Interview with designer Tanja Hall
To mark the milestone of our new website and relaunch, Design Montage wanted to find an absolute creative leader in our home, Brisbane. Tanja Hall has over 20 years dedicated to graphic design and furthering our industry, having run her own studio, JOLT for 20 years now.
Tanja has an incredible reputation amongst the design community, having served as president of the Australian Graphic Design Association for 10 years. At the end of last year she retired from the Presidency, and has since travelled to France for ZAGWEEK – a workshop for brand strategists worldwide to unite, share ideas and collaborate.
JOLT are relocating soon to a new studio space in Newstead. Tanja and her team have led the visual communication for several recent projects within the arts and cultural arena. JOLT led the identity for the international music conference, BIGSOUND, which this year launched a new 2 day schedule dedicated to Music + Design.
Working with photographer Christian Aas, JOLT led the visual identity for the Queensland Symphony Orchestra 2014 Season. The team also worked with Seesaw Photography and Breeder for the rebrand of Eden Health Retreat in Currumbin Valley.
For the future, Tanja is furthering her time in new areas of design like service design (customer experience design). She aims to include more time for play in our work and more time for self initiated projects.
Tell me about your creative journey. Your passion for your craft and how you discovered or nurtured it.
I’ve been creative ever since I can remember. In high school, I did work experience with Leo Burnett Advertising in Sydney and that’s where I guess it all began.
My first years as a designer were in the days of pantone marker rendering, typesetting galleys, bromide cameras, grid boards, cow gum and rubylith overlays! I started my own business when the first Apple Mac was produced (yikes). That was the catalyst… the company I worked for refused to buy Macintosh and instead bought an IBM computer for the studio. I knew then IBM was a big mistake, and wanted to keep up with industry change, so decided to leave, buy a Mac and start my own business at 25.
Travel and change have been essential in nurturing my passion for design. I am constantly seeking new inspiration, really loathe being bored and love a new project!
I think in any career it’s natural to have highs and lows for the work you do, to hit plateaus but it’s always been important for me to find a way to break the cycle if need be.
Beginning voluntary work with AGDA (Australian Graphic Design Industry) about seven years ago also helped me re-ignite passion for my work. In fact, it surprised me and led to other great opportunities like being involved in the Icograda international design week in 2010. Since that time, an exposure to international design thinking and different ways of working has influenced both the way we work, and the work we do at JOLT.
I did experience a period of burn out a few years ago. I find it difficult to say no to opportunity and the problem is I see opportunity in almost everything. So I’ve learnt to balance that a little more now… to be more mindful and selective about the opportunities and projects. So far, so good!
In a few words, describe yourself…
Can’t live without change.
What are you spending your time on at the moment?
We are working on several branding projects at the moment. We work with fewer clients these days however in a much greater and holistic way where we also help them with other areas of their business through the process of design.
We have an upcoming project for a new concept store which will include strategy and design of brand as well as design of the customer experience… it will be a first in the world which is really exciting!
I am also currently in the midst of renovating a great little property in Newstead for a new studio. It will be a collaborative space, one that we can share with other friends, clients and colleagues.
How did the opportunity to be part of the workshop in France come about?
I became aware of the ZAGWEEK brand strategy workshop in France with Marty Neumeier through Nicole Cox, also a designer (we both attended after submitting a brief application each and being accepted to attend). Brief blog post about workshop below…..
In early July, in a beautiful chateau in the south of France, I shared in a unique brand experience – ZAGWEEK – with Marty Neumeier and eight other international brand strategists from UK, Spain, Georgia, Finland, Canada and Australia. Based in San Francisco as Director of Transformation with Liquid Agency, Marty developed the ZAGWEEK workshop to bring together diverse branding experts and create a collaborative, open atmosphere of learning and idea sharing.
With the promise of ‘sitting on a sun-washed terrace with a small group of brand enthusiasts from around the world talking about strategy, design, innovation and the future of marketing… the French countryside being conducive to big picture thinking and achieving more thinking in one week than in twelve months at a desk’, it was an easy decision for me to attend the workshop. Of course the enticement of the 16th-century chateau, the French cuisine, locally produced wines and the opportunity to explore medieval French villages was an added incentive.
It was a truly wonderful week, delivering even more than expected. Each participant worked on a brand project covering some deep thinking and work on core purpose, positioning, brand personality, tribal affinities, trend waves, touchpoints, messaging, roadmaps and other key elements of branding.
The openness and collaborative nature of all those who attended, along with Marty himself, created an experience of invaluable inspiration, learning and co-creation. We all left with renewed vision to build great, charismatic brands.
In the same trip, at the end of July, I participated in the ‘This is service design doing’ Executive Summer School in Berlin, hosted by the Design Thinkers Academy.
This was also an incredible experience… designing customer experiences with approx 20 others from around the world, all with diverse backgrounds and skills.
What have you learnt from working with other creatives over your years of involvement with AGDA and Big Sound?
Through AGDA, I’ve been fortunate to meet many great designers from around the world and I’ve learnt that we all have the same challenges and struggles. There is a wonderful modesty and honesty about designers in our industry which I really admire.
We’ve been working with QMusic on the BIGSOUND event for the past four years. We have helped them with repositioning, rebranding and building the event. Each year the event grows and achieves greater success, this year we worked with them to introduce a two day program focussed on ‘music and design’.
Tell me about your creative process. Do you have a process or do your projects evolve from experimentation?
My process always begins with analysis and research, a need to understand all the facts, information and variables from the very beginning.
And then comes the experimentation, the play, the challenging, the questioning of ‘what if?’.
One great piece of learning I brought back with me from the summer school in Berlin recently was to take whatever you have around you, and begin doing. Create a ‘shitty first draft’. Prototype faster.
Tools of the trade.What are your absolute necessities for your creative practice?
People. Play. Space. Communication. Inspiration. Books.
What or who inspires you?
People and travel inspire me most. Being surrounded by like minded, positive and active people. Travel… there’s nothing like the objectivity it brings, the ability to see things in a different way, from a different perspective.
What are you most proud of? Creatively, professionally and personally…
I feel extremely lucky that I still love working in my own business after 20 years.
When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I can’t remember thinking about it but always loved dance, so probably a dancer. Maybe in my next life!
