Tell us about yourself.

Mark Boulton: I’m a graphic designer based in the UK. Most people probably know me from my site, markboulton.co.uk. Entirely built in Expression Engine, it is home to my blog and my portfolio.

What got you started in design?

Mark Boulton: Like a lot of designers I got started in education. I started off wanting to be an illustrator. After completing my foundation art & design course - you know, painting and drawing, I then moved on to a diploma in graphic design, during which I slowly began to get in typography. It all came a bit late though, so I decided to go on and do a degree in Typographic Design at Portsmouth University here in the UK. Looking back, it was fantastic being taught by two designers who were approaching retirement. I gained a real insight into the *craft* of design, the rules and when to break them. It was all great stuff that, even today, I won’t shut up about.

Why did yo choose ExpressionEngine?

Mark Boulton: I chose ExpressionEngine because of it’s flexibility and it outstanding out-of-the-box functionality. Oh, and the price!

What’s your favorite ExpressionEngine feature?

Mark Boulton: I don’t know where to start really, there are so many! As my site is part commercial site, part portfolio, and part blog I needed a system which could do all of that easily. I began the development of my site in another system, but got so sick of all the hacks, plugins and work-arounds in order to do what I wanted to do that ExpressionEngine became the logical - in fact the only - solution to my problems.

First and foremost I wanted to learn one system which I could apply to large range of sites, from commercial sites to blogs, from ecommerce (when the module comes out ) to community sites. Using such a flexible product as ExpressionEngine allows me to develop beyond the learning curve that I found myself on every time I started a new project. I only needed to learn one templating system, one bunch of tags and one set of concepts.

What was the question again? Oh yeah, er, I think being to define unlimited custom fields for different blogs, or sections, has to be my top feature.

What’s the most misunderstood aspect of web site design (there’s a loaded question)?

Mark Boulton: That’s a big question.

In web design there’s been, and continues to be, an interesting shift towards and then away from graphic design. Designers are still, in some circles, only there to ‘make things pretty’, which is a real shame. Well-schooled graphic designers are more problem solvers than artists - able to craft the design of a product bearing in mind everything from usability and accessibility to aesthetics.

I’m going to stop there - that’s a real can of worms!

Anything else you want to tell us about?

Mark Boulton: Well, there’s a few interesting projects I’ve been working on over the past six months or so, but I can’t talk about them just yet. There’s also going to be a follow up to my ‘Five Simple Steps’ series of articles out soon but in a different format… Keep tuned for that one.

EllisLab Note:Mark writes excellent articles on web design. Be sure to checkout Five Simple Steps to designing grid systems and Five Simple Steps to better typography.