MacThemes: It’s often said Mac themes are more creative and fresh than Windows ones; do you think this is true, and if so, what draws creativity to the Mac platform?

I really haven’t had too much experience with Windows themes, but I know how I used to lust after Macs before I got my first one. I think that designers are just intrinsically drawn to the Mac and OSX. Creating themes for OSX isn’t too terribly hard and there are a good bit of rules that can be broken, bent and pushed. That challenge really makes it fun to see what you can do with a theme design and creative people always like a bit of a challenge mixed in. I think if theming were a tad bit easier it’d be even better, but that’s quite the problem in itself. Big things seem to be on the horizon though and the new talent that is emerging is keeping up well and showing a lot of promise.

MacThemes: How often when you design are you inspired by something you see? I hear Amora was inspired by the Bjork music video All Is Full Of Love.

I get inspired by all sorts of things, it could be as simple as walking through a park or hearing a particular song. Little things just make imagery pop into my head like little seeds and then they begin to grow. For icon sets and themes, then more solid or direct inspiration usually comes in handy. I’ll do this by studying the movie or whatever I’m making the icons of, watching all the details and doing research on related items or materials that I plan on using. There are so many possibilities for materials, whenever I’m out and about I try and study them and think of how i’d render them out based on texture, glossiness, smoothness, lighting conditions, etc. So not only am I nerdy, but people probably think I’m crazy if I’m staring at the peeling paint of an old metal hand rail.

MacThemes: Considering your style and the kind of work you do, would you say that there is a underlying message or theme that runs through most of your work?

A lot of them seem to be sort of like snapshots or pauses where something has just happened or is about to happen. There also seems to be a common theme where the character is searching or exploring.

MacThemes: And very suitable for the background of the Finder.

I don’t really have a specific personal message that I’m putting in, although I’m sure you could run some psychological evaluations from them.

MacThemes: How long have you been working for the Iconfactory?

I’ve been working at the Iconfactory for about three and a half years, in that short time, I’ve learned a tremendous amount about icons and digital illustration. I really couldn’t have been more lucky, especially right out of college.

MacThemes: You have done some animation work in Flash, but have you ever expanded this in other fields? Have you ever had an interest in television animation, for example?

I’ve always loved animation, but it’s an incredible amount of work to produce anything. I really wish I had a fully paid year with nothing to do but work on an animation, otherwise there really just isn’t any time for it. The other problem would be finding a good story, I’ve always kept thoughts in the back of my mind, but never anything I would consider worth the investment of time.

MacThemes: What are some of your favorite OS X icons? Themes?

I love the icons that the Iconfactory releases! Haha.. I’ve been in a bit of a strange mood with icons and themes, I’m mostly using default icons for apps lately and Uno for the windows. My most favorite theme ever has always been Milk though and I think one of my favorite icons sets is the Buuf set that was out not long ago, you just don’t see completely original stuff like that too often.

MacThemes: Going back to Leopard, Apple is moving to the new unified look for Aqua, but there will always be applications that use their own custom interfaces (pro apps, GarageBand, etc.). How do you feel about custom interfaces in applications? Should developers be allowed to use their own interfaces in their apps (Disco, for example), or should they build the appearance around Aqua?

As long as an application can do it’s job and the visual appearance doesn’t detract or hinder that, then I really don’t see a problem. OSX practically begs for visual candy but you have to know where to stop and how to balance form and function. That balance is definitely achievable though, just look at the iPhone. Yes, it has fluff and graphics galore, but it’s the functionality that is really selling it. I loved it at the keynote, but I didn’t really crave it until after I watched the guided tour. It was nice to be able to ‘feel’ what application you are in just by a quick glance. It’s a bit harder in OSX though since all the windows have to live together in the same space and side by side. Certain applications are inherently better suited to custom interfaces, especially the more consumer based ones. It brings a sense of place and it’s also a bit more fun when the application you’re using is tied to a real world metaphor.

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