Once again, we at Arbenting have been granted with an insightful and inspiring interview opportunity. Adelle Charles of Fuel Your Creativity, was gracious enough to agree to sit down and answer a few questions that we had to throw her way. With some really great responses, that make for an awesome interview, it was hard to hold on to this post until it was scheduled to go out. So thanks again to Adelle for taking time out of her busy schedule for us. And without further ado, we proudly present 10 Questions for Fuel Your Creativity’s Adelle Charles.

Question 1 - Thank you so much for agreeing to the interview. When did you first realize that you wanted to work in design?

Angie, thanks so much for asking me to do this interview, it’s a very exciting time for me as well as Fuel Your Creativity.

I think I first realized I wanted to work in the design field when I was in art class in 6th grade. I was always into drawing & painting, and I as I grew up and saw more commercial art & design, I fell in love with it. Print advertising was my first love and within recent years (about the last 4), I have started doing more and more web design. I love the challenges and I learn something new every day.

Question 2 - Your site seems to have grown out of an inspirational foundation, so, what are the biggest sources of inspiration for you?

The biggest sources of inspiration for me would have to be clean minimalistic design. I always gravitate towards a lot of white space because it grabs my attention the most. I’m currently addicted to patterntap because it’s separated into many different collections where I can quickly find the type of inspiration I’m looking for, whether it would be for a post or my own designs.

Question 3 - What kind of future do you see for Fuel Your Creativity?

I’d like Fuel Your Creativity to grow even more. The past 7 months of working on it has been a great learning experience for me. I’ve learned a lot about what the design community feeds off of and how I can help others get inspired. I’d like to include freelance-only job postings for my readers and try to incorporate some more guest writers.

Also, I’m currently in the re-branding phase of Fuel Your Creativity. I’m trying to branch out and go for a little mix of minimalism & sketchy hand drawn art. Not sure how it will end up though; I change my mind way too often!

Question 4 - You have a new project, Fuel Your Ideas, could you tell us about it?

Fuel Your Ideas is still in the planning stages. I’ve always felt that the community needs more options when getting feedback/critiques on their designs and ideas. I thought of the idea because as I started getting more followers on Twitter, I started getting more DM's asking for my feedback. I love to help others and I thought this would be a perfect way. There will be open critiques as well as private ones because I think is some people want the anonymity. It depends on the project. I have also started a Twitter account for Fuel Your Ideas that will be incorporated into the site. I have some other plans to grow Fuel Your Ideas into something even bigger and more helpful but you’ll just have to wait and see what comes next!

Question 5 - What are some of the positives you’ve seen from the community?

Everyone that I have networked with has been so helpful. Most people are willing to give an opinion, help you if you have a problem you can't figure out or jump in and support what you’re doing. It's really refreshing to see. Since we are all pretty much in the same field, you'd think people would try to one up you or try and get ahead but everyone is so responsive and willing to share their knowledge to help others. I think Liam McKay said it best in his post "Why I love the Design Community & Industry." He's right and if you haven't read it, you should.

Question 6 - What would you consider some of the more important trends that you’ve seen move through the field, the ones that you think have had or will have a lasting impact?

I think the emphasis on typography in design is one that will always stay and have an impact in every day designing. Having a good mix of space, color and type will always have a lasting impact since it's the basic principles that affect everything you do.

Question 7 - What would your average workday look like? (or rather…read-like?)

My average workday starts out late as always. I hate the mornings. No- I despise the mornings. I'm always at least 30 minutes late into work, but I usually stay late when it is quieter and better for concentrating. I stop for coffee and then head into work. I check emails and twitter for at least the first hour unless I have a meeting. I try to respond to everything before I start my day otherwise I just won't get to it for a while. I'm interrupted in my office constantly throughout the day-probably every 10-15 minutes- to answer a question or help on a project. I'm surprised I can get any work done. I head out of work around 5:30, come home to have dinner and usually jump right back on the computer to answer emails, tend to Fuel Your Creativity, twitter, write posts & working on freelance design projects. It's pretty hectic and I stay up late almost every night. I'd never get anything done for myself if I didn't. (Oh and I take the doggies out a whole bunch of times too).

Question 8 - What are some of your ‘must have’ tools that make your life as a designer a bit easier?

Graphics: Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator
CMS: Wordpress
Invoicing: Curdbee + Paypal
Organization: Basecamp, evernote and gmail
Sketching, Brainstorming and To Do's: Pen and my moleskine notebooks!
Inspiration: PatternTap.com
Social: Twitter

Question 9 - In your opinion, how has the blogosphere changed the scope of design overall? And have those changes been for the good?

On the positive side, I think the blogosphere has created a huge growth in learning different aspects of design. Getting to read tutorials is one of the best things to come to the community and the fact that others are willing to share that knowledge is even better. I've learned more from blogs (business, blogging & design) in the past year than in 4 years in college! The blogosphere has opened up my experience to be more of a fulfilling one.

On the negative side, I think sometimes certain trends in design are copied or shared too much in the blogosphere, instead of taking it and adapting it to your own style.

Question 10 - What kind of advice would you give to an up and coming designer looking to break out into the scene?

Get your name out in the field early. I wish I had. Stay true to who you are and do what you love. Submit your work everywhere and create an amazing website portfolio. Start a blog. The most important thing; never stop sketching! It's so important to get your ideas out on paper for brainstorming - trust me I wish I had done more of that in college.