Background
zStudio is the brainchild of its founder and lead developer, Ian Anderson, who has been working with the web since 1995. Ian started out working for Aldus in 1990 as a technical specialist, and went on to co-found The Software Academy, an independent training firm that specialised in training graphic arts professionals on digital repro, in 1993. As well as training direct clients to use Quark, Photoshop and Illustrator for print design, Ian was often called upon by other companies such as Aldus, Adobe Systems and Linotype-Hell to run courses, seminars and demonstrations for them.
From 1996 to 1998, he was employed as Product Marketing Manager for Freeway, an award-winning web design appplication for the Mac developed by SoftPress Systems. While there, his work involved managing many activities including marketing, sales, technical documentation, SQA and customer service. Freeway is now highly successful in its niche, with a small but fanatical user base amongst Mac-based designers.
In 1998 he became a freelance web developer and trainer, designing several sites for his own clients, and providing training on professional web design for many creative and corporate clients through The Corps Business. Besides these activities, Ian found himself being asked increasingly to work with designers in a technical and consultative role to help them deliver high quality web projects. Ian combines a deep knowledge of the web and web design with his unique background in software design, development, marketing and training; the result is a remarkably powerful, multi-disciplinary approach to web projects.
He soon recognised that there was a need for a new sort of technical partner to complement the work of creative agencies, with skills and working methods that matched the way designers work. zStudio was founded in 1998, and has undertaken a wide variety of web development and design projects, some of which are described under our Case Studies section.
Since 2001, Ian has also been a contributor to several publications including Digit, Computer Arts, Create Online and Macromedia Magazine, and has published many articles, features and tutorials on web related topics including Flash, ActionScripting, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, database development, building dynamic sites using ASP and UltraDev, and Dreamweaver MX.
Ian's formal qualifications include an MA(Hons) from Edinburgh University, a post-graduate diploma in Business Information Technology from Strathclyde University Business School, and the Certificate in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing.