Ithateng studied architecture at the Universities of KwaZulu-Natal and Pretoria. In 1996, he pivoted into advertising before completing his degree. His career has since taken him into graphic design, and more recently, speaker coaching and conference curation. He enjoys what is arguably the most varied multi-disciplinary backgrounds in the South African creative industries. He has judged at industry award shows, and his work has been recognised at the Loeries, at the New York Festivals, and at Cannes. Ithateng is a former board member of the South African Graphic Design Council, Think. He maintains a keen interest in the emerging fields of transmedia storytelling and blended learning. Formerly with TEDxSoweto, Ithateng is co-organiser and curator for TEDxJohannesburg, and was an attendee at TED, in Monterey, California.

Ithateng is also also a founding member of the Mandela Poster Project Collective, the group of designers from South Africa who came up with the idea to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s life by collecting 95 posters from around the world, honouring Madiba’s lifelong contribution to humanity. The collection has since been sold to the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS), home to South Africa’s national design promotion body, Design Institute. In the process, the project has successfully achieved the aim of raising R1 million for the Nelson Mandela Children's Hospital Trust Fund, Madiba’s legacy project.

Lastly, Ithateng has recently been working with the American Consulate to deliver a ten-week entry-level programme on Graphic Design Basics to out-of-school and out-of-work young people in Soweto. The idea is to give the group a foundation that will help them secure a place at a tertiary institution, find a job in the creative industries or start their own design business.
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I spent my formative years of design education studying towards a bachelor’s degree in architecture. Architectural design was naturally the course that I enjoyed the most, but I also derived great pleasure in reading and writing on architectural theory. Those early years exposed me to valuable lessons in interpreting briefs, solving complex planning problems, translating those solutions into sketch form, working in 3 dimensions, developing a habit of rapid prototyping as a design aid, presenting my work and backing it up with solid argument, and accepting and responding to constructive criticism. Read Less