About Jaco Swart

Rainbow Layers is my personal website, with a few articles on various aspects of Web Content Design and Marketing, a list of previous speaking engagements, and a record of some of the websites I have worked on.

You will also find me on Twitter and, occasionally, on the Facebook group for rainbowcooking.co.nz. My curriculum vitae is on LinkedIn.

Jaco Swart in a nutshell:

I used to be an electronics designer in the aviation industry, and was a technical author for a few years before I defected from Development to Marketing in 2004. Currently, I am the Digital Marketing Manager at Tait Radio Communications. I'm kept around because I understand the cross-functional aspects of the Web, but I like Information Architecture and Content Design best.

I lives in the leafy city of Christchurch with my wife, daughter and cat:

Marietjie is my wife, my inspiration, my moderator, and my sounding board. I should mention that Marietjie has a BA in Information Science, and that her studies stimulated my interest in the field of Information Design.

Mia, our daughter, takes after her parents: she's a night-owl, a bookwork, spends too much time on the laptop, and loves making stuff.

Prinses is the coolest cat I've met in a long, long time and I think I'm lucky to be her butler.

Bio

Growing up

Can a boy ask for more than to grow up in a tree-city? I consider myself lucky; I was born in Pretoria. Apart from being South Africa's capital, it is also known for the 55 000 Jacaranda trees that line its older streets, and I made the most of being raised in a leafy suburb. Apart from playing typical boy-games in the back garden, I loved reading, painting and model building. Primary school, though, was a tedious business, and I preferred my own activities.

High school was better. The first secondary school I attended offered art as a subject, which I loved. The last three years of my schooling I boarded at the Elizabeth Conradie School in Kimberly, which was generally fun. Electronics was the highlight of the day, science a challenge, and Afrikaans and English classes offered creative writing opportunities. I'll admit that, on occasion after a late night spent writing, or working on a science expo project, I sometimes had to catch a wink or two during a less stimulating class.

The science projects I worked on dealt with aerodynamics and various design aspects of fighter aircraft. Yes, I was fascinated by aeroplanes then and regularly bussed to the library to read Jane's All the World's Aircraft. Once I read a corporate publication that described the Tornado fighter jet pictured on its cover as a MiG. "Surely I can do better than this," I thought. The idea of becoming a technical author or journalist was born.

Student life

During my final year at school I was faced with the normal school-leaver's problem: what to do next year? I could not see much of a future for military aircraft development in South Africa, so there were really only two options: to become a writer of some sort, or an electronic designer. At the time enrolling for a BA in Communication Science seemed the best way to go, but then I won the top prize at the National Young Scientist Expo and I started to get second thoughts. In the end I cancelled my impending studies in communication science.

That is why I spent my first year out of school doing various courses in electronics at the local technical college. I also attended the London International Youth Science Fortnight that year. Now that was fun: two weeks crammed with science meetings, sightseeing, buying books and attending theatre, surviving on as little sleep as humanly possible.

The next step was three-and-a-half year's study at the Technikon Pretoria in order to become an electronic technician (South African Technikons being similar to Polytechnics). For the first time in my life I really enjoyed my classes. I lived in Sunnyside, then the favourite mid-city suburb in Pretoria, studied more than necessary, spent late nights on my old 286 (which I later upgraded to a 386DX), and put far too much effort into ambitious electronic and digital projects. This was also the period that I first read Lord of the Rings and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and co-authored an electronics textbook.

Electronics

My first real job was that of laboratory assistant at the School of Digital Technology, Technikon Pretoria. My job was to keep an eye on the students in the computer lab and to re-develop and lecture a subject called Projects I. I spent my extra time surfing the then brand-new Web, building my first Webpage (a hobby that I still have), designing in-circuit programmers for PIC microcontrollers, and taking huge chances on my Yamaha 400 Special motorbike.

This job did not pay a lot, so I joined Advanced Technologies & Engineering in Midrand as an electronic designer. "What could be better," I thought, "than designing avionics?" I was responsible for the electronic control and telemetry boxes of an unmanned aeroplane. It was indeed great fun, but project deadlines and quality requirements made it a serious business. I had less free time available, but developed a correspondence course for the Technikon of South-Africa.

Marriage and fatherhood

The biggest milestone in my life so far must be marrying Marietjie Raath. Ours was more or less a runaway marriage. In February 1997, on the eve of departing on a two-week holiday in the Cape where my parents lived, we decided to get married. We could have waited until December and had a well-planned wedding, but we thought, "we're going on a trip, let's turn it into a honeymoon!" So we got married six days later on the 1st of March. It was a lovely traditional white wedding, arranged by my Marietjie's extended family that lives in George. We reckon that soul-mates are allowed to marry in a hurry.

When we married, Marietjie was a travel agent but studying a Bachelor in Information Science, formerly known as Library Science. One of her majors was Communication Science. I started proofreading her assignments and found that it was mostly interesting stuff (for instance, this was the first time that I heard the problem of "information overload" defined). I did not realise it then, but Marietjie's studies laid the groundwork for my future career in content design. Marietjie's degree was conferred in May 2001, a month before our daughter Mia's birth.

Marietjie and I share other interests apart from information science. She got me interested in cooking. She introduced me to 12th-scale miniatures and we started to go to monthly workshops. We love good books, and we hoard them. I got her interested in email, and she put up with my endless surfing and Website building.

Technical authoring

When I heard that the head of my department had received approval to employ a technical author, my high-school ambition of becoming an author took over and I applied for the job. It was a fantastic opportunity. It took more than ten years, a time during which I thought it would never happen, but the wheel had turned. What's more, authoring proved to be even more fun than I had hoped.

In the long run, becoming a technical author meant more than fulfilling a dream. During the first year of the twenty-first century, we decided that we wanted a change in lifestyle and would like to live and work in New Zealand. The combination of my electronic and authoring experience enabled me to get a technical authoring contract at Tait Radio Communications in Christchurch.

Moving to New Zealand

Christchurch has been kind to us three new residents. It is a photogenic garden city, with winding rivers, green banks, old trees, and beautiful buildings. We settled in, adapted to the city's café culture, and made friends. (About half of our friends are Kiwis, the other half originate from five continents.)

Christchurch's Southern Africans gave us a warm welcome and kindly loaned us household articles until our container arrived. It was through the South Island's South African society that a new project came my way: their quarterly newsletter, Indaba, needed a new editor. I volunteered. Up till now, my ability to freely experiment with layout design was limited to Websites (companies tend to stick to their standard designs). But Indaba needed a revamp, so I spent a few joyful weeks developing a new layout, and ended up editing it for two years.

Drawn into Websites and marketing

Shortly before my contract as technical author at Tait expired, I became their Internet Communicator Co-ordinator, which meant that my job involved less writing but more content design opportunities.

In January 2005, my role changed to Website Manager, and in December 2010, to Digital Marketing Manager.

Life is a wheel that tends to turn around. My current life proves it: my hobby became my full-time job, I have project deadlines again, and I live in a tree-city. In my humble opinion, the person that invented the wheel deserves a medal.

Disclaimer

The content on this website reflect my personal opinion. They do not reflect the opinions, intentions or strategies of my employer, or of any organization that I may be affiliated with.