2026 Hot New Things: Ruby Crossan, Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington
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 Ruby Crossan who recently graduated from the Bachelor of Design Innovation at Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington. Find out more about tertiary study options across Aotearoa New Zealand on our Design Schools page.
Tell us a bit about yourself
Kia ora, ko Ruby Crossan tōku ingoa. Ko Ngāi Tahu te iwi. I moved around a bit growing up, but have spent most of my life in Pōneke and Ōtepoti. I was actually kicked out of art class, failed design in high school and told I wasn’t going to gain university entrance. So it’s very surreal to me that I am about to graduate from Te Herenga Waka with a degree in design innovation!
I love illustration, hand type, zines, 2d animation and designing queerly. The connection between my personal experiences and work is deeply intertwined. The vulnerability is challenging at times, but that’s kinda the point, right? I’m drawn to art that boldly declares itself. Through design, I have found a way to express and explore ideas that say the quiet bit loud.
What was the focus of your graduating project?
I kiss your hands, I kiss your hair is a collection of queer love letters & illustrations made in collaboration with Ginger’s pop-ups. The core of the work features queer love letters, which were contributed by attendees of a Ōtepoti Ginger’s Pop-Ups event in 2025. My primary motivation was to archive contemporary queer experiences and create tangible, undeniably lesbian ephemera. The illustrations were inspired by the themes, emotions, and imagery found within the collected letters, as well as lesbian motifs and the historical origins of the word lesbian.
In a nutshell, my project is lesbian art, about lesbian experiences, for lesbians. We don’t often see the word lesbian. In 1980, the Wellington City Council refused to allow the Lesbian Centre to advertise itself on local buses. I believe Mayor Michael Fowler said it would ‘encourage deviations from the norm’, whatever that means. There used to be heaps of lesbian clubs and dedicated meeting places, but the majority of them have closed now. I wanted to publish work that was unapologetically, loudly lesbian. It’s really just my own love letter to the community.
What did you choose to study Bachelor of Design Innovation at Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington?
I have always loved Pōneke, it’s where I spent most of my childhood. We left in 2012, but I think it’s just always been home. I remember coming up to visit some primary school friends in 2014, when the plane landed, it was like this physical feeling of I’m home now. I toured Te Herenga Waka in 2018, and everyone was just so… themselves? Everyone just seemed so at ease and free. I originally enrolled with media design as my major, as I really loved photography. I quickly switched to communication design after being encouraged by one of my lecturers to explore illustration further.
What did you enjoy most about the programme?
Being forced to experiment with different mediums, because of Vic I have pretty much had a go at everything. If it wasn’t for Dylan Horrocks’ visual narratives class, I never would have been introduced to the rich history of zines. Oh or Sarah Maxey’s typography classes! She really opened my eyes to the beautiful world of grids. Don’t get me started on Leon Gurevitch’s photogenics course; every week, we would explore a different photography method, and it was so informative yet exciting. Design innovation really pushed me to try everything and broadened my skill set. I’m so grateful that I was able to give everything a good go.
I think the most unexpected discovery I made during my studies was that practice and dedication trump raw talent any day. Passion counts; failure is the best way to learn and it doesnt matter if some projects take a little longer than others. Showing up, trying again and being open to new ideas is what makes a good designer great.
What was your biggest challenge while studying?
I think realising that I couldn’t take more than two classes a trimester. My little ADHD brain just couldn’t handle the pressure of being a full-time student. I have had a part-time job since I was 14, I took a break from the workforce during my first year, and it made me miserable. For me to create art that I was proud of, I had to make more time for life experiences that would then influence my work.
Also, I got hit by a bus during my third year.
I got a knarly concussion that really slowed me down. It’s kinda tricky to study while you have the mental bandwidth of a soggy bit of toast. I used to get really embarrassed when I had to explain to people that I was in my fifth year of a three-year degree, but now it’s something I’m okay with, even a little proud of. Life came at me and I carried on anyway. Carried on very slowly, mind you, but I figured out how to make it work and staunched on.
Who (or what) inspired you to pick design as a career path?
There is an endless list of people and projects that have inspired me to pick design, so I’ll try and keep it brief. My high school photography teacher, Glenn Smith, was the first person to make me feel like I was good at something. In my final year of high school, I was asked to leave and told I was never going to graduate, but Mr Smith wouldn’t have it. When the other teachers wouldn’t let me in their classrooms, I’d go to the photography room and do my schoolwork in there. That room became my safe space at school. Projects like Celeste Mountjoy’s ‘What the Fuck is this’, Alison Bechdel’s ‘Dykes to watch out for’ and ‘Funhome’, ‘The wound that never heals’ by Leela Corman and Jessica Hinerangi Thompson Carr’s ‘Āria’ have all shown me time and time again that wearing your heart on your sleeve can be a career. My lecturer, Dylan Horrocks, really encouraged me to try out writing short comics, and I have now performed them at a few live events. There isn’t one singular person or thing that inspired me to choose design; for better or for worse, it picked me.
Who is your favourite designer?
Forever and always, Celeste Mountjoy aka Filthyratbag. I have been following her for over a decade. Her ability to produce these gut-wrenchingly authentic narratives while being incredibly funny is so inspiring. For a uni assignment, we had to re-create a piece from our favourite creative, I, of course, chose a page from Mountjoy’s What the Fuck is this. I posted it to Instagram and she commented on it. Pretty sure I ran into the bathroom, threw up and started bawling because I was so excited.
What is next for you?
I have a zine series called Piggy Tits, and I am currently working on the third instalment. I’d also love to work alongside other queer designers working in Aotearoa, and I have been playing with the idea of a collaborative zine that shows off all the cool shit we are up to.
More importantly, I’ll be taking a little time away from the Adobe suite. Probably attending some Ginger’s events, I hope to see you there.
Where can we see more of your work?
Instagram – @xn.visual
Ruby Crossan,
ruby.s.f.crossan@gmail.com,
0274499010
