This week I managed to get Mark Forrester on to Let’s Talk. I am chuffed that I was able to talk to Mark about his design work, company and what it is that he really does.
What exactly do you do Mark?
Good question, I was trying to work that out the other day when designing my business card.
Pre-dominantly I’m a freelance digital designer, specializing in designing usable, maintainable and accessible websites. I’m also the proud owner of 2 exciting, growing web start ups that are requiring more and more of my time.
I am a shareholder and the creative director of the African social media aggregator – Afrigator, and a partner in my new start up, Woothemes. WooThemes is a theme club for the hugely popular and ever growing website content management system WordPress.
Are you a global citizen or made in SA?
I was actually born in London and lived my first ten years in the English countryside, I then moved to Cape Town and fell in love with the place. In 2006, I moved back to London for a few years of international experience. I’m definitely proudly South African, but having a business that survives and prospers from the internet makes me very much a global citizen. I have clients in South Africa, America and England at the moment. I love being connected to people that I would never make contact without the optic cables under the sea :)
What is your favourite can’t-live-without-it gadget?
I’m a huge Apple fan. I love my MacBook Pro. I also love my photography and can very often be seen carrying my trusted Canon SLR camera, but my can’t-live-without-it-gadget has to be newly acquired Apple iPhone 3G 16GB. I queued for 3 hours last week on the launch day and it was worth every word of abuse from the London kids that walked past on their way to school.
Is web 2.0 going to burst like its late sister, web 1.0?
I’m not huge on buzz words like Web 2.0, as the web is ever changing and it’s so hard to label.
Start ups are funded more by Venture Capitalist companies these days who have huge experience with risk and failure. I think a lot was learnt from Web 1.0 and if there is going to be another burst it’s going to be more a gradual transition rather than a crash.
Are you nervous at all about giving your information to Google?
I was at first, but these days I’ve realized as a web designer it comes with the job title. I live in London at the moment where there are CCTV cameras on every street corner, I’m used to Big Brother following me around.
On to more specific stuff, here come the testers:
You were involved in a company called Gravit8. Why did that end?
Gravit8 was a company I started with two fellow University of Cape Town graduates in 2004 with a mission to provide I.T. business solutions for small to medium sized companies. Gravit8 grew healthily in its first two years of business, but the focus became more and more network support and installations orientated. I always knew I was more a creative type and realized my career path was destined for the design area of I.T. My business partners and I thought it might be best to separate the company and grow in our individual areas. Gravit8 continues to grow from strength to strength in Cape Town.
Why are you living abroad? Is it something deep and meaningful or just for the hell of it?
As mentioned earlier part of my reasoning to move to London was exposure to a web design industry a bit more fast pace. I learn so much from the designers I network with here and the conferences I am able to attend. The plan has always been to create an international client base that I can impress enough to justify me doing work for them from South Africa in a few years. Earning international money, whilst paying the bills in rands.
Of course there are other reasons too. My fiance and I were keen to experience life out of South Africa, to travel Europe, meet new people, experience different cultures and just generally have a fun time in our younger years.
What sort of design training do you have, photoshop, courses, coding? Or is it just a gift?
When I finished school I did a one year Digital Design Diploma at the distinguished Cape Town design house – Hirt & Carter. I then headed over to the University of Cape Town where I completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree, majoring in Information Systems.
The mix of skills I learnt over those years, ranging from graphic design & desktop publishing to business skills like systems analysis and development, financial accounting (which I was never really good at) and time management all helped me get to the point I am at now. Of course the arty genes I inherited from my family and the countless hours of trawling the internet learning all sorts of web design tips and tricks helped a lot!
You recently began working with Adii. Why?
Adii is a hugely passionate designer and web entrepreneur. His WordPress skills and neatly kept, regularly updated blog have helped him gain quite an audience that he has captivated selling premium theme templates for WordPress.
I met Adii last year at a coffee shop during one of my visits back home and I was hugely impressed with his confidence and entrepreneurial spirit. I gathered we could learn a lot from each other and decided to design and sell a website template through his site. We made good sales and worked well together and our business relationship has grown in leaps and bounds since.
Congratulations on releasing Woothemes.com, how did that come about?
Adii and myself, together with our Norwegian web designer and business partner, Magnus Jepson, realised there was a lot of money to be made in this niche area of web design called WordPress. A lot of web designers were quickly joining the band wagon and releasing premium theme templates at a rate of between $50 and $250. Nobody was offering a monthly subscription package whereby you had access to a whole heap of themes at a much more friendly price. We saw an opportunity here, but needed to create a credible name for ourselves.
We approached Elliot Jay Stocks, a well-known UK based web designer and speaker and after some negotiations he joined the team. Now we are a team of 4 spread across 3 countries, all bringing different skill-sets and design styles to the table.
Is Woothemes forming the role of a new company for you or are you still flying solo?
WooThemes is gaining momentum every day as more and more users sign up. Obviously the bigger it gets and the more money it makes us the more time we can plough into it. We all have big plans for WooThemes and would like to take it on more full time.
I love the opportunities available from freelancing, but of course with the job title comes no guarantees of a stable salary from month to month. With WooThemes and Afrigator both growing it is nice to know that i can earn some money whilst away from my office desk.
Are you planning on bringing your skills back to SA?
Of course. I’m getting married in February in the beautiful Hermanus area. We are then coming back here to London to scrap some money together to hopefully enjoy a final stint of serious backpacking for +/- 4 months, wherever the wind blows us.
After that I look forward to going back to Cape Town, buying some property and wirelessly working from my balcony overlooking some idyllic Cape Town beach.
How much of the work you do is local? And does it pay to do local work?
I still do an incredible amount of work for South African clients, I’m lucky that I am in the position to be quite picky now, I can therefore chose projects that excite me and are personally rewarding like your SA Rocks web design. Of course having London expenses means I still need to earn some UK pounds or American dollars. If I have a big web project to do for a South African client it would provide enough income to live off for a while, just not as comfortably.
From a designers perspective, how hard is it to make business out of design?
If you are passionate about design, prepared to do a lot of research and stay on top of web trends, and understand the limitless opportunities the internet offers you can make a good business out of design. Freelancing means every second week you are introduced to a different industry, or an entrepreneur with a great idea, but limited funds to get his/her project off the ground. Payment does not always have to be in the form of money, share opportunities, or future profit shares are a great way to spread your eggs.
What skills are needed to become a financially successful webdesigner?
Of course the obvious skills like html/css coding, Photoshop and Illustrator that you would learn in a web design course are required, but business skills like marketing, accounting, and professional communications help hugely in managing your business and your client relations.
Not really a skill, but a big requirement is the ability to grow a thick skin and be prepared to take criticism.
Finally, Are there any links, designs, designers or sites that you think up-and-comers should be following?
http://freelanceswitch.com/ and their network of tutorial sites is a good place to get inspired and learn some tricks of the trade. I also enjoy http://www.webdesignerwall.com/ and http://www.thinkvitamin.com/.
Then the personal sites of industry leading designers like http://veerle.duoh.com/ and http://www.hicksdesign.co.uk/.
Find more links to designers and entrepreneurs I follow by viewing my blogroll page at http://www.markforrester.co.za/link-love.
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