Paul Morris, Lecturer in Graphic Design and Illustration at La Trobe University, Bendigo campus

Paul Morris studied at what is now La Trobe University in the late 80s, before moving from his native Bendigo to Melbourne where he worked as a freelance corporate illustrator. After a spell with Channel Ten he returned to Bendigo and worked freelance for local companies including Bendigo Bank. An ex-teacher asked him to stand in at TAFE and a new calling was found. A full-time position at La Trobe followed in 1997 and he has been there ever since.

Morris has kept his hand in the industry, continuing freelance design work in tandem with lecturing, and has recently branched into children’s book illustration. “I’m tyring to make that crossover now because I have young children and I’ve been inspired by their love of books and the every day things that they do,” he says.

With one book, Maggie, already done, he’s planning his next projects, which include more children’s books, as well as an innovative project in tactile book design methods for visually impaired children, as part of a research masters.

“I’ve had to do a lot of digging and a lot of research to bring myself up to speed on the issues of how visually impaired children learn to read,” he says. “I’m really keen to develop a kit of reading materials which empower the child to take care of the reading process, rather than it be an institutionalised delivery.”

It’s in this very real way that Morris argues design can have a positive impact on the world. “The emotional value of a good design as well as the technical information encapsulated in that design come together,” he says, “so design can enhance the ability for someone to understand information.”

He says that design plays an important role in rural communities. “Our students work with community groups on their marketing and corporate identity, which is huge in big business,” he says. “When you look at those slick identities against those of community groups and non-profit organisations, they really suffer from an image problem.”

As an ideal solution, Morris encourages his students to get involved with the corporate design for these groups, giving them real experience in the marketplace while benefiting the local community.

As well as social awareness, Morris instils an appreciation for traditional approaches to design in his students. “When computers came on the scene we had a lot of mediocre designers going crazy with Photoshop and layering images that didn’t particularly have any meaning,” he says. “That got ugly there for a few years.”

But he sees things coming full-circle now. “Students are embracing analogue processes and looking at stencil art,” he says. “They’re seeing in a lot of cases that computers are the end use – a way of piecing their ideas together.”

He identifies a tendency for the design industry not to be taken as seriously as science, technology or engineering, and it’s something he’s experienced first hand when a woman came to La Trobe asking for the Graphic Design department’s help in staging a conference. Morris was shocked to find that she only wanted him to produce posters for the design event.

“Even though we are academics and lecturers, she assumed we wouldn’t present at the conference,” he laughs. “For that reason I immediately put together a paper and presented it at the conference about the problem of designers not being taken seriously. There were concurrent sessions and I was extremely disappointed she wasn’t in that one.”

During the course, Morris attempts to instill in his pupils a holistic understanding of the nature of a designer’s work, pointing out that when you work for a company, you have to be ready to take on board whatever the client throws at you.

“You may have to write copy for them,” he says. “ Some ideas that spring form a simple one-liner as a heading or sub-heading can be incredibly inspiring. You may not take hold of a camera, but you’ve got to be able to work with photographers and direct them. I reinforce the idea of being multi-skilled and as broad in your approach to design as possible.”

Morris runs a portfolio workshop mid-way each year, and feels passionate about good presentation. “They should be researching that institution or studio and understanding the profile of the work there,” he says. “A potential employer looks for a combination of technical prowess and thinking power.”

And he says that in order to achieve this, students have to be given the space to make their own mistakes. “I have to allow them to come a cropper every now and then,” he says. “They need to be able to fall flat on their face and then get up, dust themselves off and start again. They have to feel ownership of the project and that they’ve pushed it as far as they could.”

It’s not always easy to locate work experience for students in Bendigo, and not everyone can afford the hike to Melbourne. One way in which Morris counters this, offering first hand experience of the marketplace, is through video diaries from ex-students, some as far flung as London and the United Arab Emirates.

“I’m catching up with them when they are about a year out and getting them to do a tour of their studio, then sit down and answer a set of questions, as feedback for the students,” he says, “prompting them to think about what’s different in the industry than when they are a student.”

Another new experience for Morris’ department is a recent collaboration with the visual arts student, in order to put on an exhibition of wood-carved prints and t-shirts, called Creating a Stir. He asked each student to produce something with a strong political message. The exhibition dealt with issues as diverse as child pornography, fair trade and youth suicide. “I got them to wear their heart on their sleeves,” he says. “It’s been a real eye-opener.”

Morris gains personal satisfaction from watching his students mature, opening up to new ideas. “Meeting young people that are very green and have been conditioned to think in very stereotypical ways, and seeing them turn into sophisticated people that question what they’re seeing around them and communicating in a creative way inspires me.”

He believes it‘s vital for any lecturer in graphic design to keep his hand in freelance projects, both to benefit their students and to keep their own fires burning. “My greatest challenge is to continually, critically, look at how I design and to be a vital and valuable part of the industry,” he says, ”otherwise you feel that you wouldn’t be doing the students justice.”