Heya David !
Dave: Hey dude!
Marko: For our reader’s could you tell something about yourself? (year old and other stuff)
Dave: I’m 38 years old, learned how to program on 8-bit microprocessors and went to college to study computer engineering. After graduating I went into computer graphics design, then worked in the video game industry for a few years. I’m probably best known for creating The Printable CEO and perhaps for being mistaken for Dave Shea.
Marko: How are you doing these days?
Dave: I’m doing OK, thanks for asking!
The longer answer: after years of wondering why the heck I wasn’t being more productive with my independent projects, I started blogging to see what the heck I would end up writing about. The idea was that I might see some patterns in what I was writing about, and therefore get a clue as to what the heck was pre-occupying me. As it turned out, it was developing a sense of authorship and a personal voice that was the issue. I got a few lucky breaks in 2005: joining the 9rules Network, for example, connected me with a wide audience. I’ve come to recognize that blogging, and by extension community building, is becoming a vector for fulfillment. So yeah…I’m very tickled that this is actually working. I never would have guessed that writing again would have lead here. Before, I was fixated on finding “the right technical skill” that made me happy. Now I know it’s actually something related to writing about people. The writing is the tangible aspect of my thinking process; figuring out how to “sell” that has been what’s preoccupying me.
Marko: When did you first encounter a keyboard or computer?
Dave: My first real computer encounter was in 1980, when our school bought a bunch of TRS-80 Model I machines..they had a whopping 32K total and featured a 40×32 resolution graphics screen! I was in the 7th grade, and fascinated by video games, largely because I wasn’t allowed to play them. The room had a glass wall overlooking the library, and I saw the older kids tapping industriously away at them doing mysterious things with glowing cursors. I wanted in! I learned some BASIC, then got my first real computer by working for a summer in a Taiwan electronics fly-by-night company that made musical Christmas tree ornaments (and whatever else would sell). The owner of the place was a cousin of a cousin or something, and laboriously went through the process of etching a knock-off Apple II circuit board from scratch and populating it with discrete IC chips. The keyboard was pure shit, but I could finally start playing with computers. It was a relief, because I was in a country where I didn’t speak the language…computers were something I could get into. I still have something of a keyboard fetish today…I’m typing this interview on a vintage IBM Model M “buckling spring” Space Saver keyboard. It rocks!
Marko: What is your favorite art work /website!?
Dave: There are certain video games, and certain artists. I love any video game that can manage a continuous 60 frames-per-second update rate…it’s primal, man. Defender and some other early vector games come to mind. Sinistar too, for sheer arcade gameplay genius. I sucked at all of them.
I love graphic novels too, and for some reason they are all single writer/artist productions. Jhonen Vasquez / Roman Dirge, for example. I like Jeff Smith’s Bone series. Masamune Shirow (Appleseed, Ghost in the Shell THE MANGA, not the horrible movie). Katsuhiro Otomo (Akira graphic novels), and Hayao Miyazaki’s astonishing Nausicaa graphic novel. Oh, for fun I like Chyna Clugston Major…my sister got me into her. I’m probably missing a few more, but I find all of these graphic novels pretty inspiring in the way they fuse authorship, narrative, and visuals. Oh, I have a soft spot for Alex Ross’ work, entirely because of “Kingdom Come”. His other collaborations doesn’t quite move me, though I like his painting. Then there are a few online comics: Scott Kurtz’s “Player Vs Player”, Gabe & Tycho’s “Penny Arcade”, John Allison’s “Scary Go Round”, Jeff Rowland’s “Wigu”, Jon Rosenberg “Goats”, and R. K. Milholland’s “Something Positive”. Um, looking at this list, I probably am going to come off as an anti-social gamer kook fanboy. I swear, “I read them for the writing”...
As far as the web goes, again it’s more content than design that moves me. Kathy Sierra’s “Creating Passionate Users” is a big favorite, as are Evelyn Rodriguez’s “Crossroad Dispatches” and Jory Des Jardin’s “Pause”. I’ll also periodically check in on Dooce too, because I’m waiting for her to run for President. When I feel like I need a dose of culture, I’ll check Arts & Letters Daily, BoingBoing, and Slashdot.
Marko: When you launched davidseah.com are you happy with the result of the site?
Dave: “Launch” might be too strong a word :-) While I’ve had the davidseah.com domain for years, I didn’t really have anything on it. In late 2004 I started blogging for the reasons I had mentioned before: to figure out WTF I was doing. I had been blocked on the design for years, and figured I should finally just start writing. So I loaded up WordPress, ported a Movable Type template over to it, shoved it out, and started writing.
In terms of design, it’s really a combination of deliberate “undesigned” steps I’ve taken while focusing on learning PHP and WordPress. I liked the idea of putting a big, bandwidth wasting original photo on the page because ordinarily I would never do that…growing up with only 16K free in your entire computer will do that to you. I did lavish a bit of attention on the subtle shading around the photo, just because I was curious if anyone would notice. The net result is fairly attractive, but I know I can do a lot better. As I figure out what the site is about, a new design will likely emerge, and I will want it to kick ass.
Looking at the site as a “platform for Dave Seah”, I’m very happy with the results. Because of the blog, I’ve met a lot of really awesome people last year, and got to meet a few of them at SXSW. And, I’m starting to get a taste of the entrepreneurial spirit through projects like The Printable CEO. So I’m looking forward to new additions to the site that will promote community and the sharing of ideas.
On the down side, the website tends to distract me from paying client work. It’s a new kind of balancing act for me; being recognized for being yourself is quite a novel sensation. I feel tremendous responsibility to writing new stuff for the site and replying to the various people who write to me, and even with the small trickle of emails I get, it’s taking more time than I can efficiently balance at this time. Re-implementing HARD DEADLINES is probably what I need to do, but setting them yourself is a little difficult to enforce when you work for yourself.
Marko: What do you do in your spare time (We realize that spare time, in this context)
Dave: I tend to work on things all the time, though not always on the things I should be working on :-) If I ignore everything that could possibly be related to work, I like (1) eating great food (2) watching what’s on my Tivo (3) visiting friends and finding out what they’re up to, life and projectwise. I also run a “new media group” that gets together periodically and chats about work/career/life/cool stuff. It’s an eclectic group with a broad age range, so the perspectives I get from these meetings help keep me fresh.
Marko: Do you have a favorite drink? How much of it do you drink?
Dave: I like drinks that are really artificially colored: blue! purple! green! But I don’t usually drink them because I avoid sugar as much as possible these days. I have recently discovered I like Islay Scotches, in particular the Lavagulin 16-yo. I haven’t had many Scotches yet, but this one really opened my eyes to the interesting qualities of liquor. I also like Thai Iced Coffee, Mango Lussis, and hot chocolate from L.A. Burdick, a chocolatier I visited in Harvard Square a while ago. Other than the Scotch, I don’t drink beer or hard liquor for pleasure. I will have a Guiness every once in a while with good pizza (NY Style thin crust, please).
Marko: Would you care to give us a brief overview of what a typical day is like for David Seah ?
Dave: I try to go to sleep early, by midnight, but I have terrible insomnia and often can’t fall asleep until 3 or 4AM because my mind won’t settle down. I get 6-8 hours of sleep, and on waking will go downstairs to my basement office and (1) read email (2) reply to email (3) handle client communications, update progress (4) do some kind of blog-related thing. This goes on for a number of hours, until I’m tired or hungry. I try to wrap things up by 8PM so I can settle down, but if I’m in a groove I will tend to keep going until I’m exhausted. Then the cycle begins again.
It’s not really that ideal. Help! :-)
Marko: I am always wondering how people such as yourself go about getting work? How do you do it?
Dave: For me, it’s been generally word of mouth. I know enough people in the area that I get work. I don’t make a huge amount of money, but I like the independence. Since the launch of the blog, I’ve also started direct inquiries as a result of the increased visibility, so I’m in a better position to book more revenue this year. Ultimately, I would like to be getting my income from selling original content, not services.
The problem with services right now is how to effectively package “what it is I do.” I’m something of a “deep generalist”, with a lot of experience in a field that’s also hard to grasp for the average person. How do you explain “New Media” or “Digital Media Design” to the layperson? To them it’s all just “the in-tar-net”. And since I prefer to work for clients directly, as opposed to working through an agency, explaining what I do to regular people is a significant hurdle.
My strategy for attracting work is pretty simple: make tangible things, and show them to as many interested people as possible. The Printable CEO checklist evolved out of that realization. I find it’s a lot easier to sell something tangible, and I like how it authentically represents my capabilities unapologetically.
People ultimately tend to hire me, I think, because they perceive me as a competent, thoughtful, and honest dude. This is apparent, I hope, the moment they talk to me. Since the launch of the blog, I also now have 700+ posts of from-the-heart writing on display, and this adds to my credibility as a person. It was not planned to be that, but I certainly am grateful that this happened.
I am also thinking of maybe working more as a producer or team lead and as a copywriter. These are roles, I think, that might be a good fit for my skillset. However, I like my independence, so doing management again is a little iffy. Teaching is another possibility, as I really enjoy it. Another possibility is starting a group of freelancers, but I need a good pool of talent to pull from. It’s starting to come together thanks to people who I’ve met through the blog.
Marko: Who are some of your biggest influences?
Dave: Strong, competent, compassionate individuals who are out there doing things that they are passionate about and beating the odds against them. Those are the people who most make me want to get out of bed in the morning. I also tend to like people who are independently doing their own thing because they believe in it, and are empowering other people through their actions. I listed several people in the answers to the “artwork/website” area…those people are all heroes to me.
Someone once asked me, years ago, who my favorite visionary was…was it perhaps Steve Jobs?. I was surprised by the reply that sprang unbidden to my mouth before I could even think: “HAH! We should all be our OWN visionaries!” I applaud anyone who can face themselves and admit that they have a vision, and then act on it. I should be so brave. I’m slowly learning how to do it, one step at a time, by posting on my blog.
Getting more specific, I’d say that my parents have inspired me…they emigrated to this country (USA), and I think of how incredibly brave that was. Would I have been so daring? And also my friends, who can speak with remarkable candor without being asses about it. There’s one person in particular who helped me see myself in a way I don’t even quite understand, but it totally helped turn me around and find my inner positivity again.
As far as celebrity individuals go: Peter Drucker, Steve Wozniak, Kathy Sierra are three people that exemplify directions in which I want to grow. Oh, and of course Mr. T because he can bust heads and still be a nice guy.
Marko: Is your background in design? What was the progression into web development and design like?
Dave: I did a lot of noodling around in paint programs and graphics in high school and college, as part of the drive to make computer games. I started by plotting lines in BASIC to using pixel editors like Take One to paint programs like DeluxePaint II. Then Photoshop came along and I jumped over to that (though, it’s a crappy pixel editor).
I have a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, though truthfully I was a mediocre grad student because of my disinterest in abstract theory and mathematics…I realized in the grad program that I wasn’t cut out to be one, because I wanted to do more people-oriented things like software. The reason I was in computer engineering in the first place was because at the time I went to college, there were NO awesome computers with graphics capabilities; my bachelor’s thesis was learning how to make a high resolution plug-in graphics card. So anyway, I squeak out my MSEE, and to keep sane I was doing shareware game graphics and MAKING MONEY at it. I decided to apply to an MFA program in computer graphics, which at the time I was lucky to be living near, and see if I could get in. So that was the beginning of my formal design training. They waived most of the 4-year studio requirement, because the program was electronic and I had tons of experience already. Also, the school was curious to see what would happen if they let an engineer into the art school.
After that I worked in the video game industry, first as an artist with a bud of mine from high school, then at a startup game company in Boston, and then at Electronic Arts Florida. And then I burned out, deeply unhappy and unsatisfied. Looking back, I can see that I needed to have a real sense of authorship in the work I do, and a real sense of community. So I moved back to Boston, which was right around 1998 when “The New Economy” was white-hot. I had a lot of interactive design experience, and the scripting environments in use at the time were pretty toy-like compared to what I was doing before. I could do both the graphics and the scripting, so it was a pretty easy transition. I was lucky that I knew people from living in Boston before, who cut me my first breaks. After that, I also did corporate web seminar animations with Flash 3, which lead to Actionscript. I avoided HTML/Javascript/CSS as much as I could, sticking with more monolitic platforms (Flash, CD-ROM) until very recently, when I started fooling around with PHP and WordPress. So I really only got back into web design recently, though I had done some table-based design back in 1995 for my personal site.
And now, I am very embarrassed about the state of my CSS, and am catching up with Web Standards. Meeting great web designers at SXSW has sort of shamed me into wanting to do better. :-) Plus, a lot of clients really understand interactivity these days in terms of the Web; as much as I wanted to avoid it, I really need to be able to offer it to be credible.
Marko: If you were not a designer/programmer what would you be?
Dave: I’ve thought of this often, in the context of “what would I be doing if there were no computers?” I like objects shaped by personal use, so I’ve thought I would be an watchmaker, or perhaps a blacksmith. A furniture maker, perhaps. Or maybe a gunsmith.
In terms of the modern-day, it would probably be writing. I was either going to be an English major or a Computer Engineering major when I was a senior. I remember the look on my English teacher’s face when I told him I had chosen computers. It’s funny that I’ve come around full circle…he was right. Other majors I wish I had heard of when I was 18 are Cognitive Science and Industrial Design. I would have been happy doing those, too.
Marko: How do you like our site mcville.net?
Dave: I love the idea, and I dig the mysterious photo headers for each entry. I read through a few of them, and thought it was great that there were so many cool people I could read about. The second thought was, “why am I getting interviewed?”
Marko: If you could change something on mcville what would it be?
Dave: Maybe add a little synopsis area at the top that explained why you interviewed the person, with a little background about some of the things they’ve done. But maybe it’s more exciting to find out as you read…
Marko: What kind of music do you fancy?
Dave: I don’t listen to music all that often, nor do I have a huge music collection. I don’t even have an iPod. I do like breakbeat electronica, funk, acid jazz, and the occassionally-embarassing bit of J-Pop. I also like female vocalists who belt out what’s on their minds. I love empowered women. Rock on!
Marko: What’s your favorite food?
Dave: In no particular order: Thai, Korean, Japanese, Chinese (especially authentic Szechuan), Indian, American comfort foods. Fried dough. Any kind of curry. Juicy prime rib. Dark chocolate. Gourmet cheeses. I haven’t had a lot of European food, though I’ve been trying to find a place that serves German food. French food I’d like to try, because the idea of having four mother sauces at the heart of the cuisine really intrigues me. Oh, I like REAL Italian food…mmm.
Marko: Where do you get out on Saturday’s?
Dave: Usually, I hang out with friends if anyone’s around. I’m not with anyone right now, and a lot of my friends are married so the social scene for me has been a bit sparse of late. I live away from the city, so meeting new interesting people my age has been difficult. Tivo is my best friend, these days.
some relaxing question to follow
Marko: Chinese or Thai (food)?
Dave: Thai probably, just because it’s a newer taste to me. Thom Ka Gai and Meekrob are my current favorites.
Marko: Coke or Pepsi?
Dave: The brisk taste of Diet Coke beats the cloying sweetness of Diet Pepsi. Though, I will take any soda made with pure cane sugar over corn syrup any day.
Marko: HTML or CSS?
Dave: Ugh, do I have to choose? If I have to choose, it would be CSS, because at least you don’t have to type in a language that makes you use the SHIFT ANGLE BRACKET keys so much. What were they thinking? I’m not a big fan of CSS either, because its silly box model makes defining a layout more difficult by requiring you to add three different values to determine the true size of a block.
Marko: Do you watch television? If so, do you have a favorite show?
Dave: Battlestar Galactica has been pretty amazing, and is at the top of my list currently. Currently, I’m watching The Shield, Mythbusters, Penn & Teller’s BULLSHIT, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Gilmore Girls (yes, you read that right), Iron Chef, American Inventor, and a few cartoons. I’m missing a few more, but that’ll do. I tend to just let the shows pile up on my Tivo and then watch them in an all-day blowout.
Marko: What would we find in your favorites bookmarks-bar?
Dave: I’ve already mentioned some specific sites, but in general you’ll find links to entrepreneurial business thinking, insightful articles, programming and design resource pages, awesomely-written blogs, various Basecamp project areas, the stats links for my site (I’m a huge stats whore), beautiful design / illustration / design sites, and some positive psychology sites I frequent.
Marko: What inspires you? This doesn’t have to be design related.
Dave: It’s passionate people, doing what they believe needs to be done. Sweet, sweet design also inspires me everytime I see it, as does authentic and literate self-expression. Right now I’m in complete awe of Douglas Adams’ posthumously-published book, “The Salmon of Doubt”. What an amazing guy. I’ve only recently realized that it was the people, not the things, that really inspire me to action. I can appreciate great design, but it’s what empowers people that really really get me going.
Oddly, I’m not so into games these days. It’s kind of sad. I guess I’m finding the real world much more interesting these days. Oh, I have been playing a lot of WWII shooters recently. WWII movies and games really make me think about sacrifice and courage, and I feel like a jerk everytime I play these games and live. But I do it anyway, and try to understand what it must have been like…
Marko: Thank you for having this interview David ,Cheers!
Dave: Thank you! Best of luck with mcville…it’s a great thing you’re doing! Don’t feel bad if you have to edit this for length :-)
Kung fu mastering techniques Happy 1st April ! :)
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Makes me wish we had had more time to chat during SXSW. As it was, we did get to do a lot of serious bowling!