June marks Johnny’s fourth year at Freckle! This month, we’ve sat down/rode alongside out talented senior designer, for a well deserved chin-wag about all things design and life.
What do you tell people you do at awkward speed networking events?
I’m a visual communicator that specialises in branding, print and digital design who also knows my way around a camera. Outside of this, you’d probably find me on a bike, in a cafe or cooking in the kitchen.
Congratulations on your recent promotion to senior designer! What does this title change mean to you?
To be honest, day-to-day nothing has changed too drastically. But that being said, being a senior designer means that I can have the opportunity to be involved in projects at a higher level, from brief to finished art.
What are your greatest strengths and ‘quirknesses’?
I’m a naturally curious person who’s always looking for new and exciting things. I enjoy the experimenting in my design process, finding new approaches to create something unique. My quirkiness would have to be my absolute hate of velcro, it’s the nails on the blackboard for me.
What’s the biggest creative challenge you have overcome recently?
I’ve recently started redesigning my local bike shop’s website. The initial brief was, well…brief… somewhere along the lines of “keep it simple” and “make it work”. But, by asking the right questions (something I learnt more about in our recent Freckle Development Day), I was able to put together a more comprehensive brief that really helped define exactly what the shop needed.
Everyone has a good app idea, what's yours?
Sometimes I find myself in a “Ready, Steady Cook” situation at home, where I have a bunch of random ingredients and no idea what to make with them. My idea would be to enter those ingredients into the app, which would then come up with some recipes base off those ingredients. It’ll be a great way to save food and money.
What could Freckle clients ask you about, that you could expertly talk about for three hours?
I could probably talk my head off for hours on the different types of paper stocks, print finishes and print production processes. I’m a big fan of tactility in design and how it can be used to create a deeper connection to a visual concept.
What’s your favourite thing about print?
I’m a tactile person, so I like how print can engage your senses, especially touch and smell (nothing like the smell of freshly printed ink).
From a designer’s perspective, I like the challenge of trying to tell a story with information in a limited space or format, taking into consideration things like folds and spaces.
What food couldn’t you live without?
My mum’s chicken pho! Also croissants.
What will your ‘Freckfest’ talk be titled?
I’d call my Freckfast Talk “Connecting in a connected world”. In a world connected by social media, I’ve noticed that we’ve become distant in our face to face social interactions and have increasingly become socially isolated. So I want to explore ways we can get that face-to-face social interaction back.