So… a bit cringy to be name dropping awards, but was very fortunate to be awarded by the Type Directors Club of New York, as well as some australian awards… I do try to enter a couple of awards a year as they are quite good to get your work out there. As for Italy vs Holland I loved them both – they are both very dynamic cultures with a big focus on design, and an appreciation for the good stuff… wine and food -so they are both up there for me!

Re design courses in Sydney – i really don’t know i’m afraid… I’m from Melbourne and studied at Monash University which was a really great course, as is Swinburne and RMIT’s visual communication courses. I know when i studied most people in my year were in their late 20′s or early 30′s which i guess is an older average than most uni courses… though i really don’t think age matters. If you are passionate about it and want to get into the industry i would go for it… at the end of the day it’s all about your folio, and i would think that a bit more maturity would be appealing if anything to potential employers. Thank you for the kind words about my work My website is http://www.thefoundry.com.au

Best, Jess

Your passion for graphic design sounds fantastic; also your work that you have displayed on this website is inspiring. I’m currently studying at the international school of colour and design, I’m in my 40′s with a pass history of writing software but would love to do graphic design or assist with web designing. Could you suggest a place to study graphic design in Sydney? Is 40′s leaving it too late for this industry, is it a younger persons industry? Do you have a website to look at more of your work?

Cheers sorry for all the questions
Michelle.

What award did you win?

Man! learning Dutch seems really hard! Did you prefer Italy or Holland the best?

Matt

My dawgy is called Jet – he is a french bulldog and the funniest little cartoon character around

That’s a hard one… I guess I had started thinking about what I wanted to do with design while I was away, and was keen to give it a go when I got back. The first year was super hard – lots of knocking on doors introducing myself to people I wanted to do work for. I am generally much happier in the studio working away on something rather than ‘networking’ and all of that! But it is a very necessary part of having your own business.

Thankfully at Fabrica, English is the first language of the studio! There are people from all around the world there though – so it is a pre-req that you can speak english – it was a very inspiring and amazing place to be. In Holland I think around 95% of the population speak english fluently – though at work dutch was most often spoken which did make it quite challenging to keep up at times. I did try and learn dutch while I was there so could understand quite a bit… though holding a conversation was beyond me! Both studios I sent a little pack with a flip book and resume as my application, and was luckily accepted after an in-person interview at Fabrica (super-nerve-racking!) and phone interview with Studio Dumbar. Most european studios do offer internships for varying periods of time, with varying pay rates / accommodation offered…

How did you land your internships in Europe? Do you need to know Italian/Dutch or did English work?

Tegan