Jens Hjalmarsson or hjalmar as he is known on some of the forums around the net is a very talented freelance web designer out of Sweden and recently Jens was kind enough to let us conduct a small interview with him about. And here it is:

Can you tell us abit about yourself? Where you are from, how you got into designing and so on?
23 years old from Sweden and it all started when i got in to the wrong classes in school, had some previous knowledge of BASIC, VB and PHP so i applied for programming and computer courses, sadly(or gladly :D) I was lacking a few points on my grades so i ended up with my second choice, newspaper and print design.

Is freelance designing your sole job at the moment? And if it is do you plan to keep it that way?
It’s my sole source of income at the moment, even tho im not working as much as i should be. I would much rather be in a small office working with like minded people, and this will probably be my last months freelancing as im working on getting my resume out and hopefully i’ll land an in-house position nearby.

Jens Hjalmarsson Design

What would you say are your biggest challenges you face being a freelance designer?
For me it has always been to have normal routines and working hours, and that takes allot away from your social life.

Are you currently happy as a freelance designer or would you rather be working for a design company or something along those lines?
Not at all I hate freelancing, I would much rather be an in-house designer.

Jens Hjalmarsson Design

Do you ever find it difficult coping with deadlines and clients? And do you have any advice on how best to manage it all?
Way to often, It’s very easy to have a misunderstanding when the only means of communication is through email/instant messaging. Allot of the time they don’t even understand how much work there is involved in the process, and with that you get unreasonable request like jumping back and forth through new concepts and revisions within the deadline.

Are there any people that inspire you design wise? Or are there any design blogs or sites that visit often?
There is allot of people that are inspiring, not necessarily graphics wise but more on how they execute it all, use of typography and stuff like that. I don’t really visit any sites in that area that frequently but there are a few that i check out every now and then. These site were also very motivational when i first started out, 2dvanced.com, 24-7media.de, flashlevel.com, ceonex.com.

Jens Hjalmarsson Design

Do you have any other skills outside of designing? I noticed on your blog you made reference to some HTML and CSS books.
Yeah, for the last couple of month I’ve really taken the time to get into HTML/CSS but thats about it, there is some PHP knowledge stuck in my head but nothing I would consider a skill of mine ;)

And last question. Are you currently accepting clients and if so whats the best way for someone to get in contact with you.
I am NOT accepting any clients.

I would like to thank Jen’s for taking part in this interview :)

If you would like to see more of Jens work you can view his portfolio and blog here also on he’s blog there is a very nice tutorial on Creating a Simple Flower in photoshop, you can see an example of the flowers being used in this wallpaper.