Student Insights

In the end, I took a year off and went traveling. It is said that travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness – a fair sentiment – but for me it was also fatal to uncertainty. Having spent a year on the road, and living in Barcelona at the time, I decided that design was it! I threw together a portfolio and a couple of months later I was walking through the doors of Billy Blue as a student for what would be two of my best years.

In a way I'm glad I came into design a little later. Every good designer I've worked with has had a genuine thirst for knowledge and new experiences. Everything is of interest. They suck up the world around them – travel, people, books, movies, galleries, food, parties, you name it – and it feeds their creativity. There is an inherent curiosity there. These experiences allow you to think differently and find your own style.

In design, you'll be asked to work for a broad spectrum of clients, operating across different industries, targeting different markets. Good designers don't just apply a one-size-fits-all approach; they call upon their influences and adapt, creating designs that are appropriate to the project at hand. But more than that, they delight. It's what makes it such an exciting industry.

I now work as Senior Designer for February, a London-based design studio. No matter what the client – be it a high street bank, a football club or a cutting-edge magazine – our job is to think differently and delight. One project which became my baby early on was Next Level Magazine, an international publication which billed itself as a leader in showcasing innovative contemporary photographic art.

Push yourself beyond the immediately obvious or superficial to find a solution that delights.

Charged with its redesign, our solution was to make the image king. We separated out all the text elements (headers, body copy, captions, page numbers, bios) onto interleafed sheets of bible paper, removing these details from the run of pages thereby allowing the imagery to be showcased in its purest form. It felt right for a photographic magazine, and our client loved the result.

I've always found design to be most rewarding when you push yourself beyond the immediately obvious or superficial to find a solution that delights; where you become excited and overwhelmed by the possibility of a single idea. It rarely comes easily, but when it does, it always reminds me why design was the right choice.

I have always been interested in art, so after I finished school I began a Fine Arts course at university. One semester in, I realised I wasn't ready for full-time study. I decided to go and see the world and ended up travelling for seven years. My travels really enabled me to think about the direction I wanted to head in.

I was interested in learning more about illustration, but I didn't want to spend three years studying only to realise there wasn't much work in my vocation. The Billy Blue Communication Design course opened my eyes to the breadth and variety of design.

One project that I really enjoyed working on was part of the Southern Cross Packaging Design Awards. The design challenge was to create a package for an over-the-counter pharmaceutical product. The package had to protect the product and be innovative in its design. I redesigned the humble headache tablet package by creating a detachable multi-pack that targeted busy women aged between 18 and 35. The package contained six tablets – three packs of two to tear and take in your bag without worrying about the blister pack becoming pierced or damaged.

I called the headache tablets Swallow and used bold graphics so the product would stand out and attract the target market. This brief really enabled me (quite literally) to think outside the box.

I am still finding my feet after graduating. There are many areas I would like to explore in the future, including advertising, illustration, packaging and publishing.

I have been using this as my trading brand mark. The brand mark was inspired by Bodoni, which is such beautiful and classic font. I really enjoy exploring typography.

I find events such as the Biennale and Sydney Design energising, especially Sydney Design, which showcases installations and experiences throughout the city. I know it sounds corny but I am also constantly inspired by nature. I live by the beach and every day I am blown away by the beauty that Sydney has to offer. I have been playing around with photography for the last few months; I love trying to find the perfect light or angle and capturing it!