Interview with graphic designer Jesse Mallon
Jesse Mallon’s communication design has a distinct minimalist style, yet each piece is quite different to the last. The Melbourne born designer studied at both Swinburne TAFE and University and completed his honours degree just two years ago. Since then, he’s freelanced at a couple of Melbourne design studios as well as working on several self-initiated projects.His design strengths include identity, publication and web design. Jesse carefully considers typography as well. As he describes, he loves to explore how each letterform can be designed and abstracted to create a greater meaning – one that is greater than what the letters and words alone present.
Jesse’s work has been published in Desktop and IdN magazines and he was the winner of the 2010 Positive Posters competition.
You can follow Jesse on Twitter or Flickr, and visit his website.
How have you got to where you are today?
This is going to sound like a weird place to start, but I remember in high school being fascinated by the languages Tolkien created for the Lord of the Rings. I think that’s probably where my fascination with letterforms and typography began.
Alongside that, my love of gaming and everything digital lead me towards web design and programming. After high school I decided I didn’t exactly enjoy web coding (which I’ve now grown to enjoy and ironically spend a lot of time doing), so I focused on graphic design, studying at both Swinburne TAFE and University.
In a few words, describe yourself…
A motivated, perfectionist, tall nerd.
What are you spending your time on at the moment?
At the moment in my freelance world I’m working on a website for a Melbourne fashion label, as well a site for an artist with some really great work. I’m also playing around with some ideas for a redesign of my own site… So basically a whole lot of web!
Do you have a ritual for getting into the creative mindset? Or a creative process?
Good music and a clean desk always helps to get me in the right mood. In terms of process, nothing too out of the ordinary – it always starts with research and sketching. I also have a habit searching for terms vaguely related to the project on Google Image Search.
What or who inspires you?
When working on a job, I try to look to the client for inspiration – especially with creative clients such as fashion designers, photographers and artists. I like taking what they’ve been inspired by within their own work and then interpreting it in my own way.
Otherwise I like to find inspiration in things outside of design, whether it be music, film, architecture, fashion, etc.
What are you most proud of?
Sticking to my goals and always giving it as much as I can. Design can be scary, frustrating and stressful (as well as a whole lot of fun). It’s always been a lot of hard work, so I’m proud of being where I am in my career today.
When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
When I was younger I was sure I wanted to do something to do with science, I was (am) pretty nerdy.
I remember in primary school I specifically wanted to be either an astronomer or a marine biologist. Then through high school I moved from wanting to be an author, a journalist, a Japanese translator, a web designer, and then finally a graphic designer.
