Christina Varro

www.christinavarro.com  (my personal site)
www.cravecookies.com  (award winning site)
www.zginc.ca  (my company website that i made)

I discovered flash by accident. I was working as an in-house designer, making brochures mainly, when they asked if I could make a website. I knew nothing about web design, so I “borrowed” a copy of Dreamweaver off a friend and there happened to be a copy of Flash on the disc. I've been working with it ever since.

2.  Are you self-taught?

I was originally self-taught. My first flash site was hilarious, full of sparkles and crazy rollovers, but it helped me find an interest in multimedia and led me to pursue a career in it. I took a 2 year diploma in New Media to fill in the blanks and then realized there was so much more to learn. After I finished my diploma, I decided to specialize in Flash and Interactive Multimedia, so I ended up going to school in Toronto for a post-graduate program.

3.  Do you consider yourself a Flash designer or an actionscripter or both?

Definitely both. I'm an artist, and I love design. But, my education has made me into a mad actionscripter too.

4.  What is your typical day like?

I work at an agency as a Multimedia Developer. My main role is to design, program and animate multimedia applications, mostly in Flash, but I do a lot more than that. I'm also the in-house photographer/videographer and web designer too. It's hard to pin down a “typical” day for me because I usually do something different everyday.

5.  Do you like using Flash?  Are there any drawbacks to using it?  Advantages?

I like flash because of its flexibility. Animation, illustration, video/sound, connecting to databases, it's all great. But, I've run into several drawbacks when using Flash to make entire websites. It's a lot harder to get user statistics and track the pages viewed. Working for clients who have ancient computers running Windows 95 doesn't help either. They complain that flash doesn't work properly for them……go figure.

6.  Which projects do you tend to use Flash in the most?

Whenever a project needs to be visually impressive to really capture an audience, I go with Flash. As long as there's not a lot of text content, it does a great job. I particularly like using it for artist or band websites because they really benefit from multimedia elements like galleries and music players.

7.  Are there other software/tools that you use frequently?

I use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator almost everyday. I also like using AfterEffects.

8.  What are your non-Flash creative interests and projects?

I'm a fine art photographer on the side, and I do lots of art exhibitions and collaborations.

9.  What inspires you?

Seeing the amazing talent of my peers in all their creative forms.

10.  What is your favorite type of project?

The best projects are the ones where I have lots of control and can go all out with visual effects and fun animations. I especially like doing work for/with artists and musicians.

11.  Which Flash project are you most proud of? 

The project I am most proud of would have to be my Crave Cookies website. It's an entirely Flash website for a gourmet cupcake company in Calgary. I worked with a team on the site and did all the programming and most of the animation on it. It's really light and fun, and we add little seasonal updates to it throughout the year. It also won an Anvil Award at the Calgary Ad Rodeo this year, which was a big accomplishment for me and my company.

12.  Who are your favorite Flash designers? 

I think Billy Bussey's site is pretty amazing.

13.  If you could do anything you want what would you do?

In terms of career, I'd make lots of money freelancing on a beach in Hawaii. In terms of doing anything else, I would travel the world and eventually end up on a beach in Hawaii.

14.  Do have advice for other Flash Goddesses?

Keep on promoting the lovely ladies of Flash!

Thank you Christina!