22 questions!

He's a Breaka milk boy from way back who loves to happen upon a good vinyl. He credits eccentrics with driving forward culture, and the Australian design industry with having a bright, can-do attitude. Although we insisted he imagine himself as a font rather than a bird, this is one designer whose career is really taking flight. Meet Callum.

1. What sparked your passion for design?
I can't recall anything that sparked it; I was just naturally inclined.

2. How creative were you as a youngster?
Quite. I used to draw typefaces, faces and fantastical islands in all my school books, both early 'logo' work as well as realistic and cartoon styles. But I was not a full-time bookend: the majority of my time was spent playing cricket, rugby and athletics.

3. Do you come from a creative family?
After consideration, I guess so. None on either side of my parents’ family lines were professionally creative, but it does run in the nuclear family; my brother is a playwright.

4. Were they supportive of your desire to be a designer?
Initially there was some old-world misunderstanding that I was to become an artist that earned no money, but this has been forgotten now.

5. What sort of education and training have you had?
Bachelor of Visual Arts in Graphic Design at Queensland College of Art, finished mid-98. This ended up being just for the piece of paper as I spent most of my time in the library. Since then, I have relearned everything thrice over, and I know that learning won't stop.

6. Who did you want to work for when you first entered the industry?
George Patterson Bates advertising, Brisbane.

7. Tell us about your first project and what do you feel about it now?
I recall my first professional project with fondness. It was updating the brand for Breaka—a flavoured milk product—while working at George Patterson Bates. Everyone drinks that stuff up there, so it was a famous thing to do for a naïve, young, upstart straight out of uni. I drew some completely different logotypes and completely changed the way it sat on the package, and the Breaka people loved it in the first 5 minutes of our meeting, wherein I was attending alongside the senior art director who designed the original logo and packaging in the early 80s.

8. What is your preferred software to work with and what has been the greatest advancement in technology over the past 5 years?
I prefer working with the usual CS apps. Web 2.0 is the greatest technological advance in the past 5 years, and could prove to be so for the last 50. It is unknown what skills are now needed and there is a restructuring of what a designer is and what a developer is. This will continue to evolve, but you will always need to have someone who knows how to communicate, and therefore, design, within any given medium. As for software, I think it's still in it's infancy and will continue to progress in sophistication and efficiency, but again, a good idea will always be a good idea, whether it's executed in Flash CS10 or with a pencil.

9. Is digital technology going to eliminate the need for print?
Nope. You can't smell your computer.

10. Whose work do you really admire and why?
Joy Division 12" singles were an early favourite. These days it is not so much 'known' designers or even just graphic designers whose work I admire as much as Asian supermarket labels, manhole covers and pavement markings, Lawrence Weiner, Tadao Ando and his disciples, Joseph Cornell, John Fahey, William Eggleston, the unbelievable blog that is Trilogy Tapes, the DIY labels you find on the real obscurities within the deep, deep history of 7" soul singles, and so on. They all inform me in ways of communication, ways of thinking, and ways of life.

11. Who has been the greatest person that you’ve ever had the pleasure of working with and what have they taught you?
Tony Speight at Miller Bainbridge Partners in London. He was a can-do person, didn't take bullsh*t, gave very good direction and was able show you why he thought which solution you came up with would work best. You wanted to work for him. You trusted him, and he trusted you. A good way to work.

12. How would you describe your work?
A conversation with my client. Asking a question, discussing an appropriate answer, and making that answer into a communication tool.

13. What are your plans for the future?
Keep learning, keep scrubbing, keep re-thinking.

14. What sort of company would you like to work with next?
I'd like to work with people who believe in what they're doing and with people whom I have kinship.

15. What is your opinion of Australian design?
It's very good and doesn't get the kudos it should. Australians are bright, optimistic and can-do. This is apparent in our design.

16. What is the best/worst thing about being a designer in Australia?
The best thing is I'm in Australia. The worst thing is, unlike Britain, we don't value our eccentrics enough — they drive forward culture, and culture is a massive force in any society.

17. In your opinion, what is the greatest challenge the Australian design industry has to face in the near future?
Riding out this economy slide, and be confident that design is not a superfluous expense during this time. Most things around us have been designed. It belongs at the heart of every communication system we use in society. As such, it should be invested in, not sidelined.

18. What is your creative outlet outside of design?
I research, find and play vinyl records from almost every era and place. I also draw, take photographs, and so on.

19. What is the best designed bar in Melbourne?
I prefer pubs, like the Napier.

20. What are your top 5 websites at the moment?
1. http://www.infosthetics.com
2. http://www.delicious.com
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgoSGHBAQEY
4. http://www.waxidermy.com
5. http://www.thetrilogytapes.com/blog
1.
21. What CD are you currently listening to and is it any good?
I've been listening to many John Fahey records constantly in the past year, and have been playing White Rainbow, Shed, Jonas Reinhardt and the Australian folk singer Cathie O'Sullivan's Artesian Waters during these last few weeks.

22. If I were a font, I’d be...?
I'd prefer to be a bird than a font. But I really like 'Nordic'.


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