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1. Tell us a little bit about parker&kent. Where are you from, what do you do for a living?

Hello to everybody and thanks for this interview! Many of you in the past have asked me if parker&kent is one person or two… Well, I think it’s time to tell the truth

We are two friends, Nicola and Davide, both of Italian origin. I am Nicola, aka Parker. When you talk with parker&kent, actually you’re talking to Nicola… David doesn’t like talking very much, he is more focused on production and too crazy to let himself go chatting in forums! So, even in this interview, I will do the talking.

My name is Nicola Elia, I’m 28 years and I am definitely sexy. Davide Donoli is Kent, he’s 26 and is quite good-looking too. We met on a forum of Web design about 4 years ago and since then we decided to work together to complement each other, sharing a clear idea of Web and design. Both of us have been working on the Web for many years (we are both Web designers), but I would say that our quality leap began when we met and decided to work as a team.

2. How long have you been using Flash and what made you start selling items on FlashDen?

Well, we’ve used Flash for several years. If I’m not wrong, I started in 96 when Macromedia first released Flash and I immediately fell in love with this tool with its incredible potential. Obviously, our business involves the use of many other software, from Photoshop for graphics to AfterEffects for motion graphics, but Flash is probably our main tool, where we can fully express our idea of design; a concept of design that can not be separated from the union of typography, interactivity, and movement. Flash is the only tool that allows us to create new ways to interact with the Web; it is functional and critical to our concepts.

FlashDen was a sort of salvation for us, because only on FlashDen can we enforce our style without any interferences. Too many times our clients have forced us to modify our design, too often we haven’t been able to express ourselves at 100%. That is the reason why we chose FlashDen. Here we can offer what we really like and receive honest feedback about the real success of our ideas and our vision. Although we worked together with FWA winning agencies, working on FlashDen is often more stimulating. Every time a file sells, it’s a great success for us, because it is the proof of real appreciation from the public and not just professionals. I would like to take this opportunity to say “thank you” to all those people who are demonstrating an interest in what we do. Thank you!

3. Do you create files from scratch for FlashDen, or do you re-use work that you’ve created for a client?

Each of our projects definitely begins with a blank canvas in terms of design. Our passion is to invent something new every time, it’s our challenge… and our game plan. A finished project is something belonging to the past, an old-fashioned idea, a step in our path of technical and personal growth, a path that probably doesn’t even have an end point. The challenging thing is to always improve, trying to find a better solution than an already proven one. When we lose our originality and when we don’t have new ideas anymore, it will probably be time to find another job

4. Where do you get your inspiration from for your FlashDen work?

Well, hopefully the world is full of things and people from which you can take inspiration. You may be the best designer in the world, but there is always someone or something that can teach you something new. Even teachers have their masters and modesty is an essential basis for those who are in the design field. You can never stop and think you’ve arrived. The arrival point usually coincides with the end. However, the library is one of the main places for our inspiration. Books and magazines about architecture and design are our main basis. Then of course all the great personalities in the field of design and Web design are an invaluable source of ideas.

5. What is your work flow like when starting a new file? Could you walk us through the steps you take when getting ready to create a new file?

Wow, this is a really good question! Well, first of all we decide the type of product we want to make. Usually we prefer to create full Web site templates, we have more fun creating different modules linked by a single graphic style. The second step is deciding the target, who will use the template. This way we can understand which module we need to focus on primarily. If the template is intended for photographers, of course more effort will be devoted to the management of pictures.

The third step is the choice of colors and the predominant detail of the template, i.e. the element of originality that will make it unique, and all those small details essential for creating a product that you can define minimally, the style we love most of all. Very often minimal means something poor, empty, aseptic. However, we think that minimal is something else. We think it’s based on a care of the details, which themselves have the responsibility to support the entire layout. The minimalism is based on the research of alternative solutions, not on a banal simplification of existing solutions.

After these preliminary steps, we study the real layout in Photoshop, using grids and the proportions of gold to create a good harmony between empty spaces and content. Once the layout is made, we start working in Flash and writing the code to create the effects defined at the design stage, to form a module. This done until the finished product is complete. Nothing is left to chance, not even the organization of files, libraries and code.

As a final step, we try to put into the template content that is as close to the real content for which it was designed, in order to offer to our clients a product with a strong personality. In practice, when we make a template, we behave as if we were designing a product for an imaginary client. Whoever buys our templates, buys a real site by parker&kent, warts and all.

6. What do you do to market and brand your files?

Well, our brand is our style, which I think is pretty recognizable. We try to propose all our projects while maintaining a sort of uniformity about graphics, that is readily recognizable on FlashDen. Out logo is always prevalent. Then of course we try to always offer original, quality products, which are the most important things to attract new clients and be remembered by existing clients.

7. What advice can you give to authors that might help them increase their overall sales?

We do not think we re yet ready to give advice, because we have only been on FlashDen for a little while. I am convinced however that originality, quality, and good customer service, in any industry, are always a winning formula.

8. Besides yourself, who is your favorite FlashDen author and why do you like them?

I don’t know, because I don’t know everyone, and I am afraid of forgetting someone important. However, among my favorites are definitely VectorFlower and MBMedia. I think VectorFlower is one of the authors that uses FlashDen in the more intelligent way, because he managed to create 2 of the best products on FlashDen, which don’t have any competitors in that particular category. In fact, both are always among the most sold products. I like MBMedia because I think he is one of the most competent authors on FlashDen, all his files are an absolute guarantee of quality.

9. Which file do you think is your best file so far?

As I said before, all our love and our energy is already on the next concept. We always try to improve ourselves, so our best project is always the one that has not yet been started.

10. What one thing would you like to change about FlashDen if you could?

This is a quite difficult question. I can tell you what I would not change, that is the great kindness of the FlashDen staff who daily allow us to participate in the improvement of the site, evaluating all our ideas and suggestions in a concrete way. Thank you FlashDen!

11. When you aren’t developing cool Flash files, what do you do for fun?

Well, even when we’re not working, we like to talk about work. The best ideas come during free time. In any case, we have fun like all the guys our age. We meet our friends, we organize dinners, we go to the movies. Sometimes we get drunk (moderately) and, most of all, we like to travel when we can.

12. Would you like to give a sneak peek of the latest file you are currently working on to our readers?

You’re very curious! Well, shortly we’ll be launching a new template that I like a lot. But I cannot say more Also, our blog will be online soon, so stay tuned!

parker&kent
Nicola & Davide

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