I live and work in Centurion, though I spent many years in Johannesburg.
I play anywhere there is good company and music. Somewhere outdoors with a view is top of my list.
I don’t know that I have one! I was on TV though, twice…
Once as a game show contestant (I know!) and once to talk about a campaign as an agency representative. I’ve also done a couple of radio interviews.
Manic, challenging, fulfilling. I cut my teeth as a packaging designer, but yearned for a more vibe-y agency environment.
There I discovered I’m good at art direction; becoming a weird AD/design hybrid, then group head of art, then creative director. I’ve worked on all sides of ‘the line’ – above, below, all throughout. I’ve lead small teams and large. I’m a true agency animal that loves the thrill of a deadline and the buzz of my studio.Conceptual campaigns are my favourite to work on.
Heavy metal music, when it rains, my husband and child, to laugh, travel.
How small it actually is. As the years go by, you keep running into familiar faces, sometimes in very unexpected places.
I also love how adaptable it is – as tech, societal norms, business trends and the like grow, change and expand, so we are forced to grow, change and expand.
Part of the mandate of what we do as creatives/design thinkers is to stay on top of developments so we can offer our clients the absolute best solutions.
Coffee, ops/client/finance/kickstart meetings, creative reviews. Perhaps a brainstorm. More coffee. More creative reviews. Jokes with my youngsters in studio. So many emails.
Creativity. Coffee. The Adobe Creative Suite. Bloody Outlook and Excel. Design research. Design thinking. The MacBook I carry everywhere under my arm. And my Wacom.
I don’t spend too much time noticing what others are up to. We at Sum of 21 are doing something completely new in our own way, anyway.
Of course, I can list local and international designers whose work I admire, but for me, it’s long past the aesthetic.
I’d like for us to be the agency that gets mentioned in future as the one who has been doing it right, exactly because of our unique approach.
Wages and salaries.
Creatives are some of the most hardworking people you will find, yet the salary hardly ever reflects that. Client is king, often leading to massive sacrifices on the employee end of the scale.I’d like to see a more even, widespread empathetic approach so that no-one gets the short end of the stick, client included.
A social media campaign for a mall; the launch of a new urban living concept; a smattering of brand strategies/developments; audio-visual elements and websites for clients; and our own agency showreel, website and profile.
I hate buzzwords, but they are a reality.
“Impact” has been a big one over the last year or so, and lately it’s “design thinking”. I just do what I do though, I don’t pay too much mind to what’s “in”.
If what I do naturally happens to fit, wonderful, but if it doesn’t, that’s OK too.
In my sleep. Seriously. I’ll wake up at 2am having just “dreamt” something that unlocks an idea.
I don’t think it’s truly dreaming, though – I think it’s my stressed, overactive mind that can’t shut down and then it keeps gnawing at the problem until it spits out something useful.
I’m an old rocker.
Our parties don’t consist of any tricks beyond chugging beer and Jägermeister and banging our heads. That I do well, though less now that I’m on the wrong side of 35. And a mama.14. Are you a technophobe or a technophile?
I have a gypsy soul that loves to be unplugged.
16. What advice would you give to newbies hoping to crack into the industry?
Be yourself. Hone what you’re good at. Explore a lot – new ideas, new disciplines, new ways of doing things, but stay true to what you know your true craft to be. There is a niche in this industry for everyone, just keep at it.
*Interviewed by Leigh Andrews.
