About Adam Barnes
I’m a web designer, developer and photographer based in Lowestoft on the Suffolk coast. I build websites, from hand-coded sites to modern platforms, and photograph everything from music festivals to boardrooms. Being a single supplier for both is my thing: one person, one vision, no juggling agencies. My clients range from small businesses to arts organisations and government departments.
We asked Adam to look back and reflect on his younger self…
Q&As
How would you describe yourself at 18?
I was at art school and absolutely convinced I was going to be a painter. I was experimenting with abstract and impressionist work, even a bit of sculpture. Then I walked past the computer room and spotted an early Macintosh SE. I discovered I could do typography on it, creating fonts and layouts (which would look terrible now), and mixing them with pen drawing. I was making art with type, and that was that.
What inspired you to start your own business?
Redundancy, if I’m honest. I’d spent 18 years in London, working through two blue-chip agencies on clients like Marks & Spencer; I even helped redesign the Toblerone packaging at one point. Later, I built the publishing system for the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, which ran for 13 years and pulled me deep into the technical side of design. When redundancy arrived, I had the skills, a handful of loyal clients and no more excuses. I’ve never looked back.
If you could go back knowing what you know now, what three things would you tell yourself to do when you first became a business owner?
- Take more risks; nothing comes easy, so push yourself.
- If a project looks wonderful but your gut says something is off, ignore the money and walk away. The gut is always right.
- Stop watching everyone else. You can lose weeks studying trends and other people’s work, when you should simply be getting on with your own.
What are the biggest lessons you have learnt professionally?
Keep learning. The tools never stop changing, but curiosity carries you through every shift. Another lesson is that word of mouth builds everything. Do good work and be straightforward to deal with, and the phone keeps ringing.
How did you deal with a big mistake, and what did you learn from the experience?
A restaurant asked me to create their whole identity: logo, signage, wine bottle labels, menus, website, the lot. The work was fresh, the client loved it, and I was rather pleased with myself. However, they had been flaky from day one and I ignored the signs, so I spent months chasing invoices. The lesson? The red flags are always waving at the start.
What are your ambitions for the future?
More storytelling projects. I’m currently building an interactive microsite for a wonderful English Baroque music organisation, blending design, technology and narrative, and that is exactly where I want to be. On the photography side, more portrait work and more music events. The two halves of the business feed each other, and I intend to keep it that way.
What does the future have in store for you personally?
Travelling with my wife, Helen. We love Italy, and some of my best street and architectural photography has come from wandering through Italian cities with a camera in hand.
