2025 Hot New Things: George Ballard, Whitecliffe College
Design Assembly profiles a selection of the top graduates from the best Art and Design Schools in Aotearoa New Zealand. We welcome these talented emerging professionals to our industry, learn about their passions, final projects, developing creative confidence and ambitions for the future.
Today we speak with George Ballard who recently graduated with Bachelor of Design and Digital Media from Whitecliffe College. Find out more about undergraduate and postgraduate study options in art and design by visiting our Design Schools page.
Tell us a bit about yourself:
Hey! I’m George, a young designer wrapping up my Bachelor’s in Design and Digital Media at Whitecliffe College.
I have experience over the spectrum of design and technology, but my real passion is in designing physical experiences that optimise ordinary things to fit more efficiently and more beautifully into the future. So I guess you could call me an optimist before anything else. I see design as a tool to improve every aspect of people’s lives, and an opportunity to be at the forefront of new technology and philosophy.
I think that being interested is a skill in its own right, and I’m often inspired by my love of all things science fiction, cooking, travelling, indie pixel games, and walks through the city. I live in Mount Eden with my wife and plants.
What was the focus of your graduating project?
I’m tertiary student dealing with the cost of living crisis, same as we all are. The price of healthy food is going up and up, faster than government support and my limited availability for work can keep up with.
Cooking fresh meals is something that I enjoy doing and something that I know helps to save money and encourage a healthy lifestyle. However, for those who haven’t been taught to cook, or who have found cooking inaccessible to their skills and budget in the past, cooking can feel beyond their reach.
My capstone project, Sage, is a recipe-based project designed to enable everyone to pursue the joy of cooking with the resources personally available to them. Through the brand, I developed a gamified recipe sorter that physically searches a database of 50 recipe cards (via key-cut indentations on the bottom and some good old fashioned gravity), with constraints set by the user. The recipe cards have reference numbers that correspond to recipes in my cookbook ‘No More Noodles’; a collection of 50 unique recipes that will fit any student’s schedule, budget and experience, and are a guaranteed upgrade on instant ramen.
Why did you choose to study design at Whitecliffe College?
For the smaller, more intimate class sizes, and the opportunity to be at the front of a new degree in Aotearoa New Zealand; the Bachelor of Design and Digital Media (BDDM). I came to Auckland to study, fresh out of high school and my rural upbringing down in the Waikato, where I hadn’t yet got the opportunity to really explore all the different aspects of graphic design. I didn’t know how (or whether) I wanted to specialise in my degree, and the BDDM degree promised to teach industry-focused skills across a range of digital and physical media, from traditional typography, to 3D design and animation, and the fundamentals of web design.
What did you enjoy most about the design programme?
It’s been great this year (2024) to really follow my passions, and what is important to me, through my studio classes. The Sage project has been a rare opportunity of self-indulgence, probably my last before I get to join the wider industry and be a part of the projects that excite other people! I’ve been able to explore the more traditional elements of brand storytelling, strategy and design, but also foray into 3D design, linocut printmaking, digging up family recipes, art direction, and film photography. It’s been great to learn about the quirks of each discipline, and to be working on a project that I know (from my own experience) has the potential to help others enhance their physical, financial and mental wellbeing through cooking good food.
What was your biggest challenge while studying?
At the end of the first semester in 2024, I hit a wall. I realised the approach I had taken, visually, in designing Sage did not amount to the empowering and exciting experience I had envisioned for the brand.
While my strategy was solid, my execution felt stiff and austere. My intention in the first brand identity was good, but from constant tweaking and my desire to get the brand pixel-perfect and ruler straight, I cut the heart and the texture from the brand.
The irony was, this polished and sterilised brand that I had created was the farthest thing from my experience of cooking as a student!
I explored a lot of new visual territories and approaches, but the final inspiration for the brand came from a visit to the Auckland art gallery, where I saw some of Henri Matisse’s work with scissors and paper. So, I took a piece of black card, and I cut the letters of my brand’s name from it a hundred times, without any planning, and selected the letters that had just the right amount of ‘wonk’ to really capture that scholastic nostalgia that was at the heart of my brand.
What inspired you to pick design as a career path?
As a kid, I always hovered around the design industry in my answers to the classic ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ question. First, I was planning to play with Lego as a job, then design sets, then maybe I would be an architect, or a product designer. Somehow, I managed to fall into academics by the end of my time in high school, but it was the time that I spent working on my ideas in my painting and my DVC classes that really felt fulfilling. I decided that design was worth it to me by the end of high school, and I haven’t looked back since!
Who is your favourite designer/artist/creative?
I think my favourite designer at the moment is Paul Rand, for the way that he was able to take such basic forms and imbue them with emotion, energy, and stories. It’s crazy, because it’s the stuff of fantasy books in a way; a basic arrangement of light and dark that elicits thoughts and feelings from the viewer. If logos can be viewed as sigils, then Paul Rand is a Modernist wizard.
What piece in your portfolio are you most proud of?
The Sage project, because I have been able to take all the skills that I’ve learnt throughout my degree to create something that I believe is really of value to the world. The project spanned so many disciplines, and I was able to devote myself to the research, design, copywriting, art and illustration, post production, and thinking about where I could be taking this project next! I think there is so much potential left to be explored by taking Sage into the digital space, and handing the reigns over to other people like me, who want to share the recipes that they enjoy and that have been passed through their families, too.
What’s next for you?
Next, I’m looking forward to getting into the design industry in a junior role or internship, and working with a design studio to grow my skills and experience. I’d love to work in packaging design or brand identity design especially, but I’m open to any kind of work that will help me to hone my craft and learn from the best. Eventually, I’d like to explore career opportunities as a Creative Director, or found my own studio, but that’s a long way down the track!
Where can we see more of your work?
If you’re keen to catch up some time, send me a message on LinkedIn or email me at georgeballard456@gmail.com.
Otherwise, you can view the rest of my work on my portfolio website.
