Starting out with training in fabric design, illustration and life drawing,
along with logo designs and some sign writing projects,
I completed four years of study in Industrial Design at RMIT, which I believe
is the best Industrial Design course in Australia.
During my time there projects were broken up into 2 or 3 weeks of research, followed by 2 or 3 weeks of product development and the final third to
engineering drawings and models… on every occasion I would frustrate the
lecturers by allocating between 4 and 6 weeks to carry out research until I could fully grasp the area I was working with and its problems before starting development of concepts and models.. I always met all deadlines over the 4 years.
I managed to make designers from Ford Australia who sponsored RMIT to
design a car (who said make your concepts as radical as you can) with a given brief that the vehicle should be able to cross Australia on one tank of gas, humbled and embarrassed twice in the space of a few minutes in my
presentation
I said that I had considered a one wheel car using a gyroscope, which they
dismissed until I showed them a working steam powered car using the same
concept that was fully functional in the late 1800's.. (thats where research comes in) then gave them my final design that floated on air and was powered by rear wheels which after an initial low speed had been met would make the entire car airborne..powered by an orbital engine and with little real weight this would definitely cross Australia once on a full tank of gas but could possibly even do a round trip..they saw my designs and engineering drawings and said that it was a great idea but couldn't work… thats when I pulled out my fully functional model and showed them the design in action.
I have these other accolades from my time spent at RMIT…the first was from a
lecturer, when I designed a "wonder wall" (long before Oasis) that filters and stored waste grey water in a wall around your garden, that then waters your garden.. he imposed new abilities, followed by new abilities.. which I dutifully met at each new meeting….and then I asked him why someone else had
designed a light shade and that was OK .. his response was.. "well the design was great, I just wondered how far you could take it.. brilliant work, well done"
I began to realise during my course that Australia was not really a place to be an Industrial designer.. one of my external clients was Canterford..they
couldn't understand what a student could give them, but took me on because my services were free. As I had a keen interest in Graphic Design I gave them a powerful new logo and designed for them signage, business cards and other items… then I designed a simple multi angle mitre saw ..then a new sound damping enclosure for their concrete saws .. and then designed a new
concrete saw blade the would also reduce noise by a significant amount.. I was thanked for my work and got good grades but this company bought all its equipment overseas and would be cut off from its supplier if it produced its own goods…so what I need in this area is someone who wants something
really radical and new..give me a really difficult or impossible challenge
because that is what I thrive one.. I can give you something really unique!
During this time I also looked for work in advertising agencies .. which resulted in my slogan "is Lada is good!" being stolen and used as "is Don is good"..and finally Melbourne council asked for submissions to redesign China Town… I entered a full submission to take on this contract, received no reply or
payment, but all the tram stops in Melbourne were changed to my design.
After this I applied to the Yellow Pages as a typesetter and came in first
place after a 2 hour examination,.under a one year contract (there were 300
applicants, many of whom were already typesetters and only 9 places).
Since the end of that contract, which was extended in my case ( I also trained in Graphic Design and Proofreading... the Yellow Pages at that point had a 99.9 success rate in proofreading and took that very seriously).. I have since worked with some of Australia's largest and most respected companies...
State Manager for Fine Art and Graphics in South Australia (Visy Board)
Packaging design, illustration, film output, plate making
Studio Manager for Graphic Design and platemaking for Amcor in South
Australia
Packaging design, illustration, film output, platemaking
Studio/Production Manager for ACP in South Australia
Magazine production
Production/Artroom manager for ShowAds/PMP based inside the
Headquarters of Scholastic Australia on the Central Coast of NSW
Magazines, website design and content, Photography,book design and expo designs
I am currently employed by Scribal Australia as their senior designer and proofreader.
I have been a teacher of English as a foreign language to Asian and
Scandinavian students, have worked in many countries and have a fairly
extensive vocabulary of the English language which is also supported by my knowledge of other languages and how they relate to English.
My other works as an illustrator, painter and sculptor have been well received
some have appeared on magazine covers and I have sold over 20 original items through auctions
I have had several pieces published in the national press including an
article on type design.
