Why not redesign yourself?

I've always wished I were brave enough to invent my own persona, ditching the personality traits I was born with in favour of traits that are more fun or advantageous. Instead of being incessantly polite and cautious, I'd become spontaneous, loud and extroverted. Instead of worrying about doing the right thing, I'd be deliciously ruthless and irresponsible. I wouldn't like to ditch my 'real' self permanently, but why not use an alter-ego when traveling overseas or interstate, or meeting strangers? It would be very convenient.

...... This year, I interviewed two people who have designed their own personas.


First, Captain Australia... a 'real life super hero' whose green-and-gold costume is ingeniously constructed out of an old tracksuit, yellow gum boots and a discarded pair of gardening gloves. He admits his costume is far from perfect, and attracts the ridicule of passers-by. He is aware that his DIY-outfit detracts from the seriousness of his mission to make the streets of Australia safer and kinder. Clearly, he is eccentric. But I admire his bravery for stepping out of himself and into his green-and-gold tracksuit as 'Captain Australia' every weekend.

I also interviewed Pia Andersen, founder of Vintage Allsorts. Blonde, voluptuous and impeccably groomed, Pia has made a career out of her Marylin-esque looks. She lives and breathes the vintage era with a wardrobe full of 1950s Chanel and a house full of retro furniture. Pia is so enamored by all things vintage, she is rarely seen any other way. Since meeting Pia, I've noticed that whenever an ad agency needs a retro pin-up girl, she books the job. And given that TV shows like 'Man Men' have put the 1950s back in fashion, she's doing very nicely.


Both interviews appeared in Sunday Magazine.

What Men What

I don't profess to be an expert, but this article for CREATIVE magazine debunks some myths about marketing to men. It includes a word of warning from Southpaw's John Mckelvey when using sub-cultures like graffiti and skating to target young male consumers : "When some brands attempt to get all 'youth', it feels a bit like your dad rapping," says Mckelvey, who is co-founder of Sydney creative consultancy Southpaw.

I also enjoyed Nicholas Reynolds' - director at Curious - take on gender: "I hate the depiction of the modern male. He seems confused. Introspective. Guilty. Even of our human bodies. Let's get hair back. It's fucking crazy if you think about it. It's an outright rejection of our form of 'humanness'."

'What Men Want' appears in the Aug/Sept issue of CREATIVE, out today.

ADFEST, Tokyo (20-23rd July)

I just returned from a week in Tokyo as Editor of ADFESTbuzz and Lotus News atADFEST (Asia Pacific Advertising Festival).

ADFEST is an award show that’s passionate about nurturing creativity in the Asia Pacific. One of my favorite interviewees was Kazuyoshi Hayakawa, director at Camp KAZ Productions.

Not only is Kazuyoshi hugely talented (his commercials are famous in Japan and Thailand), but he’s the smiliest person I’ve ever met, and he has one of those wonderfully expressive faces that you never tire of looking at.

We had to speak via his translator, which is never the same as interviewing someone directly, but our conversations gave me a small taste of his philosophy and talent.

Steve Henry, HHCL

Last week I met Steve Henry, who was in Tokyo as Grand Jury President of this year's ADFEST Lotus Awards. I asked him about his vision for HHCL, which was one of the world's most awarded agencies in the '90s, famous for producing offbeat campaigns for brands like Pot Noodle.

Steve says HHCL had an almost perverse desire to break all the rules, "but hopefully with enough intelligence to make sure we were breaking the right rules." It worked for more than 15 years, until the agency sold to WPP and ultimately closed.

Steve was impeccably British and charming all week (although surely someone who has such a perversion for rule-breaking must have a darker side lurking beneath the surface!)

My interview is published here.

A conversation with Alex Ritchie, industrial designer at e-2, Sydney

I first stumbled across e2 when I heard they designed a Pop Up pub for ad agency Droga5 as part of a summer promotion for Australia's most popular tipple, VB. They also designed the $10 million 'Centre of Service Excellence' for Qantas - an interesting experiment in simulating workspaces to train and inspire staff.

e2's Creative Director is Alex Ritchie, an architect-turned-industrial designer who also happens to be one of the designers behind the Millennium Dome in London. He's exactly as a creative should be - disheveled, passionate, silly, innately talented.

He co-founded e2 in Sydney a couple of years ago with another Scotsman, Robbie Robertson, which is one of first consultancies in Australia to specialize in the burgeoning field of experiential design. They told me their biggest challenge is explaining what 'experiential design' means to potential clients. It's one of those waffly, new-age marketing terms that is misunderstood and ambiguous, yet I think they're onto something as e2 was singled out in BRW's 2010 list of Fast Starter companies.

Alex is an architect/Creative Director and Robbie is the one who's good with business plans and spreadsheets. I interviewed them about e2's business evolution, and the story appears here on CreativeInnovation. It's long but (I hope) worth reading if you're a small business owner in the branding/experiential space.

Monocle (almost) agree to feature Kevin Finn, Finn Creative

I was hugely disappointed when Monocle decided not to publish this piece on graphic designer Kevin Finn.

Kevin quit his role as Creative Director at Saatchi Design in Sydney a few years ago to set up his own studio in Kununurra, Western Australia, which is not the most obvious place to set up a design studio. For two years, this red-headed Irish Australian lived in such sweltering, isolated and unusual conditions, working with an eclectic mix of clients, that Monocle singled him out as one of 5 designers to watch globally (but later decided not to run the piece after all). Here's how the story began:

“In the East Kimberley, Western Australia, Irish-born designer Kevin Finn established his design studio in perhaps one of the world’s most isolated towns, Kununurra, where the temperature can reach 40 degrees in the wet season.

With extremely limited access to photographers and materials, Finn Creative is in the unique position of bringing high-caliber design to indigenous organisations, rejecting clichéd imagery of boomerangs and dot paintings for more thoughtful, relevant symbolism…”

Although Monocle decided not to run this profile after all, I did write a long piece on Kevin for CREATIVE instead.

Finn relocated his studio, Finn Creative, to Brisbane this year. He also publishes an excellent design journal that explores design's relevance to everything from politics to popular culture, Open Manifesto.

Gemma O'Brien: being Mrs Eaves

I recently interviewed Gemma O’Brief for incubate magazine. I was not nearly as impressed by her body typography – which has made her almost-famous in the design blogosphere – as I was by her illustrations, which are cursive, ornate, and inspired by words, just like her blog (fortheloveoftype, which she writes under the pseudonym 'Mrs Eaves').

Ordinarily, I am suspicious of people who have the potential to become more successful than me by the age of 30. But Gemma is too lovely to begrudge. Bubbly and gorgeous, I love the way she experiments with typography in such a tactile, naïve way. I also love that she's established a global client base for her illustrations thanks to her knack for social networking.

She was recently commissioned to illustrate a story for The New York Times. She designed Bob Hawke’s 80th birthday invitations. She’ll appear at TypoBerlin for the second time as a guest speaker in 2011. And goddammit, she’s only 22.

Urban Circus: designing cities

"In 2004, urbanist Dr Ben Guy noticed that many urban infrastructure projects are constructed with little foresight into the human experience of how they will ultimately be used.

He wondered if the same technology behind computer games and animated Hollywood films could be employed to design better cities, and established Urban Circus – a company that creates simulation technology specifically for the infrastructure sector.

Urban Circus’ flagship product is ‘UC Engine’ – a platform that enables architects, engineers and decision-makers to virtually walk, fly or drive around designs before they are built. By creating intuitive simulations of bridges, roads, highways and neighbourhoods, clients can improve the quality of their designs and avoid costly construction mistakes..."

To read the full interview with Dr Ben Guy, click here

Design your pet

This black-and-white checked dog was spotted in Bondi ...

Maurice Terzini, Voi Tutti magazine

Restaurateur Maurice Terzini understands the importance of design, from the crisp, airy architecture at Bondi Icebergs, to the Ksubi-designed aprons worn by his staff at North Bondi Italian, and his own distinctive fashion choices.

His attention to detail is impeccable, bordering on obsessive (notice how the waiters at Icebergs Dining Room align the labels on wine bottles to the edges of the table). He can woo Australia's top echelon of business executives without losing touch with Bondi's cool set. He appreciates fashion and has a fondness for wearing tights with oversized shirts. I'm sure Terzini's appreciation of design is key to his success as a restaurateur.

My interview with Maurice appears runs as the cover story in Voi Tutti.