I’ve been a big fan of Mimi‘s work since the first time i had visited Akuhei years ago! Her work in pixels and vectors is very impressive – i invite you to visit her website as it’s a real eyecandy (right now the layout is very clean and crisp, gorgeous!).

Thankyou Mimi for accepting to be interviewed (and also for replying back at lightning-speed!!)

Interview:

1. Name / Alias: Real name is Emily, I go by Mimi mostly though.

2. Website Name: Mimi Goodies

3. What got you to create a website? In the first place? Sailor Moon of course! My most recent site, Mimi Goodies, was me attempting to go into the whole Myspace graphic site business but I just couldn’t stand selling out! So I just reverted it to my lonesome little collection of graphical goodies, I removed the things that I didn’t think were truly good or original. I had owned Akuhei.nu for 7-8 YEARS before I moved to MG.com. Keeping up a .nu name was getting really pricey.

4. How did you come up with the name? I wanted to have something with my name in it for some reason.. Just because I have slight egotistical tendencies I suppose? Ha ha! I also wanted people to realize that my site was a graphic site before they even loaded the page. I didn’t think mimi-downloads.com sounded very good, though. Goodies are fun, people like to get goodies, so I thought it was fun and still served my selfish needs.

5. How long have you had a website? Shock and horror.. now that I have actually looked back and counted.. (hold your breath!) 15 years. Yes, YEARSSSS! Mwuahaha!

6. What was the original theme of the site? Has it deviated? Oops, I should stop answering other questions within other questions! Like I blabbed on about earlier it was intended to be a Myspace graphic site but I just didn’t like the mass production of crappy celebrity graphics. Not that ALL celebrity graphics are bad, mine just were. Ha ha!

7. Where do you get inspiration for layouts from? Since Mimi Goodies opened up about one year ago next month I have only had three layouts on it total. I am so very picky that I will make 20 layouts and throw all of them away in disgust. I am a perfectionist. So saying this I need a LOT of inspiration from a LOT of places. I sometimes will surf the web, go to Deviantart, find CSS galleries.. Sometimes I get inspired while watching commercials or reading magazines. The layout before this one was inspired by playing a video game on my DS!

8. What kind of programs & tools do you use to make your layouts? I have been using Adobe Photoshop since the beginning which makes me slightly bad at using other graphic editing programs.. At the VERY beginning I used to use MS Paint to make pixels in! I have always coded by hand, never with any kind of aid, so Notepad was my best friend..until I found Editpad Lite. :3 It’s just like Notepad but it has some extra features like search & replace, line jump and others. So.. umm.. that’s basically it! I use my brain a lot! I always try to code everything from complete scratch and only if I get stuck will I search out other methods (IE bugging my friends on Twitter.. ).

9. Has your website / layout making technique changed from the beginning till now? Technique, no, not really. I still make things in Photoshop and then go to my notepad editor and type it all up. I used to have to use others’ tutorials a lot at the beginning though.

10. Have you ever done something that goes against the netiquette? Oh yes and I am not going to hide and pretend like I have never done anything wrong. I stole some pixels once and used them on my layout. HA! Mimi, hater of all internet thieves. People can indeed learn from their mistakes so next time someone steals from you try sending them a friendly but firm message requesting them not to do it. Yelling at them will just be drama drama drama.

11. Are there any webmasters whom you consider as your role model? Well strangely enough Amy from lalaland.nu was one of my big idols back in the day.. She popped up in my comments last month! I talk to her now and it makes me really happy. I also adore Jem of jemjabella.co.uk, but so does everyone else. Melly from melly.me, gosh there are so many.. I look up to a lot of others!

12. Did you ever think that your site will be this popular? I for real, really really really, do not think my site is popular. LOL I am blushing now, thanks! hehe

13. How much time do you dedicate on working on your site? It kind of varies.. There will be a few weeks where I will crank out things and ideas left and right and then have 3 months of absolutely nothing. I am in my “nothing” stage right now. I try to ensure that all of my goodies are quality so I don’t like to rush.

14. Do you consider yourself as a mini celebrity? NOOOOO!!!! *blushes*

15. Do you like being considered that way? No no, never ever ever! I am a small town southern girl that has an insane love of pandas and the color pink. XP

16. Do you monetize your website? If so – approximately – How much money do you make each month? I do not anymore but at one point in time I did on Akuhei. I didn’t make too much money to be honest and I really hate forcing ads upon my visitors.. I feel like I am demanding from them when they should be there to enjoy my site instead.

17. Do you have big plans for your website for the future? I don’t know really.. The only plans I have are to convert my premade layouts to WordPress themes (I will still leave a regular version for those who do not use WordPress).

18. Do you have any tips for us? Try to be original! Yes celebrities are wonderful and beautiful but if you think about it almost everyone else uses them in their layouts/graphics. That’s the real reason I removed all copyrighted material in the first place. That and the badgering of my friends. Nothing pleases me more than when I go to a website and I see their original, creative work. I don’t care if it looks like a kid drew it, it’s unique to you and that is something to be very proud of. Don’t hesitate to try it!

I would love it if anyone of you guys can leave me suggestions about the next interview! Any particular questions would you like me to ask in the future interviews? Who would you like me to interview next? (Hey, you can even nominate yourself!)