For a society that is all about making things work better and look cooler, we sure don’t have a huge understanding of what the heck design is. Saying “I’m a designer” can mean about a bazillion things, and I can safely say I am none of them. Graphics? Beyond me. Interiors? I stay inside a lot, I guess.
But I fully acknowledge that there are some crazy talented people out there who can design the shit out of things. It results in some innovative answers to problems you probably don’t even realise were a thing — so it’s actually pretty damn important.
what is this ‘design’ you speak of?
If you’re now feeling guilty because you don’t actually know what goes into design, or that you don’t give the designers in your life enough recognition for all the problems they’ve solved without you even knowing (how dare you, honestly), rest assured that there’s a big fancy association that does.
The Global Association for Creative Advertising and Design in London holds annual, globally-recognised awards for the best, most innovative design, across categories like advertising, craft, culture, impact and more.
So we had a cheeky chit-chat with some Aussie winners from Billy Blue College of Design, Luke Taylor and Michelle Mondel. Despite not having actually graduated at the time, they took the brief, absolutely ran with it and turned it into something really exciting.
the excitement is very real
“We were part of the New Blood section of it, so that was to do with graduates and uni students,” said Michelle. “That was a part of our subjects at Billy Blue, which was awesome.”
“The brief was to take Virgin Atlantic and create a sub-brand of theirs that encapsulates the flights and hotels combo in the click of a button. We took the issue of females travelling solo, and got a whole heaps of references from different campaigns that empowered women. A lot of research went into that.”
The issue of female solo travel is one that I can definitely sympathise with, because despite a travel bucket list as long as I am tall (which is admittedly short, but let’s pretend it’s just really small font), I know there are a lot of places I wouldn’t feel safe going to on my own. So the problem they were dealing with was one that had real-world impact on a pretty extensive scale.
“We created a brand called Virgin Conquer — we wanted women to see other women actually conquering their travel dreams and doing all these things,” said Michelle. “Whether that’s conquering a burger or conquering a mountain, you’re still conquering something.”
just a spot of world domination
They worked closely with their lecturer from Billy Blue College of Design, Tim Jetis, to refine the concept to its winning standard and solve the problem at hand — a project that Jetis was all too happy to assist with.
“Design really is a problem-solving process, you know,” he said. “We can talk about the creative, artistic, beautiful side, but you’re hired as a designer to solve a problem.”
And he’s worked with both Taylor and Mondel to do so, while also ensuring that there’s a balance — that they’re reminded of how to bring back the creative juices if they feel like it’s starting to drift off course.
“You have to feed your creative. I think the danger with computing is that it’s been making everything so ‘samey’, within four or five years most designers contact me again saying, ‘I’m losing my creativity’. Read books, see films, look at things outside design to get your inspiration.”
you got a problem, yo they’ll solve it
Sure, it’s hard not to get a certain degree of imposter syndrome when you see all the cool things that other people are creating. You get it in every field — writers have writing heroes, athletes have sporting heroes, and you’re damn right, designers have design heroes. But everyone has a place.
And don’t just take my word for it (even though my word is incredibly trustworthy and reliable, I swear). Michelle is confident that there’s room at the table, and that the awards really do prove that.
“It’s really easy in this industry to see what other people are making and to go, ‘oh my gosh, they’re creating that, why can’t I do that?’ but I think we all have a place. We all have our own style and I think it’s just really important to own yourself. Own what you create, and just go with it.”
you’ll find your niche
The bottom line is, you may think that these two students are probably far cooler than you’ll ever be, and you might be right, but you’re cool too (probably).
But they’re definitely design whizzes, so if you want more insight, then hear from the students themselves (plus Tim, all-round legend) and check out what the go is on all things awards and design in the video below.
Or if you’d rather chat to Tim himself, Billy Blue College of Design are holding an open day on Saturday the 18th of January (plus a virtual open day on the 29th if you’re remote).
