FAIRspot. The Place to see and be seen.

FAIRspot is fast becoming one of my ‘must visit’ websites whenever I am searching for resources and news about the creative industry. It have tons of interviews and informations, such as news and updates on design competitions and events. Thanks to James Touhey and Krassimir Lyakov for answering our questions.

Q. Hi there. Who are the people behind Fairspot?
A. FAIRspot: FAIRspot is James Touhey (aka “Touhey”), Krassimir Lyakov (aka “Krassy”) and thousands of screaming fans.

Touhey: Krassy and I worked together at a start-up company in San Diego for nearly 3 years together and became really good friends over that time. We both found that we have the same tastes and vision when it came to design (and life in general), so we decided to partner up and start a project together; The rest is history.

Krassy: Touhey often says that we are brothers from different mothers. But we don’t fight like siblings. We do finish each other’s sentences sometimes.

Q. Could you tell us a bit about FAIRspot’s background?
A. Krassy: When the 2 of us worked together at a startup company, James and I would start our work day by sharing links of inspiration found on the web. I would send one to him asking him to check out a great illustration portfolio, for example, and James would send one to me of a killer Flash website with amazing animation. Over time we thought it would be cool to share our fascination with great creative work with the rest of the world.

Touhey: The original idea behind FAIRspot was to create a space online that would allow us to share our collections of resources and links with each other. There were already services that allowed us to do that, but we really wanted to create our own content and to actually own it. The best part is, we are both designers/developers, so we could build it ourselves, the way we wanted it to be! We began thinking and planning the entire focus of FAIRspot in early 2006 but we never actually brought it to fruition until September 2007.

Q. Do you have any reasons why you chose the name FAIRspot?
A. Touhey: The name was actually thought up by Krassy’s fiancée, Marie. Krassy and I were brainstorming different names for several weeks but couldn’t get it right. We knew what we wanted to say - a place where talent big and small could share the “spotlight” - we just didn’t know how to say it. That’s where Marie came in.

(James Touhey)

Q. Do you guys work in the Graphic Design or Advertising industries?
A. Krassy: Yes. Touhey is a full-time Designer working at Digitaria Interactive (www.digitaria.com) in San Diego and also works freelance design/entrepreneurship as Touhey Design (www.touheydesign.com). He’s got mad designs/flash skills and a great creative mind. When he’s not designing he skateboards, listens to DJ KRASSY and kicks it with his wife, Mary.

Touhey: Krassy is a Designer/Developer currently working remotely for a large corporate gig and freelances as KrassyCanDoIt (www.krassycandoit.com). Krassy also does event photography for live music at several venues in San Diego. He posts his artsy photo experiments on Flickr (www.flickr.com/photos/krassycandoit/). Krassy is also a sick DJ, regularly appearing in some of the biggest clubs in southern California, so be sure to check out his latest mixes available for download at DJKRASSY.com!

Q. What are the criteria that you are looking for before a person can be featured on your website?
A. Touhey: We’re fairly picky when it comes to selecting content. The most important thing is that it must appeal to our audience/readers. We don’t just post about anything and everything. Our audience consists of some of the most hardcore designers/developers/photographers/motionographers and studios in the world. We don’t want to disappoint. Secondly, we both have to agree on every submission. It’s rare that we disagree, but it happens every once and a while. We feel that opening the submissions to the public would jeopardize the level of content our readers have come to expect, therefore we remain one of the few “moderated submission portals” in the scene. We also don’t like posting content that appears on all the other portals/blogs, that just isn’t FAIR!

Krassy: As an analogy, think of us as being DJs - Design Jockeys. We entertain our audience with the selections we’ve spotted that we think are worth showcasing. We invite you to our visual party and hope you like what you see. Also, just like a music DJ looks for a hit track to play, if you’re a new designer/photographer/illustrator/motionographer, send us your demo and we’ll showcase it if we like it. The criteria we use for featuring work is quiet simple really - we look for “good” work. To quote Paul Rand, “don’t try to be original, just try to be good.” Incidentally, a lot of the work we feature is actually original, but that’s because it was good in the first place, which is probably the hidden message in Mr.Rand’s words of wisdom.

Has FAIRspot participated in any conferences or events?
Touhey: Not officially. We’ve done some guerrilla marketing at the HOW Conference and the Future of Web Design Conference in New York, but we’re still waiting on the phone call to invite us out.

Krassy: We like to travel, and we love to mingle and party, so don’t be shy and invite us out to your next conference or event. Also, we have the first FAIRspot event in the works, so soon we will be inviting our fans and participants to join us at a venue in San Diego to celebrate creativity in the visual world.

Q. What are some of the online magazines and websites that you often read for references?
A. Krassy: We are busy clickers and RSS feed addicts! On a daily basis we keep an eye out on most sites listed in the Community and Blogs sections of FAIRspot.com.
Touhey: The web is a dangerous thing. It’s very easy to waste your day by reading everything that is out there. When we are online, we like checking out CPLUV (disclaimer: Touhey’s a contributor at cpluv), FFFFOUND!, Behance and FAIRspot.

Q. Apart from the website, does FAIRspot produce merchandise, books or any material in support of the design industry?
A. Touhey: Not yet. We’re currently working on a re-align of the website which will correct a lot of the usability issues we’ve discovered since launching. Along with the new site, we’ll be launching a couple different new content features and contests. We have discussed several other ideas for expanding FAIRspot and supporting the community but we will probably not be releasing anything until later this year. Keep your eyes open!

Q. If I am a newbie to the US and European design scene, who are the people or agency that I should look out for?
A. Touhey: That depends on what your field is, but some of the major players right now in Graphic Design and Interactive Media are Wieden Kennedy, First Born, Odopod, Schematic, Method, Red (ff0000) and many others.

Krassy: Check out the Studios and Agencies section of FAIRspot.com .

Q. Can you list out your current favorite designers and websites?
A. Touhey: Too many to list them all, but many of our favorites are the submissions we receive from our readers that we’ve never heard of before and are doing insanely incredible work. That’s what makes us want to continue building and growing FAIRspot.

Krassy: We have many favorites and we have had the pleasure and privilege to interview some of them. You may browse some of our features here: http://www.fairspot.com/features/
Running FAIRspot has really made us aware of how super active and ultra vast the world creative community is. It’s a sleeping giant. Some of it is also a hidden treasure. We are especially excited about discovering and celebrating the amazing work that hasn’t had the exposure it deserves…yet.

Q. Any last words?
A. Touhey: We just want to thank all of our readers and partners that have helped FAIRspot get to where it is today. We love this industry and are proud to be a part of it!

Krassy: We appreciate the support of our fans and look forward to continue showcasing more greatness. Watch out for lots new features and some events we’ve got planned for you in the near future!

Website : http://fairspot.com

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