Mark Boulton Interview
Nov 1, 11:58 PM by Marko
Interivew with Mark Boulton at markboulton.co.uk
Marko: Heya Mark !
Mark: Hi Marko, good to meet you!
Marko: For our reader’s could you tell something about yourself? (year old and other stuff)
Mark: Ok. I’m 32 and currently live and work in South Wales (you know, that bit of land tagged on to the side of England. I’m not Welsh though, not that I don’t like the the Welsh… I do… but you know, an Englishman in Wales and all that). I worked in Manchester doing print design for a couple of years in a small studio. I started doing design for the web then (and the usual CD-ROMS, Kiosks etc) before moving on and working in Sydney and London.
Marko: How are you doing these days?
Mark: I now work for the BBC in Wales, which is kind of fun and torture at the same time (hang on, am I breaking any guidelines talking about work… oh well). As with any large organisation, getting things done is tricky and coming from a fast-paced studio environment, it’s been difficult at times to adapt. So, that’s why it’s important for me to do stuff away from the BBC, like markboulton.co.uk and my involvement with the Britpack – keeps me on my toes you know?
Marko: When did you first encounter a keyboard or computer?
Mark: I think I was about 10, not sure. It almost certainly involved games, a spectrum and my uncle and his fascination with computers. I think he taught me how to write stuff in basic when I was about 11 (you know the usual stuff – 10 Print “Mark” 20 GoTo 10 – didn’t it go something like that?). I then skipped a few years and rediscovered computers around 1988 (or something like that) with the Amiga. I lost several months of my life to Dungeon Master.
Marko: What is your favorite art work /website!?
Mark: That’s tough. Like most people, I visit a number of website’s regularly – John Oxton’s site, Doug Bowman, Kitta, Jon hicks, Collylogic… There really are far too many to mention.
Marko: when you launched markboulton.co.uk are you happy with the result of the site?
Mark: Yeah, I think so. I initially launched it as a Portfolio, but then the blog side of it grew as I started to enjoy writing more. I’m still really pleased with the design, although I do still get a lot of people saying – ‘I don’t get it, it’s just green isn’t it?’.
Marko: What do you do in your spare time (I do realize that spare time, in this context, is pretty relative)?
Mark: Well, I have a couple of Ying to my ‘Computer Yang’ in my life. I think it’s important to have a balance. So, I go angling, which is something I’ve done since I was a kid. Like most anglers I get the whole – ‘why do you do that, it’s so dull and you don’t even keep the fish… blah.. blah’. I think it’s got something to do with being outdoors, it’s an excuse to be there. I also grow Bonsai and have done for a few years, which is a great creative outlet, it’s like living sculpture.
Marko: Do you have a favorite drink? How much of it do you drink?
Mark: Water and Tea. Loads of both please. Oh, and peppermint tea recently. Nice.
Marko: Would you care to give us a brief overview of what a typical day is like for Mark Boulton?
Mark: I tend to wake up pretty early and then lie there in denial that it’s the morning, eventually being kicked out of bed by my wife to go and make breakfast. Drive into work, get a lovely hot cup and tea and settle down to the morning RSS. Check email. Then it’s an unhealthy mixture of meetings, photoshop, illustrator and more meetings. Drive home. Get on with freelance work until I’m so tired I can hardly speak. Go to bed, get up and do it all again. Oh, and I go fishing once in a while.
Marko: I am always wondering how people such as yourself go about getting work? How do you do it?
Mark: It tends to be from people I’ve worked with in the past, you know, word of mouth. I’ve had a few direct approaches from my website, but a lot of the time they don’t really have the budget or the projects aren’t quite what I’m looking for. I’m in the fortunate position, because I’m employed full time, to pick and choose which freelance things I want to work on.
Marko: Who are some of your biggest influences?
Mark: One of my biggest influences is my dad. Now, I know that sounds really cheesy, but let me explain. My dad’s an architect. He mostly designs car parks. Every time I talk to him about the projects he’s working on, he just blows me away with his theories on design (which can be easily applied to graphic design btw.). Really, designing car parks is fascinating when you consider traffic and people flow, semiotics and signage systems, materials etc.
Marko: Is your background in design? What was the progression into web development and design like? How did that take place and why?
Mark: Yep, my background is in quite traditional design. My degree was in Typographic design and I’m an active member in the International Society of Typographic Designers which keeps me nice and grounded in the craft side of graphic design. The progression into web design was kind of by accident. As I said before, I’d always had an interest in computers so when the time came to design a website it kind of came naturally. The progression was simple enough – my boss at the time had a client who wanted a website. Me, being the youngest member of the team, was given the job, and the next…
Marko: If you where not a designer/programmer what would you be?
Mark: Probably a plumber. I reckon it’s quite gratifying.
Marko: How do you like our site mcville.net?
Mark: Yeah, it’s alright. Like John Oxton said though, your script on the navigation doesn’t work so well. Like the black and white though, and the hand-written typeface.
Marko: What kind of music do you fancy?
Mark: Like most people I have a broad taste in music. Some personal favourites though… G Love and Special Sauce, Toad the Wet Sprocket and recently, Nizlopi.
Marko: What’s your favorite food?
Mark: Really good sausages, buttery mash potato with savoy cabbage all dripping in onion gravy.
Marko: Where do you get out on Saturday’s?
Mark: Nowhere at the moment – too much work on. Be glad when it’s finished and I can have a life back…
some relaxing question to follow
Marko: Chinese or Thai (food)?
Mark: Thai
Marko: Coke or Pepsi?
Mark: Pepsi
Marko: html or asp?
Mark: HTML
Marko: Do you watch television? If so, do you have a favorite show?
Mark: I enjoy watching the boxing, or any football internationals. Oh, and 24 was good.
Marko: What would we find in your favorites bookmarks-bar?
Mark: Loads of practical stuff. I tend not to bookmark things regularly unless I think I may need then at later stage. I quite functional I guess with my bookmarks. I then, of course, never look at them.
Marko: What inspires you? This doesn’t have to be design related.
Mark: Food. Really good food.
Marko: Thank again for having this interview, cheers m8!
Mark: No, thank you. It’s been quite nice.
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