About Me
Hello and welcome to my portfolio and blog, my name is Tyron Layley. I am a full time web and print designer based in London, England. Currently I work for a company called global3digital in Regent Street and I love my job and all the people I work with. Besides my love for design I also have a passion for writing, recording and playing music. I recently got married to my childhood sweetheart and am blessed to have the most wonderful loving family and colourful assortment of friends. This is my story.
Design has always been something I was fascinated by, it started off with sketches and little drawings as a child but it was really only at the age of sixteen, when I got myself properly acquainted with the adobe family that I knew I had found my calling. I went straight into design college after high school and six months into my course I was recruited by a design agency to become an intern at their firm. It was there that I learnt all about the print industry. Once I had obtained my degree I moved on to work for an urban clothing label called Ecko Unltd, this is where learning about deadlines, pressure and how to be professional came in. I was thrown in the deep end but I knew I was ready to swim and just couldn’t wait to jump in. I worked my way up from being a junior designer to the head designer working long hours and living off coffee and creativity but loving every second of it.
“I worked my way up from being a junior designer to the head designer working long hours and living off coffee and creativity”
As if being a designer wasn’t enough of a creative outlet for me, I started playing music. I have always had a love for music, luckily my Mom used to play the guitar when she was about sixteen and kept it for me just in case. It is still with me today and will be until the day I die. I met a few likeminded friends and started playing in a band which today is called What Now. As a band we gave up the sunny skies of South Africa and moved to London, England which I now call home. Living and working in London is amazing and coming from a small coastal town in SA it’s a dream come true. I have had the good fortune of working with some amazing artists both in design and music. There is so much inspiration in London and despite the cold I love it more and more each day.
“I think I have the best job in the world and sometimes I feel guilty for actually making a living out of it.”
Once settled in the UK I started working for a small design agency in South London and gained some valuable experience. I later moved on to becoming a full time freelance designer where I got to build relationships with some fantastic clients. I then started doing more web design than print until eventually it was all I was doing. I threw myself into every complicated situation and soon I was designing and building websites, flash sites and web banners night and day. It’s difficult to call something work when you love it so much. I think I have the best job in the world and sometimes I feel guilty for actually making a living out of it. My father always told me “if you wake up every day feeling bad about what you are doing then something is wrong, but if you wake up every day feeling good about what you are doing, then you are on the right track “.
I found that freelancing can get a bit lonely at times so I decided to contract for a while and landed up loving it so much I took a permanent position. I became part of a family called global3digital. It is an amazing company and I have been lucky enough to work on some really big names and websites. They look after me well and give me the creative freedom that all designers dream of and that brings me to where I am today, working for a great company and loving my life immensely. I find that being a designer isn’t just a career path it’s a way of life and a different way of thinking. As a designer you should embrace your creative side and enjoy the places it may lead you.