When 9zaku was introduced by DIK, amazing number of people visited our site. This shows how comments by DIK are extremely influential. Are there particular aspects that you pay close attention to or be careful with, when you write your comments?
Andrew Johnstone: We pretty much link whatever we like. We make sure that the links are always of good quality and of interest though. This doesn't mean they have to be the best design, it just means they have to be well thought out and have good content. We also try to be positive and constructive and not post negative comments.
We are currently living in Canada and we sometime see similarities between Australia and Canada. Do you have anything about Canada that interests you?
Andrew Johnstone: The reason I started the site was basically just to get involved in the, at that time, quite small design community. I wanted to meet people with similar interests and so I figured starting a site was a good way to do this. I also loved reading interviews on designers and as no one was really doing it then i thought I'd do it myself.
DIK is a design portal site that has been around for a long time. What was the original trigger to start developing the site?
Andrew Johnstone: The reason I started the site was basically just to get involved in the, at that time, quite small design community. I wanted to meet people with similar interests and so I figured starting a site was a good way to do this. I also loved reading interviews on designers and as no one was really doing it then i thought I'd do it myself.
We thought that it was such a unique and innovative idea to design T-shirts at a design portal site. How and why did you come up with this idea? Were there some difficulties?
Andrew Johnstone: Well the only real reason we did this was because we love tshirts and thought that it would be a cool way to get some for ourselves. We knew that other people wanted nicely designed tshirts as well so we figured we may as well sell them on the site. Unlike some people may believe we do not make much money from it and it is also quite a nightmare to set up. Jade has nearly had several heart attacks just getting things printed! ;)
There are many well-known sites in Australia, such as DIK, Australian In Front. Do you have Australian sites that gave you inspirations, or any favourite Australian sites?
Andrew Johnstone: Well there are a few... but unfortunately not as many as i would like. I want us Aussies to get out there more and over the last three years it has definitely got better. They are out there.. they just don't shout as loud as the US or European people.
Do you have any favourite Japanese sites?
Andrew Johnstone: well of course Shift.jp.org has always been a favourite. they have been around for ever and have given us great support over the years.
How did you come up with the Domain Name "Design Is Kinky"?
Andrew Johnstone: It just popped into my head when I was trying to think of a name. There is no really interesting story behind it unfortunately. I wish there was.
We are sure that you see many Japanese in Australia. Were there any incidents that Japanese people or behaviour made you laugh or think it was funny?
Andrew Johnstone: Well i have seen some pretty funny things going on at Sushi restaurants. But apart from that i am not sure i have seen a Japanese person acting strangely. Maybe I'm just not looking hard enough :)