Illustration for the Queenslake letterpress exhibition to raise funds for the Queensland floods early 2011.

It’s super exciting to feature Rachel Pisasale and Georgie Plant from Bright Yellow! After travelling and working overseas, they have each come home to Brissie with a wealth of knowledge from their experiences.

Their attitude to design is perfectly summed up in their own brand – “bright” and vibrant like the colour “yellow”! Their team is small, but their ideas are big! They like to have fun, be bright and create awesome designs!! And their presence alone calls for many exclamation points to be used in this article!!

Check out more of their work on their website. And being a dog lover myself, I absolutely love their Dog Blog… It’s the amusing news from Bright Yellow through the eyes of their studio dog Flash!

How did Bright Yellow come about?

To own our own design studio was always the dream since graduating uni together in 2003. We imagined it would be nothing but rainbows and lollipops and uncapped budgets. A place where we could spend our days creating new and wonderful things for awesomely cool clients. And so it was decided that one day we would establish this amazing design haven, but first we would set off on our separate ways to explore the world…

Fast forward a few years and Rachel was back. Having travelled the globe where she gained a wealth of experience from a number of small design agencies, Rachel made the decision to quit her day job and focus on the dream – and so Bright Yellow was born. A year later, Georgie returned from abroad to join forces with Rach and share in the Bright Yellow adventure.

What are you guys most proud of during your time together as Bright Yellow?

Making a client happy is always a proud moment! No matter how big or small the project, knowing that we’ve put our heart and soul into the design and that the client loves it is always satisfying.

What’s the best part about your week?

Going to work is easy when we you get to spend all day doing what you love in a bright and sunny studio surrounded by talented friends. Each week we look forward to the potential of what the job entails – we never know what fantastic project is going to swing our way and what fun thing we’re going to create next.

Describe your journey up to getting started with Bright Yellow…

Rachel: After working as a designer in several agencies, I gained a real insight on the practical side of how a studio worked. However, I still felt that I could offer clients a more personalised and creative service if I could run the business my way. So I decided to take the plunge into Bright Yellow – with no money or clients, it was a big gamble! Since then it’s been love, sweat and tears, but well worth every moment!

Georgie: My first job out of uni saw me working as the sole designer in a boutique marketing agency. As the only creative in the office, I was thrown straight into the deep end and often had to learn things the hard way but it also gave me the gave me the freedom to explore my creativity and the confidence to trust my ideas. After that I moved to London for four years where I worked as a freelancer in a number of corporate design agencies and collaborated on some amazing projects. I have loved all of my previous jobs and the people I met along the way, but nothing compares to the feeling of owning your own studio.

In a few words, describe yourself…

R: Creative, hard-working, motivated, perfectionist.
G: Conceptual, determined, romantic, impulsive.

What are you spending your time on at the moment?

R: I’ve just taken time off to have a baby… 1 week to go! So eating and sleeping seem to be my main priorities at the moment. However, I still can’t tear myself away from designing a few bits and bobs for Bright Yellow.

G: Mostly layout of large documents at the moment and also making sure the business runs smoothly whilst Rach is on maternity leave – so a lot of client relations, accounts and staff management.

Do you have a ritual for getting into the creative mindset? Or a creative process?

R: My best friends in the creative process are the dictionary and the thesaurus. Any word can lead to a great idea or concept.

G: I think that research is the key to a great idea. So I flick through books or magazines, trawl through blogs and websites and generally research every part of the brief until genius strikes.

What or who inspires you?

R: I think you can find inspiration in anything and everything. But for me it would be my friends (especially as most of them are designers), my husband, music, exercise and of course my dog Flash.

G: People who know what they want and don’t give up until they get it.

What are you most proud of?

R: My partner in crime Georgie, and being able to do something you love and get paid for it.

G: Rach for having the courage to start Bright Yellow on her own. It was a massive gamble which took a lot of hard work and many long hours but she gave it her all and made it happen. I couldn’t be prouder.

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

R: A rockstar. G: happy.