Kate Haskett
www.shockmedia.com.au
Brisbane, Australia


EXPERIENCE: I am 23 years young and owner/creative director of Shock Media Studios, a Brisbane (Australia) based business marketing & media management company, specialising in new media and technology.

Design Education:
I followed a 3 year Advanced Diploma at the Douglas Mawson Technology Institute of Arts in the field of Advertising and Graphic Design.

How did you start out as an artist/designer?
I started drawing when I was a youngster, B.C. (before computers) and experimented with different drawing techniques. This allowed me to gather an extensive portfolio and later on, get me in to a recognised Arts Program at the age of 15. By 18 yrs, I had completed an Advertising & Graphic Design course and graduated the youngest in Australia.

What inspires you?
If a client comes to me with NO direction: Everything inspires me. If a client comes to me with A direction: That inspires me.

PDC: Nice answer.

Describe your style of design:
Versatile, simplistic, marketable and diverse.

What are your thoughts on Macromedia Flash?
I think that Macromedia Flash is a great tool that enables any interactive designer to deliver the perfect blend of form, function and interactivity.

What would you add to your workstation to increase productivity?
A Multi-Function 241MP Samsung LCD monitor.

What do you do besides design?
Account Management, Business Marketing & General Business Management

In two years where do you see yourself in the Design Industry?
Recognised, more experienced within the industry, a larger and more impressive client database and folio.

If you had to choose one, what is more important for a designer: artistic qualities or design education?
Artistic qualities - that one is simple! Why? We receive 10-20 resumes a week: some with experience and some without. We do not look at an applicant's resume, only their portfolio. Their quality of work overrides experience.

What differentiates your style of design than that of today's New Media Designers?
I design towards the target market and take a lot of branding and marketing factors in to consideration. With commercial design you should not have one 'style'; it has to be marketable and speak results.

Do you have any new projects coming up that you can tell us about?
Recently we have developed a CMS Broadband Flash Website (content managed) integrating Flash Actionscript, My Sql, JavaScript and PHP. We are also developing a Children's Interactive Learning Program with a series of flash cartoons that aims to treat children and adolescents with anxiety.

In your opinion, what defines a good portfolio?
Attention to detail, clean presentation, ability to show consistency through different mediums and customisation to each client.

Are all your clients based within Australia, or do you provide work elsewhere?
Shock Media Studios' client base is within Australia, however we have recently enquired in to registering as a Certified Information Technology exporter through Austrade (Australian Government)

What program that you currently use would you like to see changed and why?
QuarkXpress - There are a lot of simple additional features I think could be beneficial to the program that isn't currently there. For example, there should be pre-sets for standard A3, A4, A5, B5, B4 and B3 sizes when creating a new document.

As designers (or people, in general), we all have habits that we can't seem to shake off. What are some of your bad design habits?
Sometimes when designing within Corporate Guidelines it can become quite monotonous. It can become a bad design habit to design something new and inconsistant as an additional option, then design within the corporate guidelines to see what direction the client wants to go.

The final result always ends us being the latter, adds confusion with additional options and just decreases company profits.

How is it working for established corporate firms like Coldwell Banker, Pioneer, Milton, etc.?
Corporate Guidelines and Identity Standard manuals are to be followed with the strictest of measures when you work for an established firm, which can be quite restrictive towards the outcome of your design. In another view, it can be exciting to watch a corporate brand strengthen when the right design style is adhered to and challenging to be consistant.

I see that your client list consists mostly of real estate and property companies. Do you seek clients specifically in those markets (or related to)?
We started with a large property company, then the rest followed. Over time we have tailored our services to further cater for the property industry as we saw it as an opportunity to expand. Since then we divided our services in to three distinct markets; Print Advertising, Property Marketing and Digital Media. By doing so it has allowed us to campaign seperately and specifically.

Do you prefer technologically advanced sites or sites with simple but good design?
I prefer a technogically advanced site balanced with good interactive design.

Whilst 'technologically advanced FLASH' sites are always exciting, they arent always fast loading and that in itself can deter some users who aren't prepared to wait; regardless of the 'wow' factor.

A 'simple but good design' site can mean limited functionality - which can look appealing and is fast loading, but doesn't really serve a purpose.

A 'technologically advanced site with good interactive design' is fantastic as it can provide vital marketing information, intergration with sales databases and current company data, easily organised and deployed content based around a clean design and simple navigational structure -- perfect!

Do you have any cool design tips?
Do better than you did yesterday and challenge what you did today.

PDC: Great ADVICE!

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