We're delighted to present a new edition of our series dedicated to our members, their projects and their personalized plans at La Halte. This week, we highlight Andrew Boardman from Mangrove, a digital brand creator for organizations driving transformational change.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and explain what your field of work entails?

I am creative director at a digital agency called Mangrove Web. My own design studio, Manoverboard, merged with Mangrove two years ago. We are an entirely remote team with folks working in Canada, the U.S., Argentina, Serbia, Turkey and Spain. Our focus is designing and building unique websites for larger nonprofit organizations, foundations and folks in the social sector. It's incredibly rewarding and also challenging work. Some of our well-known clients include (RED), Sierra Club and Wikimedia Foundation. We moved to Montreal six months ago and it's been fantastic.

Why did you choose a coworking space rather than another type of office?

When I lived in Winnipeg, I built a beautiful 300 square foot standalone office space in our backyard. It was custom-designed and full of light and air. In moving to Montreal, I realized that I needed a space outside of our condo to work and I looked at a co-working space because I wanted to be around others. Even though my French is still at a very early Intermediate level, I really value having a community of like-minded people around me. I hope to get to know more people at Halte!

Tell us a bit about your work, your background, and what motivated you in your career.

I have a MFA in painting and consider myself an artist first and a designer second. I taught myself how to code many years ago and started my design business in Brooklyn, New York around the time our daughter was born. I kind of had two babies in 2002! I am interested in how graphic design has impacted and continues to influence everything we do — our behaviors, beliefs and our connections to one another. I write a weekly Substack newsletter called Dear Designer about this, as well as the past and future of design.

Can you share some details about your current projects?

Right now, we are building a very cool website for RGD, the national association of Canadian graphic designers based in Toronto. The website will feature resources focused on creating accessible websites, products, signage and tools and will allow the organization to present a lot of information in a timely and public way. We are also working on a project for Winnipeg Foundation, which provides over $90 million of grants to charities in the city each year. It's a real honour to work with them.

What are your aspirations and plans for the coming years?

I would like to start up drawing and painting again and I'm planning on doing more mentoring, more consulting, and more volunteering with design organizations. I am working out a lot more, which is so easy to do here in Montreal. I feel very lucky to be at Halte and to be living in this amazing city.

A flexible plan 

Andrew Boardman has been occupying a closed office space since his arrival at La Halte 6 months ago! The 24-7 access allows him total access to his office and the Halte’s conference rooms and other spaces at any time of day, allowing him a lot of flexibility.

Stay tuned to our series in the coming weeks to discover other teams and their achievements within our business community!