Who are you and what do you do?

Chris Gillis, Principal Owner of Saltline Studio. We are a creative online marketing company that offers a whole approach to marketing your business online. We specialize in creating attractive, accessible websites with Web Standards in CSS/XHTML. I’ve been designing for 10 years.

What services/products do you offer?

Website Design/Redesign with Web Standards
Branding
Email Marketing
Blog design and Strategy
Online Advertising Strategy
Social Networking Consulting
Internet Strategy

Who/where is your audience?

I focus on small to medium size businesses mostly on Cape Cod and the Islands. I do work around the Boston area and in some other cities around the U.S., in fact I just finished up a design for a company out in Oregon.

What is the website?

http://www.saltlinestudio.com
http://www.designingon.com

Well-Funded or Bootstrapped?

We have a line of VC from Warren Buffet that we don’t usually touch….no really…Bootstrapped all the way. With all seriousness, building your company without funding or bringing on investors is one of the most rewarding and best decisions you can make for yourself and your company. With every investor and chunk of VC you take on, you lose yet another piece of your dream. I’ve been down the VC road once before.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years?

In five years I see a solid client base and exciting projects that I enjoy working my process on. I see myself in the design and coding trenches, so just running a company is not where I want to go…ever to be honest. I’d really like to be continuing to collaborate with the great Cape Tech companies we have down here on exciting projects such as EOL.

In ten years I would be very happy if I was still in the design and coding trenches, not managing five or six designers and coders. I’d look for the quality of work my studio is attracting and putting out to increase, not the quantity. I would love to see the Cape Cod Technology Community booming at this point with great startups and veterans of the Web 1.0 world settling in on this great sandpit, all working together.

Where were you born - where do you live now?

I was born in Weymouth, MA, and now reside in Chatham, MA

PC or Mac?

Is this a trick question for a designer? Mac all the way baby!

Where did you go to school?

UMASS Amherst, I have a Bachelors Degree with Individual Concentration in Entrepreneurial Studies and a minor in Art. I was able to combine both business, art and computers in a personally designed major at a great school.

What Social Networks are you on?

Pownce
Facebook
Twitter
Last.fm
BeerAdvocate
Flickr!
Linkdin
FFFFOUND!
Wet Canvas
HOW! Magazine Forum
Designer ID
Yelp!

Greatest invention ever?

I know this has been mentioned before, but the printing press has to be the greatest invention thus far. It brought education to the masses in a way which something like a Cell Phone really can’t and never will do…and it has also stood the test of time.

Person you believe has contributed most to the world of technology?

In basic definition (from Wiki), technology is the relationship that society has with its tools and crafts, and to what extent society can control its environment. With that being said, in my lifetime, Jef Raskin who was basically the brains behind the Macintosh project for Apple Computer in the late 1970s.

Where have you traveled in your life?

I’ve had the chance to visit some great places in my lifetime. When I was lead designer at EF in Cambridge, we went on photo shoots all over Europe including England, Germany, Italy, Greece, Turkey. I’ve also been to France and Costa Rica a few times. My favorite countries that I have travelled to would be a split between Italy and surfing Costa Rica.

Why set up shop on Cape Cod?

I’m not just a wash-a-shore that decided out of the blue to move to the Cape…most of my family and extended family has lived here for the past 15 years and I have been living and coming down here for most of my life. As an artist, surfer, fisherman, photographer, and lover of all things O (ocean), how could you not want to live here? It has also always been a dream of mine to set up a design studio near the ocean, which I love living day to day now. From a business standpoint, the Cape offers the opportunity to work and collaborate with some great businesses, non profits and titans of industry that have retired here. It’s the perfect mix of hobbies and career here for me and my business.

5 Websites you go to every day?

My Basecamp account for clients
My Campfire account I have setup with my four friends that live on the East and West Coast…great tool to stay in touch.
Beer Advocate
NESurf.com
Last.FM

What’s on your iPod right now?

Les Savy Fav, Caspian, Explosions in the Sky, Cloud Cult, Owen, Bishop Allen, Modest Mouse, The Samuel Jackson Five, Band of Horses, Ef, M.I.A., Iron & Wine, From Monuments to Masses, Sigur Ros, The National, Death Cab For Cutie, Wilderness, Gifts From Enola, Great Lake Swimmers…well you can see what I’m listening to right now on Last.fm - ya I love music!

What is on your desktop/screensaver right now?

Artwork from Andy Davis - he’s got some really soul-filled stuff.

You are on a deserted island - do you bring a laptop or book?

I would bring this book - written by British Special Air Service.

Phone call or text message?

Phone Call - I’m horrible at text’ing. Recently one of my friends sent me a picture of his new baby girl - it took me about 15 minutes to type - ‘Congrats’ - it was painfully annoying.

Feel free to tell us anything else….?

I write a weekly column here at @bar on Marketing your Business Online through Website Design, Email Marketing, Blogging for Business and Social Networking.

Thanks for the Interview, Chris!

Thanks for the interview…and if you didn’t know…sarcasm is another service I offer ;)