elizaskinner.net – the jambox

Noah Scalin is a designer, webby-award winner, musician, and now author. I’ve known Noah since I was nine years old, when his little sister and I decided to be BFF. He was my first introduction to comic books and fully-embraced nerdiness. Noah has always been the coolest nerd I know – unabashedly excited about the things he likes, whether it’s comedy, graphic novels, or skulls. That attitude gets you shunned in high school, but – if you can hold onto it – it makes you a success as an adult.

Last year Noah started a blog project, Skull-a-day, in which he designed and photographed a new skull every day for a year. The website won him a People’s Voice Webby for Best Personal Website, and is now a book from Sterling Publishing. On Friday Martha Stewart even featured Noah and his book on her talk show! Way to go, nerd.

In between all his book parties and teaching (oh yeah, he also teaches socially conscious graphic design for Virginia Commonwealth University), Noah agreed to answer some questions for Geek Like Me. Why? Because we’re so tight:

INSANELY good friends.

(photo by Mica Scalin)

How’d you end up a graphic designer?
I grew up in a house with a room for making art, which I only realized when I got older wasn’t a standard house feature. So it was probably inevitable that I would do something creative for a living. I actually studied theater design in school, thinking it was more practical than just studying fine art (like my parents, who had to then get jobs as teachers). However, I discovered I liked making the prop book covers and show posters, more than working on the actual shows. So I finally figured out that the job I really liked was called graphic design, just as I was getting my technical theater degree. My dad, who taught graphic design for 35 years, was bemused, to say the least.

I would ask what your inspiration for Skull-A-Day was, but knowing you it’s pretty clear. You’re a rather skully dude with a very defined style. What were some of your inspirations for your overall asthetic?
I grew up loving Edward Gorey and Charles Aadams, so I guess they get some of the credit. The fact that my dad only wore black clothes for many years certainly helped too.

You love skulls so much. Why don’t you marry them?
I believe it is still illegal in most states, but one day the world will see differently…

Skull-a-day quickly became very popular – and like all things internet – you got a lot of unfiltered instant feedback. What was that like? Any surprises?
I must admit that, try as I might to not take comments from strangers to heart, it was very hard to not get caught up in appeasing the invisible masses. Luckily the majority of the comments were positive, which was nice, but the handful of negative ones drove me crazy! Why make the effort to be mean to someone who is just posting free art online? I’m sure there are much better things to do with your time. After a particularly annoying screed, I switched to non-anonymous, captcha controlled commenting, which made my life mostly better.

How many actual skulls do you actually own?
Just two if you don’t count the one in my head.

What did you do with your webby?
It’s on a shelf next to a vintage “Count Creepyhead & Friends” Play-Doh toy box.

What did Martha Stewart smell like?
Nervous sweat…oh wait, that was me. Um, crafts?

What are you most proud of?
My sister. And you.

What are you working on now?
Secret plans for world domination in the form of my anti-corporate band from the future: League of Space Pirates. And a second skull book.

SKULLS is available in bookstores now, and online (B&N, Amazon, and Powells).
Skull-a-day is still online at skulladay.com .
Noah’s website about socially conscious graphic design is another limited rebellion.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 13th, 2008 at 11:23 am and is filed under Geek Like Me, Nerd Queen. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.