I know that we have spoken about releasing a North Kingdom 5-year anniversary book, not sure how that is going though.

Please give us a brief bio of yourself.

Mikael Forsgren, 32 years old. I work as a designer / AD / flash animator at North Kingdom, Skelleftea, Sweden.

I've been working with the internet since the year 2000. I worked at a few different places before

I started my own company, and then joined North Kingdom.

What do you do for inspiration?

Well I think you get inspiration from everything, your life is your inspiration, if that's not enough, we got TV, movies and internet.

What do you regard as being your biggest achievement?

When I quit a job I had earlier which I didn't like, and started my own company.

What software could you not live without?

Photoshop would be tough to live without. But then again, you'll always have Paint to fall back on...

What projects do you have in the pipeline?

A project for Mentos is about to be released soon.

Who is your target audience?

That depends on the project and who it's aimed at, hard to point out a specific group of people. How about people who wants to be entertained and likes a rich experience?

What area of web design lacks the most?

The great thing of combining a nice look, nice animations, fresh thinking with good usability.

What did your very first site look like? Is it still online?

It was black and white, made in html. It's not online anymore, the files are gone, that's a shame...but of what I can remember it didn't look that good and the content wasn't that great...

Have you written any books, if not do you plan to?

No I haven't, and there's no plan to make one right now, but it would be fun. I know that we have spoken about releasing a North Kingdom 5-year anniversary book, not sure how that is going though.

What was the toughest thing you ever did with Flash? How long did you spend on it? Is it still online?

Well there's a number of tough things I've been working on, I remember for instance "Vodafone Futurevision" we worked around the clock the last days to meet the deadline.

We also have "Vodafone Journey" which was a project that took a long time to finish since we changed directions for the project a few times.

Do you think Flash is here to stay?

Sure, it's not going anywhere in the near future. It keeps evolving, but there's always a lot you'd like it to be able to do that's not possible in the latest version.

What are your views on design/graphic school. Do you think someone can get into the field without educational experience in a school environment?

Absolutely, if you are good at what you do and have a nice portfolio then you will make it in this business anyway. Attitude takes you a long way.

When your company was just getting started, what did you find was most effective for getting new clients?

I think the most effective was the attention we got from "Vodafone Futurevision". So, creating great stuff I guess.

How have you learned so many Flash/design skills and techniques and can you offer any advice for newbies?

Most effective way to learn is to work on a project, it can be through a client, but it can also be a project of your own. Sit down, figure out what you want to do, and then along the way you will find ways to do it, there's a lot of great tutorials and inspiration on the internet if needed.

What is the most expensive thing you have bought in the last week?

I haven't bought anything, so I will lie just to make this question a bit more interesting. I bought a guitar (which I actually did, but it was about a month ago).

What type of overcoat do you wear when Flashing, basically are you a labels man?

Well I'm a casual guy, and unfortunately I don't dress up before i go to work. Tshirt, jeans, hoods, or maybe a good looking shirt.

Any parting shots or pearls of wisdom?

Less is more.

It has been a privilege, thanks very much.

Thank you!

North Kingdom