#BehindtheSelfie with... Jamie Matroos

Letting the sun shine in...

1. Where do you live, work and play?

I live in Observatory in Cape Town and work about seven kilometres away in Gardens. So I get to live, work and play around the same hoods.

2. What’s your claim to fame?

Being able to adapt my skills to suit any need.

3. Describe your career so far.

I’ve only been out here about four years, but I started as a politics writer while doing my undergrad at UWC. I’ve since been a writer at Design Indaba for two years, and deputy editor of the website for one year of the two.

So far, I’ve been able to be part of some amazing projects with Design Indaba, some of which have sent me to some of my dream countries including Egypt, Morocco and Amsterdam.

4. Tell us a few of your favourite things.

I love to read books by African writers, write fiction, take pictures and travel.

5. What do you love about your industry?

Anything is possible. There’s an eternal struggle in media to not only be the innovator but also keep up with innovation. It’s a challenging, sometimes unstable, but an exciting world to inhabit.

6. Describe your average workday, if such a thing exists.

At Design Indaba, the average workday doesn’t exist. You could start your day as a journalist and end it as an events coordinator and then begin the next day as a digital copywriter. It’s intense but rewarding and I doubt any of us would change it if we could.

7. What are the tools of your trade?

Right now, it’s a laptop and a speedy Wi-Fi connection.

8. Who is getting it right in your industry?

My leadership structure, Neo Maditla.

#DesignIndaba2018: Telling stories about purpose-led design

Leigh Andrews  15 Dec 2017

Outside of SA, I’m addicted to Vox, specifically Johnny Harris’ Vox Borders.

9. List a few pain points the industry can improve on.

My number one pet peeve right now is that quantity still trumps quality in many respects. I’d rather have one quality video or feature-length article than 10 mediocre ones.

And then, content creators still struggle to make ends meet. Companies need to value and invest in the creatives.

10. What are you working on right now?

We’re getting ready for the Design Indaba Conference 2018, which means no rest until 25 February.

Design Indaba Conference, a multi-sensory event

23 Nov 2017

Other than that, we’re always publishing features on creatives from Africa and the rest of the world.

At the moment I’m wrapping up a series of features on social impact design in North Africa.

11. Tell us some of the buzzwords floating around in your industry at the moment, and some of the catchphrases you utter yourself.

• Pivot – I’m not sure that South African media houses are doing much pivoting (to video etc.) yet, but I hope we don’t make the same mistakes.
• Africanise – Everyone wants to jump on that Africa wave and if I hear this word one more time I might lose my $h!t.

• And then the worst of the bunch: Disruption! Youthquake! Synergy!

Personally, I try to speak as plainly as possible.

12. Where and when do you have your best ideas?

Sometimes ideas pop up at the worst possible times: Stuck in traffic, in a line at an airport, basically wherever I’m daydreaming.

13. What’s your secret talent/party trick?

I’m not sure that this is a talent, but I suck at small talk so I’m in the habit of asking strangers really deep questions at parties and receiving some mad interesting answers.

14. Are you a technophobe or a technophile?

Can’t live without tech, won’t live without tech.

15. What would we find if we scrolled through your phone?

Memes, pictures of friends and family and too many pictures of strangers’ dogs.

16. What advice would you give to newbies hoping to crack into the industry?

Diversify your skill set. If you’re a writer, learn how to take dope pictures, edit video, or code, or all of the above.

Simple as that. Follow Matroos on Instagram and click through to our Design Indaba special section, as well as their Twitter feed, Instagram and Facebook accounts for the latest updates.

*Interviewed by Leigh Andrews.