Iconshock interview: Top web designer and premiere Mom Randa clay!

I envy the productivity of a mom. What would happen if mom’s ruled the planet… Have you ever thought of that? I’ve changed diapers, fed and played with children, as I helped raise my little nephew, so I kind of know the drill. A man can sure do all that stuff and certainly do it well. But still, mom’s have always that extra endurance … Its almost as if motherhood is blessed with super powers form the deep beyond that allows them to play football, help out with math homework and at the same time, make that super energy vegetable soup that overshadows a red bull beverage. Well, you can add to that list designing very cool web pages if you are Randa Clay. This is a lady that gets so much done it makes us feel lazy. She has not one, but two boys, and still manages to run one of the most visited and well respected design blogs in the net. She is kind of an odd case, because she actually majored in music before turning into design. Web design appeared after she had her first child, and she is completely self thought. Some girl! I am very honored to have her featured here, so I appreciate all your lovely comments to express admiration for such a talented designer. You can visit her at her design blog Randa Clay.com or at her personal site Honestly Crazy.

1. Who is Randa Clay?

I am the mother of two noisy boys and wife of a wonderful husband. I am also a designer and marketing consultant providing a complete package of services that includes custom logo design, print design and production, custom web site and blog design and customization. My main focus is in design and development for WordPress. Beyond graphic design, my background includes work recommending, coordinating, executing and analyzing marketing initiatives for large brands, such as The Limited, Victoria’s Secret, Goody’s, Express and more. Beyond designing for clients, I also own several kid-oriented web sites such as freestuff4kids.net and funplacedatabase.com, and run a digital stamp store at digistamping.com.

2. When you where a child... how did you imagine yourself as a grownup?

Hmmm.... I don't remember. I imagined myself married with some children, but beyond that, I never really had clear ideas about what I wanted to do professionally. Even when I went to college, I just sort of "fell into" majoring in music because of lack of a better idea!

3. What circumstance triggered definitively, the idea of you becoming a full time freelance designer?

When my first son was born in 2005, I quit my full-time job to stay at home with him. I had always thought it would be nice to be able to design web sites and maybe make a little money doing it and began teaching myself the skills necessary to make it happen.

4. What does a designer need to not drown in the deep wide freelance sea?

I think it's helpful to have an area that you specialize in. Choose the type of work you enjoy the most and become known for it. Some people might feel this is limiting, but what it does is ensure that you get to do what you enjoy the most the majority of the time. Even though I specialize in development for WordPress, I still get to do business cards, postcards and logos regularly as well.

5. Do you want to retake your musical career someday?

It's possible I may do some professional singing again when my children are older. There are times when I miss performing at that level,and if it happens that I am able to do it again, I would enjoy it.

6. Is your site RandaClay.com self sustainable? Where does its revenue come from?

My income from randaclay.com comes mostly through the design work I gain from it rather than direct income. I make a little through advertisements as well.

7. Do you have any special song stuck in your head these days? (Jingle bells doesn't count.:)) What music do you usually listen to?

I often listen to classical music, particularly vocal/choral music of composers like Mozart, Handel and Verdi. It's great music that helps to turn on my creative juices. I suppose what's stuck in my head these days is "For Unto Us A Child Is Born" from Handel's Messiah.

8. Which where the first things you did to attract traffic to your site?

When I changed my site from a static site to a blog, the traffic went up exponentially. I also released free WordPress themes and free graphics for people to use on their sites. Networking with other designers with blogs, linking to them and commenting on their sites was key to growing traffic on my own site as well.

9. What do you think of Css3?

Honestly, I don't know much about CSS3. I know there will be some new options, but until they are usable by most people on the latest browsers, I just don't have the time to keep up with it unfortunately. My main responsibility is to my husband and children and with my work on the sites I own and designing for clients, I barely keep my head above water these days.

10. In your opinion, will anything change in the Internet this year?

I'm terrible at predictions. ;)  I imagine there will be even more focus on social media and more use of CMS systems such as WordPress to run websites. I think fewer people will begin personal blogs and use tools like Facebook instead. Visit Randa Clay at here. You can follow her twitter here.