Down the FoxHole: Featured Author Flash_Cart

He’s been AWOL on FlashDen for some time now, but he has still managed to sell an incredible amount of files on FlashDen during his absence. Files like the aptly-named Flash Cart and Draggable Animated Tooltip have sold 300+ and 250+ times respectively. Flash_Cart is a top 25 author on FlashDen and from what he tells me, it sounds like Flash_Cart is about to metamorphosize into a different user. Let’s read on to find out more about this author and what he’s currently upto.

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from, what do you do for a living? And where have you been recently?!

I’m a poor, but happy Art Director. Where have I been? Recently, I’ve been reading and learning about Envato’s latest requirements so the number of rejected files gets smaller, ha, ha. Seriously though, I’ve been working at Dell Inc. for the last 11 months.

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

I have been using Flash for about 3 years on-and-off. When my inbox was filled with requests for Flash customizations, it was a great indicator that it was time to utilize Envato for selling stock Flash files.

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

Both, I started early on with Envato by simply asking permission from my clients to re-sell whatever I made for them.

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

I was inspired the minute I saw how many files DigitalScience’s sold! My Web relationship with DS has also been inspirational, he’s been a cool acquaintance.

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

• R&D – Research and Development: I look at what is already out there and selling well and then analyze why it sells well.
• WireFrames: A concept car is always more impressive than the actual production vehicle for logical reasons that do not concern an artist.
• Submission: Being persistent in re-submitting files after the recommended adjustments have been made because the concept car was not received as well as expected.

6. What do you do to market and brand your files? Why did you decide to use the red chili logo/branding?

Brainstorm. The fact that I do NOT have traditional Web Designer/Developer education forces me to produce work unlike any other author. I chose the FlashCart branding because my first software app was a Flash-based Shopping Cart.

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

After your file gets rejected for the umpteenth time, slap yourself, work on it some more and then re-submit.

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

Well, the most interesting relationships I have established are with some of the top selling authors here. e.g. Digital Science, Triworks, and who knows who the next person will be on the list of people I will network with since the Envato community has grown literally 10-fold since I joined in 2007! I was probably the first completely full-time FlashDen author even before I made enough money to make the switch. That said, it has proven to be a great move, since I decided to invest my time and effort into growing a portfolio here and helping out around the Envato house from time to time with ideas for improvement.

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

The one I am currently working on. Freelancers can probably relate to that statement. When you work for yourself, it is easy to get excited because you design to your liking. It’s great! No one telling you that they want a purple duck where you envision a chalkboard. I’m actually working on a ThemeForest theme at the moment called jPress alongside SabraMedia, with a very nice framework built by Tim Lappe from Devolux.org who gave me re-sale rights via email last weekend!

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

Collaboration Works.

I have been working on this for years now with Envato and believe one of the biggest keys to success is the ability for an artist to work with a developer and upload a file/app and be able to withdrawal their earnings independently. You already can do this by simple doing multiple Payout Requests however it is not yet very user friendly and I realize some of the challenges that exist based on the response I have gotten previously. Still, 2 heads are better than 1 and even still, the mice beat the mouse.

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

In my spare time I like to hang out at Hooters. I met my wife at a Hooters when I first started as a freelancer, it’s nice to drink beer and relax whenever my wife lets me, ha, ha! I also like to take my 2 kids mountain climbing to Mount Bonell (Austin, TX) while they are still young and I enjoy taking lots of great pictures of them to see when they get older. I also enjoy watching movies with my wife when we have a babysitter because she enjoys it. And lastly, getting new tattoos! But I have slowed down on that tremendously for the time being.

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

It’s top secret. Not really, it’s called “jPress beta” and it’s just been released over at ThemeForest.net! This WordPress template incorporates a chalkboard to emphasize the growing online Tutorial business. It is simply a 2 column Word Press CMS and has some nice jQuery effects like font re-sizer, post minimize/maximizer, etc. plus a style switcher from the admin panel and a mechanism to toggle the sidebar from left to right.

View Flash_Cart’s portfolio.

Read more interviews with FlashDen authors.

Down the Foxhole: Featured Author Oxylus

Romanian development team Oxylus finally made it to the coveted number one spot in the Popular Authors chart for July, knocking digitalscience off the top spot for the first time in eons! And now, as we move into September, we see that Oxylus have maintained their number one position with the highest number of total sales for August!

With over 100 files now in their portfolio, Oxylus continue to raise their game with an attraction of gorgeously designed Flash files, including their recent smash hit, the Slick Full Website Template with CMS and 2 Skins. The diversity of the Oxylus portfolio is impeccable, covering preloaders, navigation menus, 3D carousel viewers, image galleries, audio players and now full site templates. Whenever you see a new Flash file posted by Oxylus you know you are in for a visual treat with exceptional customization options. For these reasons, Oxylus is a FlashDen legend! But despite the huge library of files Oxylus has available on FlashDen, we know very little behind the mastermind and the team that makes these files. Let’s change that right now as we interview Oxylus!

1. Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from, what do you do for a living?

Greetings, my name is Octavian Chelaru and I am the co-owner and creative director of Oxylus Development. We are a small but growing software company based in Romania. Our main focus is complex online applications and custom websites, however we like to see ourselves as a full service creative company so we do offer services that cover all the needs our clients can have, including corporate id, print or outdoor banner design. We are fairly “old” by industry standards having been in business for almost 10 years now. I would also like to credit our amazing Flash developers who work on our stock flash releases : Adrian, Razvan, Laurentiu and Radu. Emanuel, my associate, is the one responsible for any of the PHP work bundled with our files, like the amazing admin panels.

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

Our creations are typically a team effort and as far as Flash goes we have some very talented developers in our team and all have varying amounts of experience.
We started selling stock flash about one and a half years ago, as a sort of experiment at first but then we started getting a taste of this niche and began doing things more seriously. We were first introduced to the phenomenon when we had to create a stock flash marketplace website and had to do a bit of industry research. At that point we discovered the potential of this fast-growing micro-stock industry so we decided to give it a try. So far it seams it was a good call. FlashDen is the top site in this industry by far so if you’re serious about stock Flash, like we are, presence on FD is mandatory, not optional.

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

We typically make all our files from scratch, with a specific target in mind. We have found that clients that hire us to create work for them, typically do so because it’s highly customized and specific work, thus usually it would not be of general interest, at least not in the same formula it was created. We do occasionally re-use certain classes or small parts we originally developed for clients, but this is a very rare occurrence. In our experience, it is more efficient to work more and provide the stock buyers with what they’re looking for rather then save up on work time and release something they would not be interested in.

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

Well, this has to do with our long term strategy, which is to build up a large portfolio of items that would cover all bases, from simple to highly complex files. Our ultimate goal is for buyers to find any kind of file they would need in our portfolio and on top of that find some very cool original files they would have a hard time finding anywhere else. High ambitions, I know, but slowly and steadily we’re progressing towards this goal. What all this means is that we try to combine originality with already market proven ideas in a ratio that is within our strategy. In short, sometimes we create items that are of types that already sell well (like banner rotators, carousels, menus, galleries) but we try to make them better and more appealing to the customers, while other items are completely original or inspired by the current creative trends around the web. Short-term, we plan on making more popular interest files while on the long run we’ll add increasingly more specific and rare files that can’t be found in other authors’ portfolios. To end this answer more to the point, my main sources of inspiration are competing files in the same category as the new file we’re making, current trends in Flash (mainly awards sites like thefwa), art/designer showcase sites (like deviantart) and of course personal visual culture which is built in time and includes very diverse influences.

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?

Well, I think our work flow is a bit different than most, given the fact that we break up stages of each new file between members of our team instead of one person doing the whole process. Typically, when starting on a new file, we identify the type of the new file we want to create by considering what we’re missing from our portfolio and what would sell well. As I mentioned earlier our strategy is to slowly get to a portfolio that covers most of the file types on sale today. After identifying the type of file, let’s say a menu, we look at the files it would compete with and try to see how we could make our file better or more appealing to the customers, be it with design, features or flexibility. The design is then created in Photoshop or Illustrator, including screens for all stages of the file, even transitions. After this is done, a complete specs sheet with the features, xml options and transition details of the new file is done. At this point, the creative stage is considered complete and the design and specs sheet is passed on to the assigned ActionScript developer. We usually create specific files for each developer on our team, taking into account their skill set, experience and previously completed files.

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

We do many things, on many levels, but definitely not enough. As far as branding goes at one point or another we will completely revamp all our identity materials, from thumbnails and file previews to help files, streamline all our file descriptions as well as quite other small things. At this point however the time available for stock flash is very limited and better spent in other areas. Right now we only brand some of our previews very discretely and our help files. Marketing-wise, given the fact that we’re a non-exclusive authors, our tactics would probably not be helpful to fellow FD authors.

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

All that comes to mind has already been said before, but in a nutshell I would advise them to work as hard as they can, release as many files as they can and never skimp on visual appearance or their work might not have the return they hoped for. In my opinion FD has become a very competitive place in the last year or so and if new authors don’t work really hard and allocate a lot of time to this they will not succeed. As with anything else, it all comes down to hard work and dedication. Good support and help files is also an important issues, don’t skimp on this. This is something we plan on improving as well so I can’t stress the importance of a good help base out of the box, that will save you tons of time doing support. We plan on slowly adding video tutorials for all our files and some general FAQs as well, I would advise other authors to consider this.

8. Besides yourself, who is your favorite FlashDen author?

Hmm, tough question, I personally love the work of many top authors on FD, I think the talent level is very high and up to par to top international agencies. Having to pick just one, I’d have to say DigitalScience. The combination of his skills, creativity, dedication and longevity in this game is an inspiration, especially since he does all his stuff himself from start to finish and is a fulltime Denner. We also love the work of the other companies here on FD and hope that soon we’ll be able to allocate sufficient time to stock Flash in order to release more complex files like they do.

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

Another tough question, “the best” can be interpreted in so many ways. I think that our first full Flash template with a PHP administration panel called Slick Full Website Template with CMS and 2 Skins comes closest to an overall best. It is very complex, sells well and is highly acclaimed. Our Ultimate 3D Carousel comes pretty close as well though.

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

Higher percentages for non-exclusive authors or at least a progressive percentage depending on sales Joking aside, there are many improvements I could think of, especially since we’re very familiar with the industry and have developed a few similar systems, but I’m sure many of these are on the to-do list of the people in charge. What I think would be crucial though would be the ability to edit your submission while it’s in the queue, and use the soft-reject feature site-wide (except for the items that are rejected for good).

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

Since we’re a team, we each have our own passions and hobbies, so I can only speak for myself in this matter. I love anything with an engine in it, so riding motorcycles or driving cars on or off road always bumps my spirits up. Music and modern art is also a big thing for me and so is the occasional heavy partying with my friends. I consider myself somewhat of an diverse person who finds joy in any activity or thing. I like to explore anything that’s new to me and usually enjoy all the good parts of it. I find that gives you a very open perspective on life, people and how everything ties and works together.

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

Well, let me share a little secret. Given the way we build files and the fact that we’re seriously limited as far as time allocated to stock flash development goes, we actually have a ton of files in the works. While we released about 117 files so far but believe it or not we have graphics and specs done for almost 100 more, including 7 templates. Unfortunately though we are very busy with our custom development for our clients so to be honest I don’t think that (at least for now) we’re able to allocate much more time to this than a single hard working full-time developer could. As a sneak peak I’ve chosen one of the files we hope to release in the near future, a nice mp3 player with playlist.

View Oxylus’ portfolio.

Read more interviews with FlashDen authors.

Down the FoxHole: Featured Author rondog

He’s quickly approaching 1,500 total sales and he’s not shy about coding large, complex files requiring databases. Judging by some of his most popular files, he loves the challenge of creating Flash projects using PHP and MYSQL such as this Membership System file and this Secure Client Area with Admin Panel file. Oh, and just for giggles, he also coded the rather gorgeous 3D Navigation file. Who am I talking about? It’s rondog!

1. Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from, what do you do for a living?

My name is Ronnie Swietek. I am 23 years old. I graduated from the Art Institute of San Diego in December of 07. I work as a Web developer in Carlsbad for a company called digital OutPost. I also freelance a lot, mainly because of FlashDen.

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

Hmm…I would say about 3 years now. I was hired by my company as a Flash developer not really knowing a whole lot about it. ActionScript definitely wasn’t in my vocabulary. I taught myself within a few months and grasped it pretty quick. I was mostly a graphic designer/HTML/CSS guy…that’s it…didn’t even know what XML was if you can believe that. I didn’t think anything of it when I uploaded my first file, but then I saw that it had made me nearly $60 dollars in 1 month. From then on I saw the potential of this marketplace.

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

For the most part I create all my files from scratch. I do have a class I created that I use ALL the time which is my time code class that helps me out tremendously when making video players or anything really that deals with time.

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

I get it from various blogs or creative web sites. Most of the time I just try and think of what’s out there and how I can make it better. That really inspires and motivates me to actually build the application.

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?

The idea usually pops in my head at really random moments…I’ve noticed I get a lot of them while driving. I tend to do a lot of thinking about my work while I drive…that might be a bad thing! When I create a new file, I write the document class first and then begin to create some design elements. Once I have enough design elements and the doc class created, I can usually begin making the application actually do something. I have a template now with a preloader that can get me started if it’s going to be a full flash Web site. It saves a lot of time.

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

I got the nickname rondog in middle school and it stuck ever since. With it being my user name, nothing else could possibly fit better than a dog. I like the in-your-face and friendly look ‘my’ dog portrays. I put my dog on all of my file thumbnails which is pretty easy to spot since the background is pink. As far as branding on my personal Web site goes, it really needs to be revamped. I haven’t touched it since I graduated probably ha, ha!

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

Design, design, design. Even though a lot of buyers will scrap your design and put their own design in, it’s such a quick turn off to see ugly files…even if they work really well.

8. Besides yourself, who is your favorite FlashDen author?

I’ve really taken an interest in RJFlash’s works. He has some excellent special effects that are very light weight. Parker&Kent for their minimalistic template designs that I feel stand in their own place in the template world.

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

Well according to sales, it would me one of my membership systems (Ultimate PHP / MySQL Membership System and Flash PHP / MySQL Membership System). The first one I did was my first go at having Flash talk to databases. I’ve graduated to using AMFPHP now which makes things a lot easier when having to get results from a database. As far as the amount of work goes, it would be my first version of the Secure Client Area.

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

I’ve taken a look at other online market places like FlashDen and nothing compares to it. I haven’t really found much to complain about or that I didn’t like. Ok I did think of something and that is the forums. I wish we would just use a standard phpBB or simple machines forum. Only problem is this site is run on Ruby on Rails so that won’t happen.

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

I love computer games. I play Counter Strike: Source a lot. I’ve been playing Counter Strike since 1.3 so for about 8 years or so. Needless to say I am quite good at it. I also tend to think I am an active individual. I airsoft, skateboard, go to the gym a couple times a week (when I am not swamped with freelance), hanging out with my friends is a must and road trips. Luckily I have friends that love road trips too so we try and do as many as we can.

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

I am currently working on Version 2 of my Secure Client Area. This one will be much easier to navigate around in and has an overall better look to it in my opinion.

View rondog’s portfolio.

Read more interviews with FlashDen authors.

Down the FoxHole: Featured Author dabamol

It’s always inspiring to find out more about FlashDen authors through our interview series. This week is no exception. dabamol is someone who has been around on FlashDen pretty much since the beginning of FD in 2006, and judging by his high quality portfolio, he is a believer in quality over quantity. So much so in fact, that he is a Top 20 Author with over 3,600 sales with only 11 portfolio items submitted in 3 years. That’s an impressive statistic right there! What’s also impressive about dabamol is how humble he sounds from his interview and how very passionate he is about interactive design. Let’s find out more about this intriguing author!

1. Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from, what do you do for a living?

Hello all. I am David A. Molanphy (aka. dabamol) and before I begin, thank you for taking the time to read this.

I am originally from Honduras and have been living in the US for about 12 years now. I currently reside in a small suburb outside of Minneapolis, MN, where I am the interactive design director for a design firm called Larsen. Here I get the chance to work on some pretty exciting brands and projects. I’m also an associate professor at the College of Visual Arts where I teach introduction to interactive media as well as interactive usability principles – so as you may begin to see, I am extremely passionate about the interactive arena in general.

Between those two gigs I don’t get to play on FlashDen nearly as often as I would like. Though the inner-geek compels me to keep building things for FlashDen as often as time permits.

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

I started playing with Flash back in version 4 and lemme tell ya…I’m glad those days are over! Simple things like EnterFrames were not yet a twinkle in (then) Macromedia’s mind. Not that I would’ve known what to do with them anyways. ActionScript was a steep learning curve for me as my background is entirely design-focused.

As far as FlashDen is concerned, I joined the party pretty early on actually. I don’t remember exactly how I found the site back then, but I do remember it looked very professional (it still does – thanks FD team), and I remember thinking this would definitely be a place for great files. It hasn’t disappointed.

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

Both actually. My best-selling files (MD Gallery Advanced and MD Portfoliosite v2) were created exclusively for FlashDen. Most of my files, however, are utilities that I created either for myself or clients, and they have been incredibly useful in my own work. In fact, if you snoop around some of the Web sites I have designed at Larsen, you might see several of my components being used. Hint, hint.

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

I draw a lot of my ideas from the needs I see with our clients. We’re not the cheapest firm in town and sometimes our clients will come in with some very legitimate needs but small budgets. I try to build my files to help those folks out – in fact, my two portfolio templates were designed with very specific people in mind (both photographers). It is AMAZING to see what the FlashDen community has done to customize these files to meet their needs! Very rewarding for me.

As far as inspiration, I am surrounded daily by extremely creative people – folks who make stuff that constantly makes me think “man, I wish I would’ve done that”! There is so much incredible talent out there (one quick glance on some of FlashDen’s popular authors and you’ll know exactly what I mean). I try to keep up by reading a lot of blogs and visiting a lot of sites, but there’s just too much out there.

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?

First, I start with my sketchbook (always start with a sketchbook)! My print design roots are still firmly planted, so I’m a big fan of analog for concepting. Once I have something that I think people will like or find useful, then I open up Photoshop and start designing the interface.

I design almost everything in Photoshop and I’m constantly thinking about how to make it something that I would use myself (after all, my name is attached to these files).

Once I’m happy with the design, I take some time to plan out how to approach the development of it. One thing that I have learned is that the FlashDen community likes to tweak things, and more often than not, they’ll come up with something amazing that I never even dreamed about with my own files. It’s a challenge to abstract the code to accommodate such a vast audience of developers – but in the end, it makes the file that much better.

That leads me to the administration of the file – what’s the easiest way for people to customize the file? The answer lies in XML more often than not, so I start building the XML file or set the FlashVar criteria – and again, this is done on pen/paper. (I tend to plan a lot).

Then, I start development. I try to keep in mind that ultimately, these files will live on the web, so I build all my files in a way that you can take one folder (usually titled _DEPLOY), drop it on your server, and have it run without problems. Code optimization is a key ingredient for me – it’s what makes me tick. I try to write the cleanest code I know how in a way that if someone decided to look through my file, they wouldn’t get lost and could at least follow my thinking. I will often spend hours trying to solve a particular problem the right way, even though I know I can hack my way through it. (That’s how I learn). It’s a fun/frustrating/exciting challenge for me.

Finally, once everything is coded and abstracted the way I want – I run it through every possible scenario I can think of in implementing the file. This is how I build my instructions. Unfortunately, since I’m so close to the project by then, it is not unlikely that I’ll overlook some obscure way of embedding the file on xyz configuration. But rest assured, someone out there will point it out – and that’s when ongoing development on the file occurs.

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

Well, not much actually. I try and post recent releases on my blog – but with all 12 people reading it (if that), I doubt that makes any difference. I rely entirely on FlashDen’s search capabilities and community to find my files. I should really do some more on this so don’t follow my bad example.

As far as branding is concerned, once again, I’m ashamed to admit that not much thought goes into it. Apart from preceding everything with MD (Molanphy Design), I design each file very individually from the next (I have been wanting to re-design all my files/icons to follow Digital Science’s lead there, but procrastination has taken hold of me – how DOES he do it)?!

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

Do everything I’m not doing. Brand your files and market them as best you can, through as many channels as you can. Make sure your files are solid, not only in the code, but in the design. (I’m a huge proponent of user experience dictating the technology, not the other way around). Participate in the FlashDen community and be accessible. (I’m really bad at those last two – my apologies – I’ll do better).

8. Besides yourself, who is your favorite FlashDen author?

There’s so many great folks out there. Obviously Digital Science and Bobocel kick trash! I look up to them and have seen them battle on and off for top file of the month. They make some great files – and they’re hard to compete with. Countless others too!

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

Best selling, probably my MD Gallery Advanced, and though I’m extremely proud of that file – I’m very excited at one of my newer files: MD AS3 Video Player. I spent a lot of time getting up to speed on AS3 and this is the first file where I feel like my AS3 skills finally match my AS2 skills. I’m very proud of it, and already have plans for more files in AS3. For those of you who are still struggling with AS3, stick with it – it’s well worth your time, and dang it’s fast!

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

I feel like there is a lot of quantity in FlashDen, but as of late, less files that are truly quality. I see a lot of the same stuff, not a lot of original thinking (not that I’m mr. original, but I think you know what I mean). I’d like to see more components that can be used in real problem-solving ways for Web sites. And of course, I’d love to see more great design. More great user experiences. Can never have too much of that.

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

Oh boy. This is where the true geek comes out. I am one of those fortunate souls that works doing what they love – so my hobbies are usually tied to some type of design or interactive technology (iPhone, JS, AS, as of late). I like photography a lot and I do play tennis (though not as often as I’d like). And to pretend I’m not a complete slave to my work, my wife and I are big into finding new fun restaurants around the Twin Cities. I’m always on the hunt for good ice cream and good movies.

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

I’m currently working on some files that I feel could be interesting and help meet some needs. The main one (which I’m hoping to have finished soon) is an XML-driven Video Gallery (in AS3 of course) with a simple interface. The main goal of it is to showcase video in a large format – something that could be useful for a video production house or similar. It is inspired by some work I did for a big client recently, and it focuses mainly on delivering video and doing it well. Attached is a preliminary look at it though it is still in heavy development.

I also just got an idea for a new full-site template. I’ve been meaning to get another one up there – but have been waiting for the right idea to come. I think I have it finally.

View dabamol’s portfolio.

Read more interviews with FlashDen authors.

Down the FoxHole: Featured author SaafiDesign

He’s a top ten author, he has attained gold badge level ($50,000 – $100,000 sales), and he even has time to review files for FlashDen as a reviewer! SaafiDesign’s portfolio is a wonderfully designed affair of video players, images viewers, news readers, menus and much, much more. A diverse treat of multimedia magic! Let’s find out more about SaafiDesign!

1. Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from, what do you do for a living?

Hello, I am Sher Ali (aka SaafiDesign/wes across envato marketplaces) and I’m a 25 year old male. I live in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. I am a freelance flash developer, CEO of my new startup company “Lucid Studios”, a husband and a father of a 13 month old son.

I use Flash not only for living but also for pursuing my master’s degree in Computer Sciences.

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

I have been using Flash since version 5. I don’t remember the exact site from where I came to FlashDen but in those days, a Chinese author (chipiano) was one of the top selling authors here at FlashDen and that made me think that FlashDen is the perfect opportunity (to earn passive income) which I wanted for a long time so after couple of months I started selling Flash files at Flashden and I’m still selling here!

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

Almost all of the files in my portfolio were built solely for FlashDen but few of them were part of larger projects which I tweaked for selling at FlashDen.

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

I used to visit thefwa.com a lot to get inspired but not now due to lack of time. I try to come up with files which I think will be very helpful for wide variety of buyers.

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?

After opting to be a Flash programmer, I follow the reverse order of the actual process i.e. first I code and then tweak the design with many iterations, get feedback from friends and then tweak again to make the file better and better. For non-FlashDen projects I mostly code the projects because I get the designs from the clients either designed by themselves or by another designer.

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

For branding I am not very consistent and change my profile page, file icons etc. whenever I get bord of them!

I had good plans to market my files like having a general dedicated website (lucidcomponents.net) for all of my FlashDen files and a specific website for my events calendar file, but I have not managed to get around to doing that yet. I have been using Adobe Exchange however to market my files.

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

Learn through experience and follow your own best practices. For example, one of my best practices is to implement the feature of passing xml file path through flashvars in all of my new files because majority of the buyers ask for that feature.

8. Besides yourself, who is your favorite FlashDen author?

My favorite authors are dabamol for having a gold badge with a very minimalistic portfolio, triworks for their top quality work and of course RimV for his stunning 3D files.

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

Of course dynamic xml events calendar (AS2 version) which brought me up to the gold badge level very quickly. There are many events calendar files on FlashDen but mine is one of the more attractive and interactive concepts and has a lot of features which others don’t.

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

To have a separate testing site for testing new features and sending emails to authors whenever they change their account information to avoid any kind of illegal access to someone’s account at the right time.

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

When I am not building Flash files I try to play with my son, get some extra sleep and spend some time with my family and friends.

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

View SaafiDesign’s portfolio.

Read more interviews with FlashDen authors.

Down The FoxHole: Featured Author barisintepe

With a solid FlashDen library of 80 files and quickly approaching an incredible 10,000 total sales, FlashDen author barisintepe is infamous for being able to create extremely well designed files that not only look terrific, but are also very useful. Files like the XML Glow Fader Text Rotator and the XML Silver Text Rotator are just a couple of the author’s most recent creations. You should really check out how diverse barisintepe’s portfolio is, it has everything! From effects to games and from site templates to navigation menus. This man is seriously talented and we need to find out more about this Flash mastermind, so read on!

1. Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from, what do you do for a living?

My name is Baris Intepe. You may know me as ‘barisintepe‘ though. Baris means ‘peace and serenity’ in Turkish. I am 35 years old and probably one of the oldest FlashDen authors. I live in Canakkale, Turkey. For those who are wondering about the location of Canakkale, I can tell you that it’s a small city in the region that includes the legendary Troy city.

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

Five years ago, I began to learn how to use Flash and ActionScript just because of my interest in programming computer games. When I got the chance of learning FlashDen in August 2007 my whole life changed. I immediately quit my fulltime job and focused on FlashDen. As a matter of fact, I was totally tired of boring office work. I had the chance of being free as I always dreamed about and gaining a satisfying income thanks to FlashDen. Now, along with all the earnings, I have a job that I love doing.

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

I focus my entire Flash works only on FlashDen. I never accept any other project proposals. None of my Flash works are used in other commercial projects.

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

That’s a difficult question because I literally haven’t found the answer yet! With a bang, an idea occurs to me and it haunts me until I put it into practice. I can say that generally I am able to imagine the end result of a project. I think it’s like a musician having the inspiration for a melody. It’s really hard to express this mood by using words. But, without imagination, it’s not easy to be successful in Flash.

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?

Firstly, I try to envisage each detail of a project. It’s important to estimate the possible demands of FlashDen customers. Because for any work, there may be some additional requests. I spend a lot of time trying to make a project as flexible as possible. After building the visual model by using FreeHand, the only step remaining after that is to program everything.

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

I simply do nothing! I don’t have a personal blog site. I am not making any additional effort to advertise my files in FlashDen. I don’t think I’m very good at marketing! My main focus is to create.

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

VectorFlower has the best answer for this question. He is really successful. Achieving such high sale figures with such little number of files is a true success story. I have many files on FlashDen, but unfortunately only a couple of them have sales that I am happy with. I should admit that I do not find it easy to give good advice to anyone. My advice for the new FlashDen authors is to work hard over even the most simple Flash file for at least a week. A file completed in a couple of days is not expected to turn into a success. It’s the details that make all the difference.

8. Besides yourself, who is your favorite FlashDen author?

Generally, most people would give an answer here that references a top 20 FlashDen author. But I want to say ‘RJFlash‘. He is a real expert in visual FX and lighting FX programming. It’s a pleasure to follow his works. To me, he brightens-up FlashDen with his original style.

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

In terms of interface and practicability, i can recommend this file of mine: Spinning XML Globe. It’s really functional. In terms of artistic features, I hold the following file in high esteem: Colorful Dots. The Colors and circles create a magical mixture!

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

I really wonder about how and where FlashDen customers use the products they buy from us. Because it makes me happy to see something I made becoming useful and it also gives me new ideas. I think a section like ’showcase’ will be helpful in FlashDen. It may be a source of inspiration for both authors and potential customers.

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

Actually, I do nothing! I really like being a bone-idle! I spend time watching documentaries on TV or playing first person shooter games.

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

I am presently working on a small Web layout project. It will primarily be a basic Web template showing SWF files and include basic functions. Here’s a little screenshot:

View barisintepe’s portfolio.

Read more interviews with FlashDen authors.