Find out more about what it's like to work as a senior design and brand advisor for the Australian Public Service.
Robin from the Australian Financial Security Authority (AFSA) shares a day in his life as a senior advisor, graphic design and brand management.
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Discovering an avenue for creativity
When I was a teenager I stood sleepily at a bus stop (probably after being up all night drawing again) when a garden centre truck went past that made my head turn. The side of the truck was strangely familiar. Then it dawned on me, it was an illustration I had done while on work experience at a design firm a few months earlier. Looking back, they probably should have paid me, but at the time I was thrilled to see my work at large in the world. I knew then and there that I wanted to be a designer.
Leaving a good footprint
As an aspiring designer I was advised to study Design and Advertising at TAFE where unlike its university equivalent, I was told the curriculum was co-authored by industry leaders. Two years into my studies I started my career, laying out supermarket catalogues and found myself photographing products from chocolate biscuits to hairspray. Before long, with a meagre portfolio under my arm, I landed a job in Darwin with a subsidiary of one of Australia’s largest advertising agencies. There I was fortunate enough to be mentored by a talented art director who taught me more in my first month than I’d learnt in my time as a student.
This experience inside an ad agency proved to be very influential on the future direction of my career. It felt to me like a lot of our work was centred around making people buy into into solutions for non-existent problems. However, while working on a road safety campaign I recognised the design and advertising techniques that we used to manipulate malleable audiences could also be used for good. It was through experiencing that dichotomy that I decided I would always look for work where I could leave a good footprint in the world.
A natural home in government
I soon left Darwin and the winds blew me to Canberra where I worked for a design house that mainly serviced government agencies and NGOs. There I perfected the art of long-form print publications, I leaned into web design at the dawning of the internet, and I started a life-long love for the ever-evolving world of visual branding.
In Canberra I enjoyed the feeling of being part of something that mattered. Although I was a small cog, I was nonetheless felt part of the machine that kept the county running. Seven years later, missing family and friends, I returned to my hometown of Adelaide where I worked at the Adelaide Zoo before again finding my home in government at the South Australian Department for Environment.
Translating other people’s brilliant work
It was working with environmental scientists that really helped me to more fully understand how the role of a designer can be much more than just staying on brand and making things look aesthetically pleasing.
The department was looking to implement changes to weir management that would see seasonal flooding return to the areas that had been maintained as steady weir pools for over a century. Because the changes would be so visibly drastic there was a lot of very real concern about a possible public backlash. After leaning the nuances of river regulation and freshwater ecology, I wrote, narrated and animated a seven-minute animation that explained the history, the current situation, and the need for immediate critical action. The animation was shown at the start of a large town hall meeting along the river where, to the relief of the River Murray Operations unit, the entire gathering gave immediate full support for the pending changes. Since then, the same animated video has been adopted by NSW and VIC for education purposes in their jurisdictions.
While this was an absolute high point for leaving a good footprint, I also realised that in a government setting, my role as a designer is about translating the brilliant work of other people so that their brilliant work can reach the audiences it needs to reach and thereby amplify the impact of good policy.
Aesthetic philosophy
Cultural and technological shifts play significant roles in the changing landscape of visual communications and by being a continuing student of these shifts, we are better equipped to at the leading edge of contemporary thinking and practices.
Over the last few years, I've seen a significant shift in the role that design plays in communications. It has evolved from being a ‘nice to have’ aesthetic after-thought, to being a more collaborative and strategic component of the contemporary public engagement process.
For me to grow alongside our rapidly changing world, I recently completed a degree in Fine Arts and Visual Culture. This provided me with a much deeper understanding of the aesthetic philosophies that inform the strategic vision I bring to my work.
Branding in government
As a junior designer I’d learned the importance of working to style guide and it wasn’t long before I was charged with designing and implementing them myself. Over the years I’ve been fascinated by the evolution of brand and the particular requirements needed for successful branding in a government setting. It was at the SA Department for Education that I first was able to fully implement what I had learned.
I steered the strategic direction of the departmental visual brand, leveraging the trust that exists in whole of government branding. I created a suite of brand elements that could be used interchangeably based on messaging and context and I used these elements with discipline to build recognition value with stakeholders.
Bringing all of this to AFSA
Leaving a good footprint, translating other people’s brilliance, steering a brand with discipline, developing a strategic vision and understanding our audiences with empathy. These are the career learnings I employ every day in my current role at AFSA.
My role supports the overarching goals of the agency by providing the targeted design of publications, brochures, websites, social media content, illustrations, animations, infographics and data reports.
In my role I also articulate the strategic direction of AFSA’s visual brand with an understanding of the brand ecosystem in which we exist. I build brand recognition through consistent use of unique brand elements, I enable to the brilliant work of others to reach targeted (and often vulnerable) audiences with empathy, and I oversee the gradual yet continuous evolution of the brand to ensure it remains contemporary and relevant.
Advice for junior designers in government
As a designer in government, it is critical to gain the trust of the people you work with. They are experts in their field and it takes bravery on their part to hand their work over to you for it to be translated into short-form visual communications. There is a danger of nuance being lost and their brilliance being trivialised. By taking the time to properly understand the work of your colleagues, you’ll not only be able to translate it better - you’ll also earn a respect for the strategic expertise you can bring to the table.
All views expressed are personal views of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the view of the department or agency.
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