Today we bring you, a transcript of our rendezvous with a design mogul from Minneapolis, with a decade’s worth of experience, Ryan Scherf.

Ryan Scherf is a designer, developer, entrepreneur and husband from Minneapolis, MN, USA. He has been a freelance designer for over 10 years under his personal brand: http://ryanscherf.net.

When he is not slaving away at night to his clients, he is pouring his heart and soul into his new health care startup Bloom Health. Somewhere in the middle of all of that, you can also find me on Twitter at: @ryanscherf.

What is your design philosophy?

I try to keep my designs as clean as possible. Whenever I think I have enough white space, I double it, just to make sure there is good separation of elements. Whenever I can, I try to stray away from any of the current trends; you can’t push the envelope by designing the way everyone else is.

Please tell us how you got into web design. What did you study in college and how did you learn to design?

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Today, we bring you an exclusive interview with David Walsh, where we try to elicit the secret of what makes him stand out in our industry.

David Walsh is author of a web development blog: The David Walsh Blog and founder of the Script and Style. He is a Core Developer of the MooTools JavaScript framework and a Software Engineer for the prestigious JavaScript development shop SitePen. He is a complete JavaScript, CSS, and HTML5 nerd.

What is your web development philosophy?

My philosophy is one of practicality and professionalism. Use the JavaScript, CSS, and server-side frameworks to get the job done. Don’t use unnecessary tools. Don’t use something just because you want to. Do your research up front. If you don’t go the extra mile to learn something, you don’t deserve to become an expert.

What is your current project (that you can tell us about)?

My client work is bound by NDA’s but I do have a few projects in the works. My blog is undergoing an overhaul which will feature a new design, awesome new content, and much more – I’m super excited to debut that. Script & Style will also soon be overhauled and improved. I also have a secret Twitter project in the works, so be on the look out for that!

How much has the development landscape changed since you started your career? What are the biggest improvements and pitfalls to come from these changes?

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One of my recent initiatives is interviewing some influential figures in the local IT industry. I have been able to interview designers, engineers, entrepreneurs, and technology gurus. Most of them are my friends, colleagues or industry leaders.

The purpose of this initiative is to know their thoughts about new technologies and get pieces of advice for youngsters. In coming weeks, I will be publishing a series of these interviews.

The first interview in this series was with Waqas Aleem.

Waqas is a product analyst and has worked as technical writer, information designer, usability engineer, business analyst and process engineer. He is co-compiler of TWIN’s book for technical writers. He is co-author of a blog on technical writing and information design DocMentors.

He is an avid gardener too and writes a gardening blog TheLovelyPlants. He can be reached at http://about.me/mughal

Following is a summary of the conversation with him.

What is your role as Product Analyst and how did you make a career in this field?

As the title suggests, I work with products; more precisely, software products. I analyze products, identify target markets, manage product life cycle and work with stakeholders to enhance current products.

I started my career as researcher and later worked as a technical writer and usability consultant for a number of software products. My experience of working in large teams, building and sharing knowledgebase and my establishing liaison with stakeholders helped me in assuming the position of Product Analyst.

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