Articles

Field Guide — Typographic Anatomy

There is plenty of Jargon (and way too many rules!) in typography which can be overwhelming when just starting out in design. You don’t need to be a specialist to typeset text, InDesign and Opentype features are making the selection and arrangement of type easier than ever. This page contains some foundational information for designers…

12 hours ago by

Field Guide — Working Overseas by Kelly Gilchrist

Traveling the world is a dream, however, one that is potentially daunting. Below is a guide that informs you of the entry requirements, how long you can stay and of course, the restrictions for a number of countries you might wish to visit. Australia Since 1973 Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement has allowed Australian and New Zealand…

2 weeks ago by

Field Guide — Short walks & Sushi by Lindsay Yee

After graduating from design school I spent a few months “freelancing” (*cough* unemployed *cough*) before I ended  up landing a job at a massive media company in Christchurch. It started out as night work then quickly became a 9–5. The work was fine, I learnt much from just being in an office environment. Taking and…

1 month ago by

Field Guide — What the hell is UX? By Matt Gould

Ahead of our upcoming DA Design Sampler – Conversations for Teachers one of our expert facilitators, Matt Gould (Director at Lushai, co-founder of UX Gym and co-founder of UX Homegrown design conference) demystifies UX… UX is short for user experience. It describes a holistic approach to design, where design decisions are made by understanding the…

2 months ago by

Field Guide — Finding your path By Kate McGuinness

Kate speaks to three designers at different stages of their career on advice for navigating the beginnings of a design journey. Ryan Romanes Freelance Designer / Art Director 5+ industry years Ryan Romanes is a graphic designer and art director from Rotorua, New Zealand. He is currently based in Melbourne, having previously worked in Auckland,…

3 months ago by

Field Guide — How to get a job

Brought to you by DA’s partners Portfolio Recruitment We’ve put together a few tips and thoughts for design graduates, based on our experience dealing with design agencies and with grads. Have a great CV and portfolio But be honest and don’t oversell yourself. For example, we sometimes have junior designer or graduates who call themselves…

4 months ago by

Design Project Management: Is a cost blowout redeemable?

Ahead of our upcoming Auckland DA Workshop: Running a successful project: on time, on budget, and on brief. Our workshop facilitator Sarah Ritchie shares valuable intelligence on time and cost blowouts on design projects. Sarah has spent 25 years in design and advertising account management, which included 10 years running her own, successful graphic design business. These…

4 months ago by

Field Guide — Future Directions By Kerryn Smith

As any freshly graduated design student can tell you the first challenge you will face out in the real world is finding work in your chosen profession. It can be daunting to take the plunge and start your professional career; something that will define your life for years to come. Starting off, the job hunt…

5 months ago by

5 Minutes with… Sarah Ritchie

Ahead of Design Assembly’s upcoming half-day workshop on “how to run a profitable, successful design business” on Wednesday 20th February 2019 in Christchurch, we spoke with design and advertising account management expert Sarah Ritchie to learn more about her book ‘How to Wrestle an Octopus: an agency account manager’s guide to pretty much everything’ the writing…

7 months ago by

Summer Reading — Aotearoa Design Thinking 2018

Written by Lana Lopesi Aotearoa Design Thinking has been somewhat of a two year experiment here at Design Assembly testing our ability to write and appetite to read deeper thinking about design and its ideas. Over these two years I have had the privilege of working with an amazing group of writers to massage some…

7 months ago by

How to work with clients who micro-manage

Written by Sarah Ritchie You’ve created a masterpiece of an event poster for your client. Your client asks you to make the headline bigger, move an item from the bottom to the top, change out the picture and – while you’re at it – change the colours too. All of a sudden your poster (lovingly…

9 months ago by

Saving money on print

Written by Sarah Ritchie Your client has come to you saying they have to cut back their print budget, and can you help them? Without a moment’s hesitation you should say “yes”! Why? Because there is always a way you can save money on printing. Let’s explore some of those ways. Print on demand How…

10 months ago by

Alternative Routes: An Interview with Katie Kerr

Written by Lana Lopesi Supported by Creative New Zealand Lana Lopesi is the editor of Aotearoa Design Thinking 2018, a series of commissioned critical design essays published by Design Assembly and funded by Creative New Zealand. This article is the final in a four part series of future focused articles canvasing prominent conversations within the design community.…

11 months ago by

Ideas on Diversity

Written by Lana Lopesi Supported by Creative New Zealand Lana Lopesi is the editor of Aotearoa Design Thinking 2018, a series of commissioned critical design essays published by Design Assembly and funded by Creative New Zealand. This article is the third in a four part series of future focused articles canvasing prominent conversations within the design community.…

11 months ago by

A Few Choice Voices: Different Ways of Talking About Design

Written by K. Emma Ng Supported by Creative New Zealand Emma Ng is a contributor to Aotearoa Design Thinking 2018, a series of commissioned critical design essays published by Design Assembly and funded by Creative New Zealand. This article is the last in a four part series on design and its support structures that enable us to nurture,…

12 months ago by

The emergence of Modernism: an etymology of beauty, harmony, excellent and good.

Written by Kelly Gilchrist. Starting with the term beauty, this four part series, explores the use and interpretation of the terms beauty, harmony, excellent and good. With a focus on the texts and journals collected by Robert Coupland Harding, Kelly will explore Harding’s understandings and intentions behind his late nineteenth century use of the four…

1 year ago by

Showing, Sharing, and Beyond: Design Exhibitions in Aotearoa

Written by K. Emma Ng Supported by Creative New Zealand Emma Ng is a contributor to Aotearoa Design Thinking 2018, a series of commissioned critical design essays published by Design Assembly and funded by Creative New Zealand. This article is the second in a four part series on design and its support structures that enable us to nurture,…

1 year ago by

Hot air: A Monthly Rotating Roundtable — What is Aotearoa New Zealand design? 

Hot Air: A Monthly Rotating Roundtable, is a new monthly series where a number of designers take on big design conversations. To kick it off we start at the only place rightful place to start, interrogating our national design culture addressing the question. This month we asked Tyrone Ohia, Emma Rogan, Johnson Witehira and Luke Wood,…

1 year ago by

Censoring Colors: Did the New Zealand government stop a famous image of Queen Elizabeth from being published?

Written by Emma Rogan Supported by Creative New Zealand Emma Rogan is a contributor to Aotearoa Design Thinking 2018, a series of commissioned critical design essays published by Design Assembly and funded by Creative New Zealand.  In 2015 the New Zealand government stopped an image from appearing in a new book about a famous magazine. At least, this…

1 year ago by

Looking Back: BackStory the Journal of New Zealand Art, Media & Design History

Written by Lana Lopesi  Graphic Matters is a monthly column on issues and ideas related to New Zealand Design Culture The lack of written local design history is one constant concern I hear from graphic designers in Tāmaki Makaurau and Aotearoa as a whole for that matter. While there have been concerted efforts from key…

1 year ago by

Puncturing Mythology: Looking beyond the shiny myths that distract from the complexity in design in Aotearoa

Written by K. Emma Ng Supported by Creative New Zealand Emma Ng is a contributor to Aotearoa Design Thinking 2018, a series of commissioned critical design essays published by Design Assembly and funded by Creative New Zealand.  This article is the first in a four part series on design and its support structures that enable us to nurture,…

1 year ago by

Baby Steps: Building the Aotearoa Conversation

Coming into the design world as a trained critical thinker and writer, I was struck by how young and non-existent critical conversations were. In my own critical writing practice, I work from a position of believing that critical feedback, public conversation and the building of discourse is key to the health and development of any…

1 year ago by

Broadsheet, New Zealand’s Feminist Magazine Goes Digital

Written by Lana Lopesi Graphic Matters is a monthly column on issues and ideas related to New Zealand Design Culture Covers of Broadsheet Issues 1 – 15  “…I became pregnant because I wanted to have a baby; my motives or reasons are no one’s business but my own…”  — Anonymous, Broadsheet Issue 1 On January 19,…

2 years ago by

Aotearoa Design Thinking: an opportunity to revisit 2017

Created by Lana Lopesi Supported by Creative New Zealand     In 2017 Design Assembly introduced Aotearoa Design Thinking — a series of commissioned critical design essays published by Design Assembly and funded by Creative New Zealand. Our intention was to actively discuss New Zealand graphic design practice by celebrating, growing and challenging current thought. By…

2 years ago by

Summer Reading

Summer holidays are the perfect time to catch up on your reading… Here are some top picks from some of our DA Friends to help you brush up on your design theory, along with a bit of rest and relaxation this summer: Paul McNeil “The Visual History of Type” The Visual History of Type is a…

2 years ago by

 

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