Early On
Andrew ( Born May 11, 1971 in Biel, Switzerland) is an independent British designer working in new media and online communications. My father was a businessman (in Litho Print) and Mother, a Legal Secretary. My formative years were in Switzerland, then moving to the East of England where I attended schools in Ipswich and Norwich. Being a keen artist and designer from an early age, I attended Art School in Norwich, gaining a National Diploma then moved to the beautiful town of Bournemouth on the south coast to study Product Design at The Art Institute where my work evolved from the drawing board to the computer and 3D animation techniques as a medium of delivery for the design concepts. Surrounded by many creative departments in the Design School, I investigated various media, including the early incarnations of web. A year then working in graphic design led to a move to London to pursue a BA in Multi-Media and animation.
Working Practice
During my student years I would always look for business wherever I went and designed graphics for my local Restaurants, Sports Clubs, Night clubs including some 200 bizaar projections for the notorious Ministry of Sound. The business side of design and the people interaction was a fascination. I began working in Animation in 1994 for Passion Pictures, whilst studying for the BA. Developing my computer / animation and programming skills alongside traditional techniques with the design and creation of Branded Adverts for TV, from Levi's to Gucci and Adidas with stints at Imagination and Hudson Film the work was diverse and always engaging.
After spending most of the 1990's working in Londons' Soho film and television industry for a variety of SFX post-production studios including Soho 601, Imagination, Framestore CFC I decided to take some time out and spent a year working in the technical department of the famous and albeit antiquated bookstore Foyles, on Charing Cross Road (London). I read lots! I also did a lot of thinking and within 16 months and some global travel to boot, I was up and running with my own design business.
To Date
Ten years on and the work has flourished at a sustainable and controllable rate, which I am honoured and thank my clients for. I design, teach, consult on and produce many types of digital design work from websites to interactive software solutions, Brand & Media consultancy and facilitate design and media requirements for some choice multinational businesses and broad scope of market sectors. My time is spent partly in the UK and the rest traveling and working internationally. I am also the Co-Director of BHC, a business that supplies e-learning and a community of services for business. In 2009 I became Director of E3msi in Chicago USA and now operate on both sides of the Atlantic. My work is about relationships and communication. I keep an open mind to ideas and use software as an extension of our collective decisions.