“Strive for creativity, but not at the expense of your clients real needs and the brief — just make yourself useful.”

— WAYNE CURTIS

We recently reached as far back as ever before to reconnect with alumni from Perth Technical College days. Wayne Curtis topped our list and offered some advice for current students of NM TAFE.

Tell us a little about your experiences since. Where have you worked? Where do you work now?

Went straight into an advertising agency in my second year part time and continued after graduating. I spent some 6 years in the ad scene, where a learnt a lot about pre-press and printing. I then started my own business Notions Design and last year was my 30th anniversary.

What projects and recent local Perth work are you most proud of?
Too Many, too hard! okay Treendale Pet Medical brand, Geppettos Carpentry brand, Secure Power Solutions rebrand, Antz Labour Hire, The Business Doctor rebrand, BOS, Harness Master NSW rebrand, Shelf Subsea rebrand, Biotune rebrand, Right Whitegoods rebrand, Beyond Clarity, Entry Point rebrand, Evolution Bikes rebrand, Many works for the Port of Darwin and Anglicare NT, Red Ochre Coffee, Swagger Coffee Beans, Tripstop, Dizza Communications ….you shouldn’t have asked that question! 😊 

Advice for TAFE’s current students?  
Get yourself into a networking group or groups — this support not only brings new opportunities and augments your business, but you can find many mentors which will help keep your business running efficiently and effectively. Diplomas and certs aside, you need to know where the industry is headed in the next few years. There is massive change coming. Find ways of adding value and utilising these changes. But don't ever forget we are human, and humans love connection and face to face conversation and communication. Find a niche, know your market, and communicate to them. Make yourself useful and solve their problems.

TAFE STUDENTS NOTE: Three words - AI, AI and AI! How, when and what we can do and utilise. Get in front of it! Be pro-active.

What is Perth design in need of most? 
Real design for real businesses, it’s not all bells and whistles. Support local, use local! There is a massive benefit to using a service provider who has their feet on the ground in your client’s market and location. Experience and industry knowledge are in demand.

In terms of finding your first job after graduating, what worked best for you? 
Went straight into an advertising agency “Baptism in Fire” comes to mind learnt a lot about prepress but that does not really exist anymore (well it does but it has changed.) Just get experience and keep learning new things. Follow quality designers all over the world, how they think how they present. You will learn from them. A good place to start is “The Future” look them up! 

 Strive for creativity but not at the expense of your clients’ real needs and the brief. You still have job to do and a business to keep running… sometimes compromise is a reality and unavoidable if it happens, learn from it, improve, let go and move on. Seth Godin once said… “Just make yourself useful” I do this daily! 

What do you think are the most important qualities in a graphic designer?

Honesty, integrity, creativity, experience, open-mindedness, open to collaboration and being relevant. Mostly being a loving, caring, compassionate human being.

 Hope this helps 😊 

Check out more of Wayne’s work here