Australian Design Radio

Today we’re hearing from Evi-O & Yah-Leng Yu at The Design Conference in 2023. Evi-O is a multidisciplinary designer and artist at Evi-O.Studio and Yah-Leng Yu is the creative director of Foreign Policy . Listen in as they discuss connection and how we can foster a healthy, safe, and flourishing design industry. They cover a lot, from perceptions and myths around Australian design culture to s...

In this episode we hear from Alistair McCready , founder of Monolith , a typographic design practice based out of Auckland, New Zealand. Alistair speaks with co-hosts Frankie Young and Matt Leach about about what type designers are like and the momentum you need when designing type.
 It’s a fascinating and wide ranging chat, covering everything from awards to embracing place and how ‘where you are...

In this episode we’re dropped into a conversation between two friends, Annette Harcus and Andrew Ashton . Annette is the founder, CEO and Creative Director of Harcus Design and Andrew is the CD of Ashton Design , previously with Edison Agency , Work-Art-Life and Studio Pip and Co. Their chat took us places you wouldn’t usually get in a design podcast. It’s a great conversation recorded at The Desi...

We’re back and beyond excited to share this fascinating conversation between Jasmin , CEO of Innocean Australia and Founder of Fck the Cupcakes , and Kevin from TheSumOf — friend of the podcast and branding expert. Listen in as they talk the culture of conferences, commercialising creativity and the silent war between design and advertising departments. Ultimately, the episode is about breaking do...

Our last episode on positivity (as part of Adobe MAX 2021) has Sumita and Matt talking with Ve Dewey in London about how she’s remained positive in her squiggly-line career. Ve has worked for Adobe, Mattel, ReDesign Business and most recently as co-creator for Never Not Creative. In this discussion we look at how she ended up in London, being a ‘servant-leader’ and how the design industry still ne...

Our Adobe MAX 21 mini-series rolls on with co-host, Sumita Maharaj interviewing Kris Andrew Small on his backstory, how his process is changing and what it means to be a role model for younger creatives. Having worked for many large clients like Nike, Apple, Adidas, Channel 4, WeTransfer, Reebok and more, he’s also exhibited internationally at institutions like V&A and The Louvre. Yes, that’s...

1st episode in a new mini-series based on Adobe MAX and their 2021 theme of positivity. Co-host Sumita Maharaj interviews Josie Young about her work, living with chronic illness and stepping away from Christopher Doyle & Co. to start her own thing. Go here to listen. Make sure you tune into her presentation at Adobe MAX, aptly titled, ‘Notes on Invisible Illness and Making Work Work for You’ a...

I really love doing ReIssue episodes. Pulling old soundbites and getting original guests to comment on them — it’s like digging up a time capsule. This episode we have Jo Roca and Jason Little from For The People looking at our 5th episode. Jo was just ‘the girlfriend’ and Jason had just opened a studio with two mates. In the time between, FTP has gone on to become one of Australia's most awa...

This is our final episode in the mini series on ‘how design can help combat stigma’ with co-host, Myla Yeomans . This time we have the pleasure of talking with Olivia Chen and Sam Wearne about the work they do with Studio ChenChen . We spend a bit of time talking about Chattii , a dating app that prioritises humanity and safety in rejecting the stigma of disability and letting all people find love...

This is our 2nd episode in a mini-series that looks at how design can help combat stigma . For this episode we are again at the Design Conference in Brisbane , sitting on the turbine hall stage chatting with Peter Brennan , Founder & Creative Director of Electric & Analog and co-founder and head of brand for non-alcoholic beer Heaps Normal . Pete has had an amazing career, right across the...

The start of a new mini-series, where co-host, Myla Yeomans , asks the question, ‘how can design help combat stigma?’ In this first episode, we speak to Keisha Leon , Founder and Director at Leon Design . Keisha cut her teeth in magazine design before taking up a senior position at Lorna Jane. In 2018 she moved to Carbon Creative before deciding it was time to do her own thing. Being a Waanyi and...

This time we’re doing something a little different, with our first ReIssue . This means rewinding to an old episode, pulling out a few soundbites, and getting the original guest to comment on them. The original guest in question is Christopher Doyle who joined us way back at the start, on our 2nd show. Chris has been an ADR guest a few times so it was a real pleasure to talk with him and explore w...

In our last episode with Co-host, Stephanie Foti , and her mini-series on ‘what makes a great designer teacher,’ Steph and Matt talk to Nicki Wragg , the Chair of Communication Design at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne. If you work in design education in Australia, there is a good chance you’ve come across Nicki. She is a leader in the field of teaching design and, as you’ll hear,...

Part two in ‘what makes a great design teacher’ and this time, Matt and co-host, Stephanie Foti , are talking to Felix Oppen from Tiliqua Press and Tiliqua Studio , makers of the award-winning Ligature Journal . Felix has taught in Universities for over 10 years and has a passion for teaching traditional techniques, specifically where type is involved. He’s concerned with making sure students unde...

And we’re back! We’ve had a bit of a break while we started new full-time work, parented, and thought about what the future of ADR might look like. One of the big changes we’ve made is a new format that explores one topic over three episodes with three different guests. On this episode, Matt is joined by Stephanie Foti to interview our favourite creative nomad, Frankie Ratford . We explore the que...

This episode we chatted with Joyce N Ho, Associate Creative Director at BUCK in New York. If you had to describe what Joyce does, which is incredibly diverse, you’d probably settle on creative direction and motion design, but we’d suggest going and checking out her personal website, joycenho.com — just to see the range of stuff she’s been involved in. Many people in Australia will know her from he...

This episode we got to speak to James (Gilmore) Duru, Creative Director at DesignStudio — a branding and digital agency, originally from London, now all over the world, with James running the Sydney studio. You’ll know their work when you think about some of their clients like AirBNB, deliveroo, English Premier League and British Airways, just to name a few. We’ve actually had the founders, Paul S...

In this episode we spoke to Dr Sam Bucolo, design strategist and executive chair of The Australian Design Council. Sam is based in Brisbane and it was during a lockdown so apologies in advance for the bad audio quality. What we spoke about was amazing though, everything from what Sam’s PhD was all about, to his book about design leading the way and of course The Australian Design Council, why it’s...

In this episode, we spoke with Dan Agostino, Head of Design at The Brand Agency. Hailing from Perth, Dan joined The Brand Agency in 2007 and over the years his role has grown to Head of Design. The 150+ people agency has offices in Perth, Melbourne and Auckland and covers project management, creative and design, content and production, brand activation, PR and social, technology, media, search and...

This episode we had the pleasure of chatting with Ros Moriarty from Balarinji, an Aboriginal-owned strategy and design agency, based in Sydney. Ros started the business with her husband, John, over 37 years ago and during that time has seen a lot of changes in the industry and how Aboriginal design is perceived. Their work includes everything from branding and digital products to curating public a...

It’s been a while but this is our first remote episode, where we were in three different states. On this one, we spoke to Monique Kneepkens, Creative Director at Carbon Creative. A Brisbane studio devoted to making an impact in social change. We speak all about what it means to ‘do good’ and how they work with their clients. We look at shining a spotlight on indigenous artists and designers and ho...

Michael Wong (aka Mizko) joins us in the studio to talk about entrepreneurism, start-up culture and growing up a hustler. Professionally he’s a UI/IX expert, internationally known and awarded. He’s recently formed Raw Studio, with his good friend Philippe Hong, so we get into that and go deep on their process, looking at how they build relationships with clients. We also delve into Michael's past...

In this episode, we spoke with Andrew Hochradel. Andrew is a brand identity designer from Los Angeles, CA, who creates visual systems that are sustainable, innovative, and engaging. He's often found speaking, teaching and entertaining at physical and online events like Adobe Live, CreativeMornings, Creative South and Circles. Andrew's ability to entertain and teach is what got us talking in the fi...

This episode we are teaming up with Andrew Johnstone from TAKE Magazine to interview the Chief Photographer of The Sydney Morning Herald, Nick Moir. Known as the ‘fire guy’, Nick has built a reputation on capturing award-winning imagery and being in the right place, at the right time. He passes it off as being lucky, but the passion of his descriptions and depth of his research suggests it's more...

In this episode, we spoke with Alex Skougarevskaya, Design Manager for Atlassian Design System. Alex has had just about every job title designer can have, from her start as a 'graphics monkey' to a 'speck' in the big world of Advertising before the Global Financial Crisis. She's been a web, visual, graphic and interactive designer before moving her way over to Atlassian. We spoke to Alex in the le...