Andy Clarke is a seasoned brand steward, a fancy pixel wrangler, and no mean hand at code. A triple talent. The bastard.
Jeffrey Zeldman, author of Designing with Web Standards
Too old to grow up
Growing up, art helped me escape the day-to-day into a place I felt happy and in control. Making art became my sanctuary, and there was no other path I wanted to take.
I learned plenty of important lessons at art school. Not least, the fact I was interested more in the process of making art than anything I needed to communicate. So, I spent my four years working in the printmaking studio and photography darkroom, experimenting with processes, techniques, and tools. I work with my digital tools in the same way today.
The course I studied was unstructured. I could move between media, and there was as much or as little input from lecturers as I wanted. This taught me to be self-motivated and self-reliant, which has proven to be the most important lesson of my life.
Leaving art school was a shock to my system because, for the first time, there was no clear path ahead of me. I found myself first working in an unglamorous photographic studio, then drifted into photography equipment sales. I’d no previous experience, but I had a natural affinity for sales Although I never enjoyed the pressure of meeting sales targets, this decade-long experience taught me that if you believe in something strongly, you can persuade others to believe it too.
It’s been twenty-five years since I sold a product, and today I sell my ideas, experience, and talent. I couldn’t do that had I not learned self-motivation at art school or gained self-confidence during the years I spent selling. The most valuable lesson—the one I passed onto my son—was to be adaptable because the path through life will rarely be straight. I made mistakes and took wrong turns, but today I’m the sum of my experiences, and I hope a better designer and teacher because of them.
When we moved to Wales in 1998, I knew I wanted to design, and that digital was the right medium, but I’d not run a business. My work was in its early stages, but luckily so was the Web. We made websites costing a few hundred pounds for local businesses who barely knew about the Web. But, we made enough of a living to concentrate on design full-time a year later. I learned something new with each project.
After a chance encounter with web standards technologies, I taught myself how to write CSS. At the time, websites were developed using table-based code, and there were few resources for learning CSS. I learned by trial-and-error, pasting code from specifications and seeing the result in a browser. I was one of very few designers experimenting with CSS, and when I launched my blog in 2004, I quickly gained an audience who were also eager to learn.
Blogging lead to speaking at the first European web design conferences. This, in turn, lead to offers to write a book. Transcending CSS was published in 2005, Hardboiled Web Design five years later, and Art Direction for the Web in 2019.
It’s been over 20 years since we began working as Stuff & Nonsense and I couldn’t have imagined that my work would take me around the world from Africa to the Far East, across Europe and the United States. It’s been hard work and there have been difficult times—both personally and professionally—but working as a designer on the Web has given me a lifestyle I enjoy and a body of work I can be proud of.
Life and work
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2024
Worked with composers Michael Baugh, Alessandro Mastroianni, and Tristan Jakob-Hoff, and on the Changemakers project for Open University. Spent time in Germany and France.
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2023
Wrapped up my work with Nozomi Networks as Consultant Director of Product Design. Worked with Emma Bodger, and other specially chosen projects. Spent time in the southwestern United States, Germany, and the south of France. Began work on my sixth full-length book.
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2022
Worked with Nozomi Networks for another year, plus Abergele Dental, Equfund, and other specially chosen projects. Spent time in Costa Rica and the south of France.
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2021
Committed to working with Nozomi Networks for another year. Worked with the Congo Basin Institute, Le Fizz, and NWPS Construction.
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2020
Spent ten months mostly working at home with Nozomi Networks. Worked with Buskers Bern and Compass Financial. Spent time in the south of France.
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2019
Increased the time I spend working with Nozomi Networks. Worked with Animal Search and So Foot. Published Transcending CSS Revisited. Bought my first Subaru and spent time driving Scotland’s North Coast 500. Celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary. Spent time in Cameroon and the south of France. Visited Berlin and Duisburg.
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2018
Returned to Wales from Australia. Published Art Direction for the Web. Accepted the role of Director of Product Design at Nozomi Networks. Celebrated my son’s doctorate. Spent time in Florence and visited Singapore.
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2017
Lived in Sydney, Australia working with Ansarada. Travelled to Melbourne, Perth, and Tasmania. Visited Saigon and San Francisco. Collected my first two tattoos.
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2016
Worked with Greenpeace Poland, Smashing Magazine, and SunLife. Spent time in Perth and Sydney, Australia. Consulted with Fairfax Media and Ansarada. Accepted the role of Head of Design at Ansarada, so closed our studio in Abergele. Visited Zurich.
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2015
Worked with Kings College Hospital and WWF UK. Published Hardboiled Web Design: Fifth Anniversary Edition. Spent time in Western Australia and the south of France. Visited Barcelona, Los Angeles, New York, and Sydney.
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2014
Opened our studio in Abergele, Wales. Spent time in the southern USA and the south of France. Visited Amsterdam, Atlanta, Barcelona, Berlin, and Oslo. Celebrated my son’s Masters degree.
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2013
Worked with SAP in Heidelberg and WIPO in Geneva. Collaborated with Mark Porter on designs for Internazionale. Spent time in Japan, and the south of France. Visited Oslo. Hired our first full-time employee.
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2012
Worked with WIPO in Geneva and Accenture on the government’s Universal Credit scheme. Spent time in Western Australia and the south of France. Visited Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. Travelled to Germany and Texas.
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2011
Worked at STV in Glasgow as their part-time Head of Design. Worked with ISO Geneva. Visited Atlanta, Boston, Seattle, San Francisco, and Washinton DC.
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2010
Published Hardboiled Web Design. Visited Boston, Seattle, San Diego, and Washinton DC. Drove 4,000 miles around the north western USA on our Looking for Yogi road trip.
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2009
Worked with New Internationist Magazine. Recorded three DVD video titles for New Riders. Visited Boston, Chicago, and Tokyo.
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2008
Released CSS Artistry: A Web Design Master Class. Recorded Inspired CSS Styling for a Beautiful Web DVD video for New Riders. Worked with Camel Dive Club. Spent time in Eqypt. Visited Amsterdam, Chicago, New Orleans, and New York. Drove 4,000 miles across the USA on our Between Two Oceans road trip.
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2007
Contributed a chapter to Web Standards Creativity. Visited Austin, San Francisco, Sydney, and Vancouver.
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2006
Visited Austin, New York, Reykjavik, Sydney, and Vancouver.
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2005
Sold my stake in Karova and restarted Stuff & Nonsense. Wrote and published Transcending CSS.
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2004
Started blogging and developed a reputation for designing with web standards technologies. Designed e-commerce websites for British Heart Foundation, Save The Children, and WWF UK.
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2003
Co-founded Karova and helped develop the first standards-based e-commerce platform. Designed the first standards-based e-commerce website for Disneystore UK. Put Stuff & Nonsense on hold.
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1999
Started working on Stuff & Nonsense full-time, the first time I’d been self-employed. Our first major client was Allen Group.
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1998
Left TMS Advertising. Moved to Wales and co-founded Stuff & Nonsense with my wife. Worked remotely for Dicomed Inc. and Silicon Imaging (again.) My first personal website won Site of the Month in .Net Magazine’s September issue.
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1996
Left Silicon Imaging and joined TMS Advertising to run their digital creative studio. Made my first professional website.
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1993
Left The Studio Workshop and joined Silicon Imaging to sell the first digital cameras. Sold more digital camera backs than anyone else in Europe.
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1992
My son Alex was born. Discovered I have another younger brother. Shot the first digital photograph in the UK with a Leaf DCB (digital camera back) at the Business Design Center in London.
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1989
Married Sue! We’ve been together ever since. Left South Bank Studio Center and joined The Studio Workshop.
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1988
Graduated art school with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art. Moved from Nottingham to London. Started work at South Bank Studio Center.
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1987
Met my wife, Sue. I was asleep under a table and she woke me up.
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1985
Studied Fine Art at Trent Polytechnic, Nottingham. Worked in bars and comic shops to pay my way.
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1984
Studied Art Foundation at Nene College, Northampton.
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1983
Finished education at Kingswood School, Corby.
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1965
Born in Lancashire in the north of England.