We see that there are many portal sites like Pixelsurgeon on the Internet. Are there particular strategies that you practice to attract more visitors to your site?
Jason Arber: The only strategy that we employ is to have lots of interesting content. We try and wrap it up in a nice design, but that's secondary to the content on the site. And we try and have a sense of humour about everything we do... we don't take ourselves or anything else too seriously.
We have been developing a portal site as well. However, there is a criticism that introducing various sites everyday on news section will decrease the amount of originality, because people tend to start mocking or copying those styles too much. Do you have any thoughts and opinions to the criticism?
Jason Arber: It's something that I have personally thought about a lot. However, if part of the purpose of your design portal is to make people aware of all the really cool sites out there, then that's what you have to do. Rather than stifling originality and creativity, I think it increases it by showing people what can be done and raising the bar. There are other issues involved, however, such as the criticism that you act as a filter for people, but if you select and edit with an open mind, as I believe
we do in Pixelsurgeon, then I think it is a good thing. Another criticism that gets levelled at the major design portals is that we are an incestuous bunch when it comes to news items and links, but this is only partly true. We'll credit other design portals if we use a link from them, so people know. Very often when a link or news item appears simultaneously on a lot of design portals it's because the author has sent out an email to all of us letting them know of their site. I think people forget that!
We have seen that Japanese characters are sometimes incorporated into Pixelsurgeon's graphics. Do you have any interests in Japan or Japanese Culture?
Jason Arber: I have a Chinese wife so I have an interest in all things Asian! But in terms of Japan, I have a tremendous curiosity about the culture and love many aspects about Japan: the typography, the design, the toys, the people. I would love to know more.
Pixelsurgeon's news section has often introduced Asian sites, including Japanese Sites. Do you have any favourite Japanese Sites?
Jason Arber: I have a lot of favourite Japanese sites, too many to mention them all, but a few would be...
miukuma a site based in Singapore for Japanese people strawberry palette, cheap chicks but my two favourite Japanese sites of all time have to be Yuji Oshimoto's 04 website which was a great inspiration for me (we use his fonts on pixelsurgeon!) and Yugo Nakamara's yugop site which is awesome!
We feel that Japanese Flash sites are quite behind in comparison to those of the North American/European countries. However, HTML sites, in particular, are at similar levels in terms of excellence. How do you feel about the Japanese web industry today?
Jason Arber: I'm not sure I can speak about the Japanese web industry - you may have to ask a Japanese designer about that! Most of the websites from Japan that I get to see are personal projects, rather than sites from Japanese web companies. I'd love to see more Flash sites from Japan, but I really love the HTML sites I've had experience of. Japanese sites have a confidence with colour which can make western sites seem dull by comparison and Japan seems to be full of amazing illustrators - we link a lot of illustration portfolios from Japan on pixelsurgeon!
Have you ever been to Japan? If so, where did you go? What was your impression of Japan? If you have not been to Japan, is there any particular place in Japan that you would like to visit?
Jason Arber: I've never been to Japan - but I would love to go! We considered going a few weeks ago when we visited Rina's family in Hong Kong, but as we also made a trip to Sydney for the IdN Fresh conference it seemed too much to try and squeeze in a third country! When I finally get to Japan my first port of call will be Tokyo where I'll fill suitcases with toys and electronic gadgets. But I'd also love to visit the countryside, maybe visit some Buddhist temples and monasteries and explore the Zen aspect of Japan that is the flip-side to the multi-coloured, multi-layered, crazy neon hello kitty experience I'd imagine Tokyo to be.
What is your impression of Japanese girls?
Jason Arber: Heheheh - Asian girls are the prettiest in the world and if any of them want to send me pictures of themselves naked, that's fine by me! :D