23 Questions!

What sparked your passion for design?
From an early age I liked creating stuff with my hands, be it playing with my food, play-doh, drawing or painting. When I finished high school I pursued drama, then went off the artistic track for a few years in sales. My real passion came when I was studying Graphic Art. I was absolutely gob-smacked that there was an industry for all this stuff that I loved to do. With each project I gained more enthusiasm and by the end of my study I was bursting at the seams to immerse myself in design.

How creative were you as a youngster?
In primary school I drew caricatures of classmates and throughout high school I spent hours and hours decorating my annual diaries with cutout images from magazines and words. They were so full of clag that the pages sprayed out like the bellows of an accordion. I couldn’t even close them. I guess I was creating page layouts at the most rudimentary level.

Do you come from a creative family?
My parents weren’t obviously creative. Dad worked as an engineer for the local council while Mum was busy working as a ‘domestic engineer’ looking after five children. My siblings are all creative in their own way. I think creativity is expressed in many forms. You don’t need a paintbrush in your hand to be creative.

Were they supportive of your desire to be a designer?
They were supportive, “as long as your happy, we’re happy,” but my Dad still asks me, “what is it again that you do?”

The first move...
I saw an ad in the newspaper for a Graphic Art course, so I threw caution to the wind and left the security of full time employment in sales, for full-time study in Graphic Art. I have never looked back.

What sort of education and training have you had?
I completed an Associate Diploma of Graphic Art and continued study in Electronic Design and Interactive Multimedia. I have been teaching graphic design at university level for over ten years. I have a Certificate IV (Assessment & Workplace Training) and have been studying Professional Writing and Editing part time for the past few years.

Who did you want to work for when you first entered the industry?
A large ad. agency.

Tell us about your first project and what do you feel about it now?
The first thing I ever did on the computer was a dot matrix illustration. I remember feeling so proud of this awkward looking character made up of different grey dots. I like it. It reminds me of the good old days of floppy’s and just how far we have come technologically.

What is your preferred software to work with and what has been the greatest advancement in technology over the past 5 years?
I prefer the Adobe Creative Suite. It has grown with me since my early days in design. The greatest advancement in technology in the last five years is the faster processors and memory capacity of computers. Speed allows me to work faster without compromising the quality of my work. The ease and capacity of external storage devices and wireless features are also up there. Thankfully the days of the Zip and Jaz disks and a bunch of tangled cords are long behind us.

Is digital technology going to eliminate the need for print?
No. The digital medium is certainly thriving and expanding. Computers are a great tool and the perfect medium for light-based outputs. But you just can’t beat ink: the look of it, the smell of it and especially the feel of it.

Whose work do you really admire and why?
The relationship between design and an individual is reciprocal. Design is collaborative and involves much more than just one person. I admire things, people and places that inspire me, such as the texture of an old eucalypt, an excellent piece of prose, old advertising posters, typography on retro-magazines, the smell of a campfire, 1950s textiles, book covers and vinyl covers.

Who has been the greatest person that you’ve ever had the pleasure of working with and what have they taught you?
My students. Teaching design to hundreds of unique individuals with their own amazing talents has taught me more about design than I ever expected. Students remind me about the importance of individuality, honesty, commitment and how a good idea and enthusiasm goes a long way. I have learnt as much from them as they have from me.

How would you describe your work?
Honest, meaningful, targeted and memorable.

What are your plans for the future?
Short term: to work as a creative in a graphic design studio or ad agency. To create meaningful and targeted designs for a client and company, and deliver results.
Long term: I would like to progress in my career, take on more responsibility with larger clients and work in a more directorial creative role. I find advertising strategy and branding stimulating and challenging.

What sort of company would you like to work with next?
It’s more about the people, the clients and the work, than a company. If the team and I hit it off, if the clients are happy and we produce great work then that is where I would like to be.

What is your opinion of Australian design?
Australian design has it’s own identity, language and culture. Australians are producing some great work. I don’t buy into the cultural cringe ideology. A design project is a unique endeavour with specific needs and goals. Success is measured by the quality of design, whether it meets the needs of a client, and more importantly that it delivers results.

What is the best/worst thing about being a designer in Australia?
More the nature of the beast than a national issue, but the worst thing about being a designer is that relationships can be expendable in favour of a cheaper price and weaker design.

In your opinion, what is the greatest challenge the Australian design industry has to face in the near future?
Creating relevant and sustainable designs that resonate with their target market and can endure the rapid changes in technology and consumer habits. An ongoing challenge is convincing a client to invest in quality design and advertising.

What is your creative outlet outside of design?
I am working on a novel at the moment, am about 30,000 words in. I love to read and am reading new Australian fiction, and exploring the craft of the short story. I enjoy painting big canvases in inks and acrylics, and love getting my hands dirty in garden.

What is the best designed bar in Melbourne?
I’m more of a pub and barbecue person, so I couldn’t tell you.

What are your top 5 websites at the moment?

Plowing through interesting Australian archives at: naa.gov.au
My weekly tarot at: osho.com
Finding missing iTunes album artwork: amazon.com/music
The great networking site: facebook.com
Forever researching things at: google.com.au
What CD are you currently listening to and is it any good?
I am currently listening to the Buddha Bar collection on shuffle, and yes I highly recommend them.

If I was a font, I’d be...?
DIN 1451 Engschrift designed by Linotype in 1936, or maybe Bifur, designed in 1929 by Cassandre. Din because of its clean structure and straightforward approach. It is beautiful in all caps in print, and besides I would make a great German road sign. Bifur, because it is both strong and detailed, a bit sans-serif and a bit stencil, and quite unforgettable.

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