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Graphic designer Ahmed Khan has made a name for himself creating websites and pages for sporting celebrities and, at the tender age of 16, hopes that his story will inspire others that there is no such thing as ‘too young’.
The Bahrain-born Pakistani, who studies at St Christopher’s School, originally demonstrated an interest in YouTube channels, before a chance encounter with a sports star from Pakistan convinced him to pursue his hobby further.
He said: “Since I was young, I had a strong interest in computing, gaming and sports, so I spent a lot of time watching YouTube videos in these categories. Then, in 2011 I started my own channel and began uploading my own gaming videos.
“This meant I had to do a lot of graphic designing to create my own logos and backgrounds, which is where I started to really become interested in graphic designing. As time grew on, I started to become less interested in making videos and actually was more enthused about the designing aspect, and in particular, websites.”
Ahmed, who lives in Manama, dabbled in website design during his free time, but decided to close down his YouTube channel in 2012 and stopped graphic designing almost entirely outside of school projects as the pressures of his studies and other endeavours mounted.
It wasn’t until November 2014 and the Pakistan national football team’s friendly tour to Bahrain that Ahmed’s passion was reignited. He visited the team during an open session and asked team members for their contacts, with an offer to design websites for the stars.
He explained: “I noticed that outside of the major teams, football didn’t have an effective way of promoting itself, and genuine fans like me didn’t have a chance to find much about the players, teams, or history. So I decided to contact Kaleemullah Khan (who is considered the best player in the Pakistani team) and offered to make him a website. This is where my journey as a designer really began.
“Once I made the site, quite a lot of people were impressed with my work, one of whom was another Pakistani footballer called Muhammad Adil. He also commissioned me to make a site for him, and it snowballed from there.”
In June, Ahmed decided to take his burgeoning business online, and promoted his graphic designing services so that he could make some money for himself as he was going through school.
Ahmed was expecting a drip feed of customers, but he caught a big break when he contacted athlete and fitness sensation Frank Medrano (who has four million likes on Facebook) offering to do some designing for him.
Frank expressed his interest, and after Ahmed created a YouTube intro for him that became a worldwide hit, customers started flocking to his design business. Ahmed began working with UK design company Webfire Themes in September and regularly creates graphic products and writes articles for them.
He explained: “I did not expect to get such a big response. This is mainly because I was under the impression that it’s quite rare for people in Bahrain to be interested in graphic and website designing and, secondly because I am only 16 years old.
“People don’t expect youngsters my age to be doing things such as this and expect the quality to be poor. However, this is not the case and I do believe that age does not matter. You can start a business at 15 or 30; if you are determined, you can achieve it.
“I believe that it is quite an enjoyable hobby to take up and I hope more people my age become interested with occupations such as this, and that more people and companies in Bahrain give recognition to graphic designers and website creators.”
Ahmed’s next goal is to secure a month’s summer internship with a designing company called Motiofixo in Malaysia, for which he is currently seeking sponsorship. He also wants to start working for more locals in Bahrain and with Bahraini companies to boost their profile on the internet, but, long term, hopes to become a recognised designer around the globe.
Readers can check out examples of Ahmed’s design work by contacting him via ahmed_1k@live.com
