In our 12 Questions blog series, we feature interviews with someone from the crowdSPRING community. For these interviews, we pick people who add value to our community – in the blog, in the forums, in the projects. Plainly – activities that make crowdSPRING a better community. Be professional, treat others with respect, help us build something very special, and we’ll take notice.

We’re very proud to feature Angus Griffin (crowdSPRING username: ninet6) today. Angus lives and works in London, England.

1. Please tell us about yourself.

Well firstly thanks to cS for interviewing me, quite an honour!

Hi there, my name is Angus and I’m 30 … Although the name might imply, I actually don’t have much connection to Scotland. Well OK maybe a small bit, one of my Grandparents I was born in Holland to a Dutch mother and a British father, and having only experienced 4 years there, was whisked away to the rather greyer, but prettier countryside of Cheshire, in northern England.

I lived there for 9 years before my father got offered a great opportunity and we moved to South Africa for a three year contract. That ended up being 13 years. I actually remember speaking to my parents, soon after my first month living there, and saying, “you know what, you can go back to England, but I’m staying here!”. The change of scenery, school, country and living style just blew me away. We also arrived at a rather pivotal and pertinent time in South African history, just after President Nelson Mandela was brought into power in 1994. It was truly amazing, and came at a point in my life when I think you make friends for the rest of your life, the beginning of high school.

Then a good few years later when times had changed, people got older and wiser, I decided to head back to the UK. And have been here now, ooh, 5 years!!

Work wise I started off studying the print side of things. I always believed knowing and understanding how things get printed, would be of huge benefit to the design side. So did that, became an apprentice in a trade based industry, and soon became a qualified photolithographer!! Then got head-hunted and moved into an Ad Agency, where I made the slow transition across to designer, and never really looked back. Actually cS came at a interesting time in my career … I was working for a Branding Agency in the centre of London, and the recession starting hitting hard, and soon I found myself without a job. So I sat for ages debating and toying with the idea of turning freelance permanently, do I, don’t I. And I did … Shortly after found 99designs (I know, had to start somewhere), and not long after that, Pete emailed me about cS. I was lucky and starting winning fairly early on, bringing in extra cash, loved the environment, and have never looked back. After I got back on my feet, I then decided to get my own thing going with an old school friend, and now living to get that on the road properly … Granted not the easiest or best time to start something up, but hey gotta love a challenge.

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