Johan Bergsten Sweden

During my year at Martin College in Brisbane I studied various courses all related to graphic design and advertising. Many of these courses were held by Stephen O'Connor. My knowledge and interest for creative advertising, and print production was founded during these courses.

Stephen always gave constructive criticism, and assisted in developing assignments without losing the original idea of the project. He is positive, committed and genuinely interested in involving students in the learning process. I always felt like I could ask questions (no matter how stupid they might have been).

One thing that's important when learning programmes like those in the creative suite is to follow on small specific steps and understanding why you have to check certain boxes, write certain commands and so on, and Stephen always made sure everyone was following. Having English as a second language was never a problem during his classes either, he always explained, or rephrased if we were confused.

When I returned to Sweden I immediately got a position as Junior Graphic Designer at an advertising agency in my home town. Today I study design and print production at a renowned school in Jönköping, Sweden. AND I work for a small advertising agency in my spare time, making layout for magazines and other print productions.

When Stephen left Martin College, me and my class mates thought it was a great loss both for the college and future students. I wish Stephen the very best of luck in the future.

Annika Emanuelsson Sweden

Stephen was one of my teachers during my year in college. I feel that Stephen has a genuine interest in not only graphic design but also teaching. I always looked forward to his classes. He had a way of teaching by the book, and in the same time let us be creative and and use our imagination to evolve.

After I left Australia I got a job as a Graphic Designer back in Sweden. I felt that my knowledge I learned in class was enough to manage my new career.

Martin Limpus Australia

I completed a diploma of Multimedia and Advertising at Martin College. It was a 12 month course and Steve was my instructor for a range of subjects.

My successful completion of the diploma I’m sure was achieved through the lessons I had with Steve. He put in a bit extra than the other instructors especially if you had trouble with something, his lessons were easy to follow and he always gave me practical solutions to my design problems. Steve has an eye for design and knows how to communicate it very well.

Ludvig Ehrenstråhle Sweden

During my one year of studies at Martin College, Stephen was teaching in a variety of subjects. I'm very grateful that he, in a fun and creative way teached me how to work with the Adobe Suite. Without his almost unreal patience, help and encouragement, I would never had been accepted into "Forsbergs School of Creative Arts and Advertising" back home in Sweden one year later.