He kōrerorero ki a Chris

Ki te kore a ia i waho, ki te whakakotahi rānei i ngā auaha mō tētahi take pai, ka kitea tō mātou Kaiwhakahaere Hoahoa a Chris Flack e tunu whakaaro ana i roto i tā mātou studio o Ōtautahi. I noho mātau ki a ia kia kite i tana mahi.

He aha koe i uru ai ki te hoahoa? 

I te tau whakamutunga o te kura tuarua, i mahi toi ahau me te hoahoa. Ko tētahi o ngā akoranga anake e taea ai e koe te kai i tō tina i te wā o te akomanga me te whakarongo ki ngā pūoro. Nā reira he pai ki a au te kai, te whakarongo ki te pūoro, me te hoahoa. I kitea e au ka taea e au te tango i ngā whakaaro i roto i tōku māhunga, ā, ka tūturu.

He aha tāu e tino pai ana ki tō tūranga?

He rawe ki a au te mahi i ngā kaupapa e kitea ana e koe i roto i te ao tūturu. Engari ko te mea tino pai ki a au ko te whakawhanake i ngā kaihoahoa rangatahi. I've been running a mentorship programme for the last 8 years. I ia tau, ka ngana ahau ki te whakapai ake i tērā tau. Kua haere ngā kaihoahoa kua puta mai ki te mahi i ētahi kaupapa whakamīharo i ngā wāhi pēnei i Studio South, Designworks, tae atu ki rāwāhi. He rawe te kite i a rātau e tipu ana. 

Me pēhea koe e whiwhi ai ki te mahi nui?

E pā ana ki te hanga i runga i ngā mahi me ngā whakaaro a ētahi atu. I ngā wā katoa ka tirohia e au te hoahoa hei tākaro tīma, ahakoa kāore i te pēnei i ngā wā katoa. Ka mahia te hoahoa i roto i ngā kōrerorero, te kōrero ki ngā tāngata i tō taha, te titiro ki ngā mea i runga i te pakitara. Koinei te wāhi e pai ake ai te mahi - ka nui te mahi pai – nā te mea ka taea e ngā tāngata kāore i te tata ki a ia, te kite rānei mai i tētahi tirohanga kē te tāpiri mea, te āwhina rānei ki te tūhono i ngā ira.

Ko wai, he aha rānei i whakaawe i tō āhua mahi?

Ko tēnei tuhinga nā Gail Bichler (Kaiwhakahaere Hoahoa o te New York Times)

She says that her job is to make people better, and to connect the dots. Her big thing is around creating the right environment for people to succeed and giving them space to be great. It's really made me think about how providing great environments and fostering a good culture brings out the best in people.

What's your best industry tip? Interpret that however you like.

Creativity and design is not a sprint, it's a marathon. Early on, I thought it was a sprint. So I'd do everything, dive into every project wanting to be the greatest ever. And then I realised that you just can't do that – things take time. We worked with TEDx for six or seven years. We were getting good results early on – TEDx is an easy thing to sell – but it took a couple years of the team working together for it all to hum.

What project are you most proud of?

I'd probably say Santa versus Jesus. It was for the Sunday Times Christmas cover. I was a junior designer, but the whole creative team was pitching ideas. I’d worked late, to think of as many ideas as I could, and then this idea of a wrestling match came out of the woodwork. I thought there was no way it would get picked, but somehow it did. It led to me backing myself a lot more. A lot of design is a confidence game, and this project really opened that up for me.

What’s your favourite part of being a designer?

Taking ideas and making them real. My favourite projects have a strong purpose and give back in some way.

What do you reckon is the biggest benefit of design to an organisation?

Design and creativity are really, really important to any organisation. It’s not just about a new logo, or making things look good - it’s a whole way of thinking about things. A lot of leading organisations have design thinking at their heart. It’s about getting clear on priorities; what are we trying to achieve? Design and creativity help to drill into what the problem is, and hold up a mirror to reveal those truths to the business.

How do you think brands benefit people?

At its simplest - it allows us to know what we’re buying. But I think what’s most interesting is that brands are a way to wear your heart on your sleeve and be part of a community. I used to be all about showing off the brands I loved that looked cool, whereas now I'm quite conscious of the brand’s values that I'm supporting. A brand is a way for people to know more about that business, what they stand for, what their values are, and then become a part of that community.

What's one simple thing, the design industry can do better?

Be more inclusive.

Do you want to unpack that?

There’s a lot within this. But it's quite a middle-class, white, male industry. Over the last few years, there’s been a big effort to change that, but it takes time to trickle up the chain. 

There definitely is change, with more diverse leaders and directors, but I think there’s still heaps of room for the industry to reflect the population. And that can only come from providing pathways into the industry. I think a lot of it does start with education; having pathways from high school into design careers, and building those connections early on.

–Currently…

Reading Lost Connections by Johann Hari 

Listening to BBC Desert Island Discs & Ben Howard - Every Kingdom

Watching Top Gun Maverick

Wishing I was up a mountain walking with the kids, down the mountain skiing.

Obsessing over designing photobooks.