What's your background?
I was born in Scotland, educated in Northern England and landed my first design job in London. I worked in London for about six years, on predominantly corporate literature and corporate identity design in small boutique agencies. When I first arrived in Australia I was working on packaging and identity design as freelancer. I was then employed to set up the internal design arm of a marketing company called Bang. I was responsible for building the creative solutions side of the business, growing the studio and employing new design staff. I then took on a contract design position at Frost which led to a full-time position as the senior designer looking after the Northern Territory Tourism account. This was followed by a stint at Holy Cow design and advertising agency.
What do you love about teaching at Shillington?
I could never imagine doing anything other than graphic design. As a senior designer you get involved with mentoring junior designers and helping them understand what it is that they need to do to fulfill their role. These skills are transferable. The difference is there are 22 juniors to mentor in the classroom. After 14 years of designing you've got plenty of knowledge that you can pass on to people, from the technical side of designing through to your own experiences. That's what I enjoy the most. I've always enjoyed interacting with people and I've bored my wife to tears by discussing design. Shillington College is the perfect platform as students are actually interested! There is also the amazing sense of satisfaction of passing on that knowledge and seeing people develop enthusiasm and skills over a short period of time.
What do you do when you're not teaching?
Mostly I think about design! I'm actively involved in the college blog, entering design competitions and encouraging students to get involved. I stay inspired by what other designers do and how they do it. And finally, art directing my three-year-old daughter with her fairy drawings, cut & paste exercises and bathroom crayon murals.
What's exciting about the Australian design industry?
There are a lot of diverse and interesting design projects that come out of Australia that are gaining international recognition. In fact, a project I was involved in whilst at Holy Cow has just been acknowledged with a Merit Award at the Society for Environmental Graphic Design. As Australia is still a relatively young country, it's full of new ideas and new possibilities meaning, as designers, we can forge unique and interesting design experiences.
Lee Nicol" />
