Dressed in a grey t-shirt and blue jeans, Eddie Mak blends naturally with his fellow CityU students. But there is more underneath the laid-back exterior of this confident and talkative 21-year-old student. Mak is an experienced Web designer whose company, EO Design, is fast gaining a reputation for fine and innovative work.

"I don't want to be an employee for the rest of my life--I want to be my own boss," he said. "And I know that to be a success you have to build your own team. This was what my tutor told me when I was doing my Higher Diploma in Business Studies." But Mak understands that owning his own company requires basic management concepts, which is why, after graduating from Form 5, he completed a Higher Diploma in Business Studies at CityU. Now he is in his second year of an Electronic Commerce BBA. "I hope what I've learned can be applied to my work," he said.

 

 

Besides constructing websites, Mak, who plays a project manager role with his company, also designs posters and ads for local and overseas clients. He and his partner founded EO Design in October 2000. There are seven unregistered staff with the firm. All are freelance designers who are paid per project. Mak said that when he was in Form 5, everything on the Web was static and boring. He immediately set to work, reading everything he could about Flash programming. His hard work paid off.

Mak said that 1999 was his turning point as a designer. He entered and won a hongkong.com-sponsored Christmas e-card competition. The company then asked Mak to join them as a designer, but he declined because he was busy on his final-year school project. Mak's refusal, however, did not end his relationship with hongkong.com, who awarded him a project in February 2000. Mak did not disappoint them. Since then, he has designed many Flash games and demos for the company. Later, he was involved in many large projects from clients such as HKBN, CTI (Hong Kong), CTI (Canada), and PhotoMax.

 

 

"I treat every project from these companies as a big project because they are all famous companies, and these projects help build my reputation, and especially my company." Mak said.

 

 

CityU is also one of his clients. Since last year, he has been helping CityU's Professional Services with projects, and he also does maintenance work for CityU Today.

 

 

About his future expectations, Mak said that studying is not a top priority right now. His company, he said, is much more vital. "I think it's enough if I get a Second Honour, but of course I don't want to be a Third Honour graduate," he said with a laugh.

 

 

Check out Mak's work at the following websites: http://www.hongkong.com/4uparty/card4u/card4u.html
http://home4u.hongkong.com/chk-comp/index.html
http://www.eo.com.hk/project/china-tech/