After a long while and an ever increasing public outcry for another inspiring artist, Design Kingdom brings you yet another great and incredibly gifted artist. He has seen himself rise to higher ranks in his field of work and gotten married; that does not come easy!
Jeremy, please give us a brief biography of yourself.
My name is Jeremy Byemanzi, I am 30, married and I’ve always loved design. It’s one of those things I always enjoyed right from my early years. My love affair with Art & Design started in Secondary School (Mwiri), I then went to Makerere University and studied Industrial & Fine Arts for 3 years (My original plan was to study Architecture but…). I also had the opportunity of studying at the Vega School of Brand Communication (South Africa). My career started at a company called Media One where I was introduced to Print Design, Web & Multimedia plus a bit of Video Production. After a couple of months, I moved to Access Reprographics (for 3 years) and then I got into the advertising industry when I joined Ignition (also for 3 years). I am currently an Art Director with QG Saatchi & Saatchi.
jeremy@saatchiuganda.com or remoir@me.com
Your work from your portfolio is mainly Art Direction and Advertising Print work. Do you see yourself as an Ad guru? How did you find this path?
In the beginning I was rather fascinated with all kinds of design software, from print design, web and multimedia and even video production software. I tried out a couple of programs until I finally settled in the Art Direction and Advertising Print work field. I think one is most effective when they concentrate on one field at a time. As for being an Ad guru, I am not there yet.
Being an Art Director must be very hard work. Please share with us your best and worst experiences in this position.
There are several good and bad experiences. My best experience has always been seeing my work out there on the streets, and the way people respond to it. The worst experience; when a client rejects a great idea because client service can’t sell it. That really drives me nuts!!!!
Having viewed your work from several reputable sources, one must admit you are really good at what you do. How did you master this art? How much do you practice?
I practice a lot!!! I spend a lot of time with my sketchbook and on my laptop. I like scamping the ideas out first before I reproduce them on computer. In fact, it’s hard for me to make an ad without sketches. It’s just the way I like to work.
What influenced you to become an Artist/Designer? Why did you choose this particular field of Art?
I am always challenged and influenced by great ads. It shows you how much people out there are thinking. One of the people who’s challenged me a lot is a friend called Nick Hauser (Former Creative Director, QG Saatchi & Saatchi). He always pushed me to come up with one more idea even when I though I had ‘cracked it’. My colleagues at the office are also a great challenge.
What projects are you working on now and can you tell us a little about them?
Nothing really exciting.
What is your most rewarding design work, the one that you are really proud of and why?
This might be strange but my most rewarding design work is actually in the field of logo design. I find it fascinating to create an icon/symbol that will represent an entire organization. Some of the work displayed here has been very rewarding.
Tell us a bit about your general work flow: from idea, to concept to finished piece. What techniques, tools and software do you use?
It starts with the client’s brief and the creative brief. I read through these a couple to times and look for the main points. I then look for the objectives, insights, issues and the challenges. This helps me develop the single-minded proposition and BIG IDEA. Then I start scamping the ideas/ads and after that I get to my photoshop, illustrator, etc…
What are the difficulties or challenges you face in your projects (personal and commercial work) and how do you overcome them?
The biggest challenge I have faced is getting the client to buy ideas. Sometimes you think you’ve sold it then…
Where do you see yourself in the next five years?
Creating bigger, ‘badder’ ads! Haa ha!
Thank you for the time and for the interview, do you have any last words of advice or tips for designers?
I would encourage all designers to use this forum to get to know each other. There are very few designers in Uganda and we need to sharpen each other.
Thank you!
You heard it guys, “need to sharpen each other” and that is what Design Kingdom is all about. So keep logging in, keep learning and keep sharing.
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