If you somehow haven't already realised my name is Nathan Beck. And I'm a web designer. And a graphic designer. Oh, and I dabble in photography too! But it's not just something I do, it's a passion. Even though I've only been in the business just over 18 months so far I've become absorbed by the world of online and print media, stretching to far more than just web and graphic design. I'm also in to animation, programming, advertising, e-commerce etc and try to explore any area or medium that can help to better or expand my web work and what I already know. I'm a learner.

I live on the outskirts of Manchester, UK. It's a good location as I'm close to both the modern, busy city centre and the beautiful countryside (namely the Peak District). When I'm not stuck to my computer monitor I'm probably stuck to my Xbox, or I feel like some exercise out at the gym or skateboarding. When the opportunity arises I love to ski and snowboard and dabble in the occasional extremer sports.

I'm also a big film and music fan. Being a typical male teen I'm mainly into action flicks but enjoy virtually anything except chick flicks and musicals. On the music front I'm less picky - I will listen to virtually anything and boast an iTunes packed with over 16,000 songs. I play guitar to a grade 7 standard and also play piano and drums. If I wasn't in to digital media I'd probably be pursuing a career in music, but priorities take place!

If you wish to know more, please fill out the contact form and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

In terms of designing a website, there are so many variables to take into account. With every site I create I try to push myself further by implementing new technologies, web styles and incorporating new ideas and skills. It is essential to provide a design that meets the needs of the client and users while serving it's purpose and remaining visually appealing. I then bring the design together with clean, semantic XHTML and CSS plus a whole variety of other technology including PHP, AJAX, Flash, CMS while trying to address accessibility and cross-browser compatability issues.

Photoshop and Notepad are my weapons of choice. Even though web design is a massive tangle of languages, styles and general hurdles; graphic/print design can pose the same struggle. I try to adapt my design according to the clients wishes while maintaining a product that works. Sometimes I incorporate my own photography or use a variety of stock website photos. Whatever the job, I adapt my style to suit the desired target audience while keeping an appealing, functional design.

As with any area of art the web and print media follow fashions. Design applications include more features which allow for more interesting and varied artwork. Computers and browsers advance and upgrade, making them faster and in turn better to utilise new technologies so we can bring more dynamic and speed-dependant content to websites. And of course people's ideas and perceptions change. Thus the design world is ever-evolving and changing, and it's very important to keep on top of these changes to remain 'in-the-game'. A client wants an advert, logo or website that will stand the test of time - and I strive to ensure I can give them what they want.

As well as design fashion, there's the importance of ever-evolving web languages and technologies such as AJAX and PHP. The idea behind this constant growth of scary code is to expand the potential of the web. Standard HTML and CSS alone just don't cut it anymore. That is why I push to create more dynamic, interesting websites by using new technology and trying to keep on top of what's coming soon to help prepare and future-proof my work.

Accessibility. A term that gets thrown around a lot in web design. Accessibility simply put, means that people with disabilities or perhaps older people can still utilise the web to the best of its potential. This encompasses blind, deaf, dyslexic, physically disabled people or simply those who for whatever reason struggle to use the web as we normally do.

But accessibility also affects normal users. Principles behind an accessible website stretch from as simple as making the site clear and easy to navigate, to coding in menu shortcuts and including 'alt' tags to images so special blind browsers can read a description of the image. This, along with valid XHTML and CSS helps to ensure that a website not only works well for disabled users but also looks better in multiple web browsers. This leads to a final point regarding cross-browser compatibility...

Cross-browser compatibility is the generally the biggest hurdle for a lot of web designers. It's all well and good for me to design a website on my computer in Mozilla Firefox at a resolution of 1280x1024px on a 19" monitor. But what about my audience viewing the site from a huge range of browsers, screen resolutions, sizes and on different formats (e.g. MACs, mobile phones, PDA's etc)? It's not always possible to please everybody, but I try my best to guarantee my sites look as good as possible in all different scenarios.

To find out more about design principles, the secret language of the internet and accessibility visit the W3C website. They're the big cheeses!

The future hopefully holds a lot in store. Both for me and the design industry. Last year I travelled around south-east Asia, particularly Thailand for a month where I did plenty of exploring and learning - and have since picked up the travel bug! Throughout this year I have intentions of visiting Japan and East Europe. Next year I'm looking to move over to New Zealand - a beautiful country where I can get all the skiing and beautiful beaches I could ask for! Over there I intend (hopefully) to get a job with a web design company and aim to learn as much as I can. Who knows I may never come back!

Either while in New Zealand or if I come back, I intend to seek further qualifications - either in the web design industry or branching out into Animation, Film or Photography. Even though animation is something I've rarely touched on at the moment, I've been interested in it for a long time and see CG animation playing a massive part in the future of both the film and web industry. My long-term aim is to be able to find a beautiful balance between graphic design, animation and web design in the future. Aside from that I wish to keep travelling whenever I can to explore and learn new things. I'm even considering making a life list - watch this space and if you don't know what I mean by life list see this guy - John Goddard. But who knows what the future really holds.