PhilWeavers · The Philippine Webdesigners' Network · Weaver Spotlight

Interviewed by Jose Illenberger / Published February 6, 2007

I guess one of the major things about blogging is that it has evolved from being just journal entries into something much, much more—a powerful new media. It’s viral. Personal websites remained to be just personal websites. But blogs? Blogs have become influential on the internet that companies are actually paying bloggers to review their products and services. It’s so unlike the personal site mantra of “me, me, me, me!” It’s social, and viral.

Why kutitots?

Kutitots is my family’s pa-cute term for “a lot of kuto.” No, I don’t mean the type of chili, kutitot. I mean fleas. It’s just that we have a lot of dogs (13 of them to date) running around the house—peeing and barking (oddly enough, they poop in the garden). And if you have a lot of dogs, fleas are bound to show up. Although it sounds icky… Fleas were the inspiration for my domain name :P

Whats with the fascination with the dog lice on your website a few years back?

Now that you’ve asked it… I have no idea. Maybe because they seemed to be everywhere in our house?

How did u get to become a webdesigner? what was your road to design discovery?

I was an insecure daughter. Really. That’s why I became a web designer. My parents are both artists, and even my sister is one too. They’re great with traditional art, and the most that I can draw are cartoons. The cute ones. My dad is an award-winning sports photographer, and the fact that I couldn’t draw realistic stuff didn’t really add to my self-esteem. I didn’t like being just my “father’s daughter,” if you know what I mean. I wanted to be good at something and hopefully be recognized at it because of what I did, and not because of what my dad accomplished.

So I ventured into something that my family hasn’t tried yet: web design. I learned HTML by studying existing site’s codes, and did experiments with Photoshop 4. I wasn’t a spoiled brat, but my dad willingly bought me a computer and the needed software if it would help my self-esteem and save me from being a fucked up, insecure teenager (though he didn’t really needed to worry about me losing my marbles, I was with my school’s varsity basketball team. That would have been enough to keep me in check).

My road to design discovery is as simple as that. I just wanted to have my own “specialty,” a specialty that my family hasn’t touched yet.

What are the websites you are most proud of and why?

I think it would be my template for Mobile Philippines (m-ph.com). Aside from the fact that it’s one of my site’s major referrers, it’s probably the first corporate blog theme that I was commissioned to do.

Another would be my Dapit Hapon theme. I’m proud of it for the simple reason that it helped the international WordPress community know about the Filipinos. I don’t see many Pinoy-themed themes out there, and I’m really proud that I took part in encouraging other Filipino “themers” to make Pinoy-inspired designs.

And of course, I’m proud of Kutitots. This site and I have gone through a lot. It was the first ever domain that I paid for.

Whats is the filipino webdesigner and how is it different from Philweavers?

Filipino Web Designer is different from Philweavers in all aspects—well, maybe except for the fact that we share the front page of Google SERPs for the keyword, “Filipino web designer.” LOL. It’s actually just my blog on WordPress and web design geekery.

The Filipino Web Designer started out as a support blog for my GPL-released WordPress themes, and I used to blog about geekery on Kutitots. But the thing is, as a personal blog evolves, there will come a point when a certain topic won’t be appropriate on it anymore. That blog would be able to stand on its own without the need for “halo-halo” topics—it would thrive on a specific niche. And this you will notice through the reaction of your readers on your posts and your site’s stats.

That’s the main reason why I had to separate geeky topics from Kutitots—Kutitots was surviving on a certain niche, and those nerdy categories just don’t appeal to its regular readers. So from there, I made The Filipino Web Designer a blog specifically for my geeky writing.

Tell us more about filipino artisans and your involvement?

Filipino Artisans is a small novelty invitations business I manage with the help of my sister. We make these non-traditional invites using native materials like Abaca, Sinamay, Raffia, etc. It’s basically just a “side-line” business for me (web/graphics design is still my main thing), and I started it as a way to help “nurture” my creativity.

You, being a designer, don’t you sometimes get this nasty moment of creativity block? Like you just can’t design and you seem to be running out of ideas? In our line of work, it’s unavoidable (deadlines, stress and what-have-you’s can cause it). Sometimes I just need a break from doing computer stuff in order keep the creative flow going—doing arts and crafts like making novelty invitations every now and then really helps a lot.

There are quite a number of kick ass webdesigners, yourself included, hailing from the Ateneo. Why do you think that is?

Well, I honestly think that it’s just a coincidence. It doesn’t matter where you studied. What matters is your talent, self-discipline, and the perseverance to succeed and continue learning.

What differentiates the blog phenomenon to the rise of the personal websites a few years back?

Blogs are more social than personal sites back then. Before, it was basically just making your “mark” on the Net (kind of like a dog marking territory, you know. Haha). Sure, you have guestbooks back then, but it isn’t as interactive as blogs. There was a lot of journal-type of sites before (which are probably where blogs came about), but it didn’t have the trackback and commenting system. It was just a one-way thing.

Now, it’s different with blogs. An author can write about what happened to him while on his way to the market to buy vegetables, and people would be able to react to that specific post. If he described his journey good enough, people might even refer to his site and talk about it.

I guess one of the major things about blogging is that it has evolved from being just journal entries into something much, much more—a powerful new media. It’s viral. Personal websites remained to be just personal websites. But blogs? Blogs have become influential on the internet that companies are actually paying bloggers to review their products and services. It’s so unlike the personal site mantra of “me, me, me, me!” It’s social, and viral.

What do you think Philweavers can contribute to the current popularity of Filipino blogs?

I think the best contribution that Philweavers can make on the blogosphere would be keeping an open mind. Get off your Flash high horses! Tee-hee. Seriously though. If you’ve been reading my responses carefully, you’d know that blogging isn’t just the “Dear Diary” type of stuff you used to see a few years back. We’ve all done a great job giving Pinoys great profile sites and corporate online brochures, it’s about time we take a look into blogging and see how we can find ways to improve the quality of blog designs.

What are your favorite design related softwares and why?

Photoshop, of course (this was my.. err.. my dad’s first ever software investment other than Windows and Microsoft Office). I can’t live without Photoshop. We’ve been together for 10 years now. Macromedia Dreamweaver, for the simple reason that it makes my code colored, which makes it easier to write HTML and CSS. I know there are less expensive software out there that makes codes colored (I think there’s even a free one right?), but I’m stuck already. I’m having a hard time switching.

What are your future plans? Tell us more about what excites you and why?

My future plans? I’m starting to venture into pro-blogging. Not full time though, designing will always be my first love. Lately, I’ve been monetizing my blogs a bit, and started blogging for the Philippines’ first blog network, Bayanihan Blog Network (bayanihanblogs.com).

For the past year, I’ve increasingly been active in the Pinoy blogging community. The most recent one was the really hyped-up Blog Parteeh! 2007 (blogparteeh.com). It’s the first major bloggers’ event that I helped organize. The future event that everyone should watch out for that we have under our sleeves would be the Pinoy Blog Awards this coming February. Another bloggers’s party is in the works too, but it won’t be that soon. We’ve got a lot of events cooking, which we aim to help the Filipino blogging community get to know each other better. I really do hope Weavers will start blogging and take part in this wonderful growing community :)

What excites me? Well, I’d rather you just ask my husband. Hehe.

Your last word to your fans?

Fans? I doubt. To be honest, I’m not very comfortable calling anybody “my fan” except for my husband, my parents, and my younger sister. I’m not an actress, nor am I a singer for a popular band, so I don’t think I have the right to call anybody “my fan” except for those closest to me. I joke about the “fans” thing with my family (to their dismay, I call them my “fans club” hehe), but it never went beyond that.

It’s best to know one’s place, and not think too highly of her self or him self. Aside from the fact that it’s totally vain (not to mention annoying), arrogant people usually fall on this trap—they make themselves believe they’re already the best, so it’s difficult for them to think that there will always be room for improvement no matter how “great” they feel they already are. I’ve been brought up by my artist parents with this thought: You should keep in mind that there is always somebody better than you out there, and you should take that as a challenge to continually aim for improvement and hone your skills. Works for me, and it really won’t hurt if people give it a try :P