About David Roberts

My interest in nature, the arts, books, creativity, and technology led me down the path to this right brain/left brain work I do, as I craft sites with design that moves people to respond, as well as create the code that makes sites work effortlessly. Like most designers and developers, I came to the web from other fields‚ most colleges having not yet caught up with the fast-moving changes that drive the internet.

Born in England, I moved with my family at age 15 to Canada. After graduating, I completed a year-long course in Book Arts, learning paper-making, bookbinding, and even how to make tools for bookbinding. This hands-on course opened my eyes to the design of what we use, a study whose basic principles apply to design for the web, as well.

Returning to the UK, I continued to immerse myself in study, doing a three-year Higher National Diploma in Bookbinding at the London College of Printing, which covered traditional bookbinding, as well as design binding in the final year. I followed up with a BA (Hons) in Conservation at Camberwell College of Arts, London, specializing in books and archives. Both colleges are now part of the University of the Arts, London.

It was a bit like stepping back to the 18th Century, but I did a turn at the College of Arms. But, it was design I was after, and when offered the opportunity to work for a partnership focused on editorial design and production, where I’d have a chance to do graphic design and layout work, I jumped right in. Here, I learned the rules, ways, tools, and software of print design. The visual language of print plays a powerful role in effective web design.

Clearly addicted to learning, I also did an MA, Computer Applications in the History of Art at Birkbeck College, University of London. My thesis was on the Use of Technology in Contemporary Dance, for which I received a merit on my MA. More importantly, my focus on experimental video and dance paid off in a solid understanding of communicating with artful, arresting video, a form gaining enormous popularity and power for business use on the web.

I’ve been working on websites, through both my own company and others, since 2004, for SMEs and other organisations interested in improving their presence on the web.