Industry Impact & Discourse: The AGDA Tenure

From 2014 to 2019, I served as National Editor of the Australian Graphic Design Association (AGDA), Australia's peak body for graphic design, where I curated and shaped national design discourse for a membership base in their thousands. The centrepiece of this role was the monthly Quick Squiz newsletter and AGDA’s associated digital collateral, through which I conducted nearly 200 interviews with figures across every level of the profession. Subjects ranged from internationally recognised practitioners such as Ian Anderson of The Designers Republic and Jonathan Ellery from Browns, to emerging voices at events like AGDA’s First Five Out, with each conversation translated into content that was at once intellectually serious and broadly accessible.

The role resists easy categorisation. It wasn't a publishing job, though it produced publications. It wasn't a communications role, though it shaped national discourse. It wasn't stakeholder engagement, though it required me to work with confidence and sensitivity across every tier of the profession, from board members and studio principals to students submitting their first piece of public writing. What it demanded, above all, was cultural strategy: making editorial decisions about tone, emphasis, inclusion, and timing that served the long-term health of the field.

The practical outcome of all those conversations is a trust network across the breadth of the Australian design community. In Melbourne, where the design sector is dense, interconnected, and relationship-driven, that's an asset I can put to work immediately.