As a part of the MacStories Apps Tree event (where you’ll find a huge giveaway worth $10.000 of 450 Mac and iPhone apps licenses) I had the chance to interview Brian Hoff, graphic / web designer and blogger who runs two amazing websites: The Design Cubicle and BrianHoff.net.

This is 10th of many interviews and guest posts I’ll publish on MacStories during this week.

Enjoy!

Hi! Can you please introduce yourself to MacStories readers?

I’m a independent graphic and web designer and writer of the design blog, The Design Cubicle. Because of my blog, I am able to connect and work with clients from all over the world and interact with other talented and creative people.

I currently run two websites: http://www.thedesigncubicle.com/ and http://www.brianhoff.net/ , with a third site going live in about a week or so!

Stay tuned.

What can you tell us about the design scene in your country?

Much like all over the world (I assume) design is extremely popular in the U.S., especially in large cities such as New York, Chicago, Austin, and Philadelphia (where I’m from). Larger cities seem to have more of a demand for design work and design studios, so naturally the designers gravitate to them more.

Although living in a big city and being a designer is also highly competitive because you have more companies and designers to compete against when it comes to finding work.

TheDesignCubicle has become one of the most popular design blogs. Are you doing this all by yourself? Do you use Macs in your office?

I am very pleased with the quick success the Design Cubicle has had in only one year — something I would have never imagined, but I am extremely thankful for all my readers and supporters!

I am the only writer of the Design Cubicle. It can become quite hectic staying up with my business/client work and then later blogging — I try to write two to three posts per week — answering emails, responding to comments, and all the other stuff that goes with a blog.

My Mac setup and organization techniques help me achieve the above in a reasonable timely manner though. My main setup is a 24” iMac attached to a 23” Samsung external monitor. Having a dual monitor allows me to be extremely productive and have many things open at once. I don’t think I could ever go back to a single monitor again. I also have a new 15” Macbook Pro for when I travel or work out of my co-working space.

Have you ever tried other apps besides Photoshop / Iluustrator? For example, Pixelmator?

I have tried many other apps other than the Adobe Creative Suite. I worked at Apple as a software trainer for 3+ years and had to know pretty much all the various options out there.

Which are your favourite Mac apps?

Favorite (most used) Mac apps would have to be Little Snapper, Coda by Panic, and Dropbox. You can also view all the other apps I use for ‘getting things done’ of my personal site’s sidebar [ http://www.brianhoff.net/about.html ]

Is there a Mac app you’d like to develop, but you don’t have time or the right skills?

Not particularly, but personally I feel Dropbox is brilliant and works beautifully! If I had to work on an app/webapp I would want it to turn out like Dropbox.

Let’s talk about the Adobe CS suite for Mac. Many people think it’s a simple porting of the Windows version, with an outdated UI and not so many “Apple style” features. Your opinion?

To be honest, I have really used a PC in a very long time; Windows 95 to be exact. I’ve been using Macs for about 10+ years now and have no intentions on switching back. As a designer, I have always enjoyed the UI of Apple products and really respect their vision of ease of use mixed with beauty.

Do you use a specific software to organize all your work stuff like Yojimbo or Evernote, or do you still prefer a well organized Finder?

Most would probably consider me obsessively organized (you can view a few of my organization methods here: http://j.mp/getOrganized. One of my favorite apps I use a lot is Things for getting things in order and keeping me in check.

Is there something of Mac OS X interface you’d change? Or do you think it’s already perfect as it is?

As in all things, everything can always be improved, but at the current time Apple is on top of things.

Do you think the Mac platform is more suitable for designers? Is it possible to acheive good results on Windows too?

I know a few designers that produce brilliant work that work on PCs. Computers are only a tool for creating. The work produced comes from the person and their abilities not based on limitations from a computer.

Do you have / have you ever tried a Magic Mouse? Is it good for designers?

Not yet, but I want one really bad!

As a designer / blogger, what would you like to receive for Christmas?

I love design books and fonts, so I will take either.

Thanks for chatting with us! And keep up the great work!

Thanks for the interview!