Anyone that has visited, bought a file, or is an author at ThemeForest.net, part of the Envato network of marketplaces, will be familiar with this weeks Author Interview – Make Design, Not War, AKA Brandon R Jones.

Brandon is one of the consistent top authors at the hugely successful site, with a portfolio of  29 items, most of which are in the top 10 best selling items of their respective categories, he is a great inspiration to web developers, and theme authors.

Brandon was kind enough to take a few minutes out of his crazy schedule to answer a few questions for our readers.

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Welcome Brandon, tell us a little about yourself:

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I’m a really active, energetic guy. I love to get outdoors and rock climb, hike, and surf. I also am an avid cook and love fine coffees and beers. I’m getting married in this August (2010), so I’m pretty busy working on planning that right now!

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You’re a heavy WordPress developer, what is is that attracted you to WordPress and what do you think the future holds for WordPress?

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I actually started out as a front-end designer back in 2002, so whenever I would work with clients I would be limited by the inability to code a custom content management system by myself (which people actually did from scratch back in the day!).

WordPress was the first serious platform that enabled front-end designers to consistently rock out stable websites with CMS-like abilities.

What holds me to WordPress? The community. I’ll admit that there are prettier platforms to use, but WordPress is miles ahead of the pack in terms of support, plugins, an incredibly well populated knowledgebase, and an active team releasing regular core updates. Plus, the updates have gotten better and better in the past year, which means that whenever a competitor releases a new feature, WordPress isn’t too far behind.

With lots of platforms to pick from and the learning curve often requiring hundreds of hours of time to master any one of them, as a developer it’s important to pick one that’s going to be around for a while.

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Tell us about your profession.  How did you get started?  Did you always know that this is what you wanted to do?:

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I was trained as a graphic designer, so web design was never something that I learned in school – Like most successful designers that I know, the ability to be motivated and teach yourself is crucial to whether or not you are going to make it in the industry. I started out with a few basic HTML books and then discovered that in most cases, Google.com is a far better resource than anything you’ll ever find in a bookstore.

Did I always know this is what I wanted to do? Nope! Web design was just one of my freelance services for the first few years. When I realized that I was getting tons more work from web design than anything else, I made the shift towards focusing on my web based skillsets.

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Los Angeles – A Premium WordPress Theme

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I just released a massive admin panel update for this theme, and it’s rock solid in terms of usability and stability. It’s honestly my favorite theme that I’ve produced so far, and it’s gotten some rave reviews from users so far.

Click here to view and purchase

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What challenges do you feel you face everyday in the design business?  How do you typically overcome or work around those challenges?:

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The biggest challenge that I see on a daily basis is time-management and the day to day business maintenance. I happen to think that understanding that “if you are a freelancer, you are a business” is the most important realization that you can have. Managing your time and your business are as important to your success as whether or not you are a good coder or designer. In fact, I’ll say something dramatic (and I welcome a healthy discussion or disagreement over this):

If you are good at managing your time and your business, you are more than likely to succeed in the industry even if you are a mediocre coder/designer. You can be an amazing worker though, and if you can’t manage your time & business, you will fail. I guarantee it. You just can’t succeed on talent alone.

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Tell us who/what inspires you and why:

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As much as I love web design, what truly inspires me is what’s happening in the field of illustration and typography right now. I’ve always felt that web design is a good decade or two behind the actual trends happening in the real world, so when I need inspiration, I open up things like Behance, Creattica, DeviantArt, Wired Magazine, and various Graphic Design magazines/annuals.

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Flex for WordPress – A Portfolio & Blog Theme

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This is probably the most “out of the box” WordPress theme that I’ve seen so far. Designed to act as a portfolio instead of a blog (although it does the normal blog stuff too), this theme leverages some hot new jQuery techniques as well as the new WP-Post-Thumb feature to yield a hot new way to look at WordPress.

Click here to view and purchase

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What is a personal or professional goal for 2010:

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After freelancing for almost 8 years, I was able to quit this past February 2010 thanks to my work on WordPress themes and HTML templates at ThemeForest. There is a huge market for customizable stock themes out there and I truly see this as the single most important trend within the industry for the next couple years.

My goals for 2010 revolve around stock templates and WordPress themes: As such, I’ll be working on new coding methods, new designs, and heavily pushing self-promotion through social media platforms like Twitter and my own site. I’m planning on working exclusively on my own products and promotion for the entire year, and we’ll see what comes of it!

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How does it feel to be one of the top authors on Themeforest?

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Hah! It feels great, but I’m never one to rest on my laurels – there is a lot of talent out there, and to stay on top it’s going to take as much inspiration, innovation, and dedication as I can muster up

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Keep up-to-date with Brandon

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My Twitter account! I’m on there all the time – so if you use Twitter, make sure you add me – @makedesign

You can check out the rest of Brandon’s work at the following spots:
ThemeForest
Twitter
MakeDesign, NotWar

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Thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions for us Brandon, we wish you all the very best for your upcoming wedding and your continued career success!

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