This just in: I’m leaving Opera.
Before I go any further, I need to make this very clear. I’m not leaving because I unhappy working for them, or any such rubbish. Neither did we come to blows over 42 different shades of red. Opera as company, and as individuals, have bent backwards to accommodate my remote working ways, and it’s been nothing but a fruitful and joyous time. I’ve made many friends, and it’s been everything I hoped it would be and more. I could very easily carry on for as long as they would have me.
But, I’ve got that itch. I’m sure a lot of designers feel the same way when they work on long term projects, and that itch is the desire simply to ‘do something different’. That is the sole reason. In fact, I’m hoping that we will still be working together in the future, it’s just that my work for Opera won’t be full-time as it is now.
I ‘finish’ full-time at Opera in late April. The reason for publishing this post now, rather than then, is that I need to get word around. I’ve been ‘off the market’ for a rather long time (looong before I started at Opera), and I’m now looking at an empty diary for the rest of the year. I have a few ideas, but very few plans at this stage, other than speaking at Future of Web Design London in May.
So if you’re looking for a icon/interface/logo/website designer or even character illustrator (the Mailchimp mascot has become the new ‘animal on fire round a globe’ request!) from May onwards, then please drop me an email. Thanks!