Who are you and what do you do?
I now find the question "Who are you" deeply philosophical! Anyhow, my given name is Thembalenkosi Moyo and I'm a Creative, particularly, a Graphic Designer by profession.

What’s your background?
I was born in Zim in 1989, December. Grew up the African way, down in a village somewhere in central Zimbabwe, did my primary in Christian village schools then a bit of Christian boarding school for secondary.

Eventually completed my high school at an amazing government school called Prince Edward School in Harare where I studied Art, Accounting and Management of Business while doing music with the choir and another Acapella group we started.

I sang bass..."second bass" as my choir master called it, cause my voice is quite deep! I've actually been singing since I was about 10 but started doing bass at 16 after my adult voice developed.
From high school, I took 3 "gap years" because of a terrible illness. I then went to Cape Town in 2012 to study a 4-year Graphic Design course.

Please tell us a bit about your personal life.
I'm the last born in a family of 5. Siblings are currently all over Southern Africa while I moved back with my folks in Francistown after varsity to start building my own base. I discovered Calligraphy at the age of 11 (the art of beautiful writing), used it to make cards for girls and impressed quite a few! That was my earliest experience with design.

I consider myself a very understanding person, I'm usually the last guy to start a fight. My whole family is kinda gifted in music, so I sing to myself for about 80% of my waking time. It might be a mechanism to deal with loneliness or boredom cause the "playlist" rarely matters. I lost my hearing in 2009 after the illness I mentioned earlier.

It has taken a lot of adjusting ever since! And I officially had to quit singing publicly since I can no longer hold a key. I'm now building a new set of hobbies that fits this new reality as a deaf guy 🙂

What qualities and skills should a great graphic designer have?
Graphic designers deliver messages to people through pictures, words, shapes and colors. One needs to be able to develop communication concepts, compose then execute them. That takes creativity/intuition and expressiveness. You "connect the dots" then present a message from the "connection" you made.

Being able to draw is an advantage, since you need hand-eye coordination to execute the things you imagine as sketches on paper or other media.

There are some people who aren't very good in drawing but have successful GD careers, they probably found another strong point to work with. You also need to be very attentive to detail. Soft skills: you may work with a lot of different people with diverse ideas to be executed, so you need good people skills.

From there, you can choose from the many computer programs available today for drawing or picture manipulation. Examples are Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw (drawing), Adobe Photoshop (Photo manipulation and painting). Some of the software have to be paid for but there are some that are open source (free to use). Project management skills are also important, you must start and finish on time, whether it's a few hours or weeks

Why did you choose graphic design as a profession?
I dreamt of being a fine artist while I was in high school, but I was advised to do a course that was more "marketable", something to get me a job because art "poorly sells in Africa" they said. So Graphic design was a good compromise since it involves a lot of drawing and conceptualisation as well.

Then I had another childhood dream (which I only discussed with friends), of owning a clothing brand and it seems to be fulfilling accidentally. I realised towards the end of my course that Graphic design allows one to build brand communications, so I got into a profession that may help my other dream unknowingly.

What makes you a good graphic designer?
I think I am good at composing my messages in not only MEANINGFUL ways but also ATTRACTIVE ones. If it looks good and it makes sense to the people involved, I think my job is well done.

What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Strengths: I'm naturally expressive, with pictures, words or sounds. I can draw, speak/write or sing in ways people appreciate.

Weaknesses: I'm slow... in everything! I take my time to understand things and follow through. But my mom says I'm "never hurried", I'm starting to think it's actually a good thing that ONLY looks bad in a busy or demanding world. Hahaha. I also design for myself, meaning I can be too emotionally involved in my work, fussing about little things that take time.

A real weakness is that I'm terrible with some technical design terms, because of poor hearing, I learnt by watching, not listening.

Can you tell us what you know about branding?
It's not what many people might think it is. Branding is an emotional or psychological exercise. We as human beings have a natural tendency to put a "mental mark" on something that is useful to us so we can easily find that thing when we need it.

Be it an old baobab tree in the bush with fruit and shelter, a street wear brand or our girlfriend/boyfriend. We do the "branding" by attaching that thing to ourselves.

Now businesses realised this natural tendency and developed ways to make themselves easy to identify and remember. If they didn't, it'd be hard to find them when we want our problems solved.

Then, exclusivity came in later and became associated with branding. But branding shouldn't mean "expensive", in its basic form, it means "memorable solver of my problems". The complication with branding now comes from the fierce competition among businesses as well as society's tendencies to stack things and people against one another.

Why is branding important?
Branding makes it easy for the one who wants their problems solved to find their "problem-solver". It's a win-win. On the money side, branding is very valuable! What people perceive about you could guarantee your future usefulness to them...or sales.

So we must really invest in it! If there's 5 of us selling oranges but people think you're the best, your future oranges are as good as sold too... Don't mind the hilarious illustration.

How do you Price your work?
I consider 3 things:
1. The time and effort it may take me to complete the work (2, 5 or 10 hours? Then I multiply by my hourly rate, considering my skill level)

2. The importance of the work to the client. For example, an event poster is temporary, it expires soon after the event but a logo or product packaging are permanent, lasting for as long as the product or business exists (5, 20 or 100 years). They're like gifts that keep giving. It's called Net Present Value in business language. So I charge higher for them.

3. The client's budget. This usually comes with a lot of negotiation because people will pay as little as possible for anything and I have to convince them that it's worth a lot more or I let them go.

What themes do you pursue?
That largely depends on the client's needs. Making it the main difference between GD and Art. You must express what works for the client. In art, you express whatever you want.

What memorable responses have you had to your work?
I mostly work remotely, so my clients use emojis in our chats to express their delight: usually 👏👏👏👏 or 😍😍😍😍 or 👐👐👐👐 after receiving their work. 98% of their responses are quite memorable.
Come to think of it, I rarely see my client's faces when they receive their work and that's kinda sad.

What jobs have you done besides Graphic Design?
None. I left school and started freelancing. I have developed a keen sense of Marketing strategies though, since my designs are usually used within marketing, I've come to understand it better.

I've also developed a keen interest in Consumer Psychology. GD has to do with sending visual signals, Consumer Psych has to do with psychological and social signs that people use to make decisions. I might just pursue that path soon. They seem to be "sister studies" with Graphic design. Writing or Editing is another thing I'd possibly do.

It can be unpredictable! It evolves so much and you may be kept chasing trends so you can stay relevant since a lot of creativity is involved. I doubt Engineers or doctors have this problem. Metals remain metals and human organs remain organs throughout your career.. haha

What do you like about the art world?
You don't easily get bored! Creating things that never existed everyday is exciting if you have the natural ability. Boredom = unhappiness

What do you dislike about your work?
I can be reserved or conservative in my expressions. Which might not be what other people expect from Graphic designers. I get straight to the point in my work and leave extravagance to other people.

What do you like about your work?
- I always aim for balance or good composition.. So a person with OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) is safe while looking at my work. Hahaha. You'll rarely experience discomfort while looking a it

Among your works, which one is your favorite? Why?
My work falls into many classes with their own charisma. But a logo I did for a company called "Leap Synergy" may top its class. I think I communicated the "leaping" very well and the "synergy" too. It could become iconic like the Nike swoosh, hahaha. Their Philosophy is well represented hey.

Then I branded some clothing for my university's faculties, it was a fun and fulfilling challenge from the design to seeing students wearing the brand all over Cape Town.

What is the one thing you wish you knew when you started designing?
Explore! Explore! Explore! Don't wait to be spoon fed. Waiting to be given instructions to create is a terrible way to live for a creative person.

What kind of tools/softwares do you use for designing? Explain your work flow.
Tools: A computer with at least 8Gb Ram and a good processor. For software, I depend on Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, After Effects). I still sketch a lot on paper to get my ideas out of my head. I also use an entry-level graphic tablet to draw directly into the computer.

Workflow: After receiving a request from a client, I decide what kind of artwork I need to produce, make rough sketches then open the software most suitable to produce that kind of work. I may scan my pencil drawings or create the design from scratch on the computer. From there, I present the final artwork in a suitable way and send it.

What You hate/challenges with design
Most people don't understand how the creative industry works, they think just because you're a graphic designer, you can do any kind of creative work: web design? Illustration? 3D rendering? Photography? Packaging? And more...

All those are different aspects of the creative industry that take a few years to master but everyone expects a "designer" to have it all. This is causing a lot of stress, creatives are now expected to evolve and very fast... it can be mentally taxing.

So, why "TheDeafDesigner"?
I don't know if it was out of frustration or inspiration but there's something intuitive about it... a little unexpected. It struck me during my final year at varsity and my housemate found it intriguing. Now I'm looking forward to the challenge of "selling myself" with a name that appears negative from a distance. All other brand names are aspirational…

I'm sure people first think "What's with the guy? Is he advocating disability? Is he begging for help?"
No. No and No. I'm celebrating my abilities and highlighting my limits in one... when you look at my work, I don't think there's anything deaf about it 🙂

Is it working well for you?
I think those who do appreciate the mix of vulnerability and confidence. It's only been 2 years since I introduced the name though, still hard to tell if it's brand worthy. But I think people look for me for my work, than my name.

How did you lose your hearing?
About 12 years ago, I'd just been discharged from hospital after 49 days in an isolation ward. I stayed in the same room the whole 7 weeks, I wasn't allowed to see anyone but my parents and the few pretty nurses.

After being discharged, I'd go on to receive medication through an injection on the butt everyday for the next 5 months… E-very-day!
After the 1st month, I basically had no more ass to prick, it was all hard as rock. I couldn't sit, couldn't take a proper bath, couldn't bend over to pick something that fell.

Then the real devastation came that August, the meds started to destroy the nerves in my ears and my hearing went with it. This happened in a space of about 2 weeks that felt like years. I thought I was losing my mind! How does sound just start to disappear around you?! The Botswana August wind is blowing violently and you can see the neighbour's kids are screaming at the top of their voices but...its...not getting to you!

My favourite songs! All my favourite songs! I played them as loud as I could, they simply became duller & duller till it all faded away like rocks falling in the distance. I wanted to screeeaaaam, ruuuuuun, escape this unbearably weird place! It wasn't a place. It was me!