You studied physics at Imperial College London. Why did you choose physics instead of visual arts? Did you discover your talents after starting studying or do you have a special interest in science?

All through my childhood my main (academic) interest was science, with a strong leaning towards the more logical mathematical subjects. Although I doodled occasionally and did some art in school I never found it hugely compelling, or was any good at it in fact. I was much better at physics and maths and knew that it would be a pretty good degree to have career wise. Oddly enough though the final decision to study it was simply because I liked looking at the stars. I have a way of making decisions based on not particularly good reasons like that.

While at university, I found myself in possession of a copy of Photoshop, and was hooked from the first time I used it. If it hadn't been for that lucky occurrence I have no idea what I would be doing right now, but probably something pretty uncreative.

I still have a huge interest in physics though and read up on new developments whenever I have the time. Knowing how the universe works on a fundamental level I find fascinating, and whenever I read physics articles I find myself being constantly amazed at the unbelievable complexity, scale and majesty or our world, and thrilled at the same time because I know it's not some fantasy, but reality. I really hope one day I can get back into it, but because of the intense maths you need to understand higher level physics it's not the sort of thing you can do casually.

Your works are really exciting and enjoyable. While usage of typography and vivid colors with perfect lines and curves makes us feel the summer, designs in "Where The Wild Things Are", "Stranger" and "Peculiar" look frightening and strange. Which one is more important for you; giving a feeling to the viewer or creating a visually beautiful image?

That's a really difficult question actually, as I pretty much always try and do both. I love using graphics to create different feelings, whether bright and juicy, slightly twisted and unnerving or full out horrific. However whichever I go for it has to be visually impacting as well. For this reason I think creating a 'beautiful' image is most important to me. If I ever start producing stuff that has a feeling but doesn't look good then as far as I'm concerned that lack of beauty gets in the way of any message and feeling and so renders the image useless.

I've been doing a fair amount of bright, colourful stuff recently as it is more commercial but I really want to get back to doing some weirder stuff. Some of my older pictures like 'Peculiar' are still my favourites.

It's seen that you are following the new trends and innovations very carefully with your contemporary style and artworks. Now you are 25 and maybe it's the most productive age in life. Are you afraid of getting old?

It's a bit silly but in some ways I am. 25 is fairly old in the world of design, especially when I'm surrounded by guys 5 years younger (or more) and already doing incredible stuff. I was a bit of a late starter though having only been doing it for 4 years or so, and a huge amount has happened for me even in the last 2 years. I just have to keep the pace up and make sure I keep advancing and learning for long to come. In a more general way I don't like the idea of getting old, I think you have your best ideas when young and running out of ideas would be horrendous.

While web design and illustration requires inspiration, programming requires so much patience. It is very hard to be successful in both of them but you achieve this. What is your secret?

I haven't actually done any proper programming for quite a while now and was never great at it anyway. However as with maths and physics, being technically minded certainly made programming something that appealed to and suited me more than design in some ways. I don't agree that it doesn't require inspiration though. As with design you can do quite a lot just by going through the motions and following guides, but to be good you need to be inspired. A lot of programming reminded me of
physics where you were problem solving, and you could really have a 'eureka' moment where the answer would suddenly just come to you. That's inspiration for sure.

Although I am heavily focused on design work at the moment I would like to do some casual programming again in the future. Working as a web designer I do get to dabble in Javascript and Perl, as well as having to be able to manipulate Apache so I haven't lost touch completely. I have some ideas I want to try out one day though and that will probably require me to get back into a hardcore language like C. It gives me a headache just thinking about it!

There's also always the possibility of using it in design, like actionscript in Flash, but I also have more abstract ideas about image generation using scripting. It's already been done but I think it's an area with a lot of potential.

We know that you are interested in music. In what ways does music change your mood while working? Which artists or bands do you prefer nowadays?

I do listen to music almost continuously while working, but it generally just provides a background for me. I rarely take inspiration from music for the pictures I'm working on, although I guess there will always be a subconscious influence. Live music is something I hugely enjoy, and try to catch good bands whenever I can, although I don't get to see a lot of the bigger ones not living in a large city.

I'm sure like most music enthusiasts I could go on listing bands and artists I like forever and am constantly adding new ones to the list, but to give a general idea it is mostly guitar based stuff. I listen to a lot of contemporary bands, but some of all time favourites are classic bands like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. Radiohead are my no. 1 and the
only band I would say that have directly inspired artwork of mine and continue to do so. When designing I actually enjoy listening to more dancey music though, electro and mashups as their continuous nature is less distracting than listening to a lot of individual tracks.

Are you going to movies? Are you interested in the alternative styles of Hollywood, such as Far East movies or European cinema?

I like films, but I'm far from a film nut. I go to the cinema a lot less that I ought to, I think it's partly the dislike I have for sitting for a couple of hours in the dark just staring at the screen (I say that then think that's pretty much what I do every night when I'm working!). When it comes to different filming styles I have to confess the vast
majority of films I watch are more Western (and I don't mean cowboy stuff). I've seen a few Oriental movies and do enjoy them, in fact I'm a huge fan of Miyazaki, but in general they come along a lot less frequently than Western movies and so I see them less.

I'm also a graphics geek even when I watch movies. I've always had a big interest in special effects (I used to dream of working somewhere like ILM) and often watch special effects heavy movies paying more attention to the graphics than the story itself. When I think about it some of the films I have seen recently that looked amazing were actually Eastern ones. Hero in particular was visually stunning, but more down to the camera work than effects I think...

Great artists always have exciting quotes. Salvador Dali says "I don't do drugs. I am drugs" while Escher asks "Are you really sure that a floor can't also be a ceiling?". If you learn that millions of people will know you as one of the greatest artists in 21st century after you pass away, what would be your one and only statement?

Haha now this puts me on the spot. I'm not really a quote person, although maybe I should get myself a crazy catchphrase for if they ever turn me into a cartoon character. I think my statement to the rest of the world after I die would be something like 'Don't listen to me, I'm dead so I can't be that clever'.

Imagine that you have limitless money. What kind of art project would you create? Where, with whom and why?

If money isn't an option, then I would first have to invest huge amounts of it into research for some new technologies that don't actually exist. I've always had the idea that the future of digital design will one day involve 3D digital sculptures made of light, holograms if you want. I know a lot of work is currently being done in this area so it might not be so far away anyway. Once that is possible I imagine having huge beautiful structures composed out of pure light that you can walk and play in. You could make them interactive and respond to people's movement within the structures. I think taking the most exciting parts of digital design and animation and bringing them to life around people could provide visual spectacles beyond anything seen before. And that's what I'm all about, the visuals.

Theme of our current issue is "Me". What does this word mean to you? How do you define yourself with three words or just one sentence?

Still getting there.