BUT HOPEFULLY A LITTLE BIT WONDERFUL TOO

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I’m Frances. Graphic Designer, Northern Beaches Sydney, ex Senior Account Director, ex children’s art teacher and firm believer that a good idea should do most of the heavy lifting.

 

My path to design was not exactly conventional. Before retraining in graphic design, I spent 15 years in advertising, working as a Senior Account Director on some of Australia’s most recognised brands. That world taught me that behind every brief is a business problem that needs solving, and that design however beautiful, has to earn its keep by actually communicating the right thing.

 

When I made the leap into design, I brought all of that with me. The strategic thinking, the respect for a brief, the slightly unhealthy obsession with the idea at the heart of everything. I also brought the getting messy, the hand-drawing, the experimenting with print finishes and textures. Running Art Beasties, my children’s art business, turned out to be the catalyst for all of it,  building that brand from scratch was the moment I realised design was where I actually wanted to be. 

 

So that’s where I sit: somewhere between the boardroom and the art table. I’m drawn to work where a brilliant idea and a beautifully hand-crafted execution find each other. Visual identity, packaging, print, digital — it doesn’t matter much what the canvas is. If there’s a good idea to be found at the heart of it, I’m in.

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Weird? Yes I think so. Wonderful? I'm working on it.