Creative Minds: Nina Gibbes on turning a year in New York into an ongoing design odyssey

Place of origin: Sydney, Australia

Places lived and worked: Melbourne (current) and Sydney, Australia and New York, United States

Pronouns: She/her

CV:

• Visual designer, RGA, Melbourne, December 2022-present
• Freelance graphic designer, Australia, 2019-present
• Sessional lecturer (Communication Design), RMIT University, Melbourne, January-July 2022
• Communications co-ordinator, Firstdraft, Sydney, March 2017-May 2018
• Press and media relations, Joshua Liner Gallery, New York, October 2013-February 2017

1. How did you end up becoming a creative?

I’ve always had a passion for fine art and design. I studied fine art at Sydney College of the Arts, majoring in print media, learning printmaking, bookbinding, and digital media. After graduating, I moved to New York for a year, which turned into five! I worked in fine art galleries and managed communications at Joshua Liner Gallery in Chelsea, Manhattan, designing exhibition catalogues and visual design for monthly exhibitions.

Realising I was drawn to graphic design, I took night classes at Pratt Institute. After returning to Sydney, I worked at Firstdraft, managing design and communications. I later moved to Melbourne and completed my Master of Communication Design at RMIT University, where I won the Dean’s List Award. For almost two years, I’ve been a visual designer at RGA. I’ve learned so much, especially in digital design, and I’m grateful my creative director, Anita Forte, saw my potential despite my limited experience in digital and product design.

2. What's your favourite piece of work in your portfolio?

My favourite piece is The Disorganised Manifesto, a commissioned project at Collingwood Yards in 2021 by Bus Projects, Liquid Architecture, and West Space. The project brought these three organisations together to discuss what they wanted their futures to look like and what they wanted to focus less on. It was during the Covid pandemic, a time of reflection on reshaping our futures.

I ran two design workshops where participants were invited to share their visions for the future. They also drew letters and numerals, which I turned into a collective typeface that anyone can download and use. Using this typeface, I typeset statements from the recorded conversations onto five flags, each with different messages, forming The Disorganised Manifesto.

This project resonates with many people and serves as a reminder of shared goals for a future filled with care, kindness, and positivity. It has been written about in PhD theses and was exhibited at The National Gallery of Victoria for Melbourne Now (2023), a major survey of Melbourne’s creative landscape. It’s a piece that blends my fine art background with my graphic design skills, and I’m proud of how it has connected with so many people.

3. What's your favourite piece of work created by someone else?

One of my favourite design studios is Los Angeles-based Mouthwash Studio. They recently completed a project for a wellness brand called OEM. It’s a stunning brand identity and the user interface is very beautiful, and at points, can be quite meditative. I think it’s important not to get caught up in wishing you had done something, but more to take inspiration from other design projects and admire them—see how you can learn from them and allow other designer’s work to help you learn more about your own work. There’s always more opportunities to learn and grow in the future and there will always be more projects, so you should never feel like you’re missing out too much. 

4. What kind of student were you?

Hardworking, passionate, and driven.

5. What's the craziest thing you've ever done?

I moved to New York when I was 21 with absolutely no professional skills, straight out of undergraduate and just threw myself into trying to survive in a big city! It was character building.

6. What career did you think you'd have when you were a kid?

I wanted to be an artist. I think I’ve landed not too far off from that.

7. What's your favourite music / film / TV show / book / other of the past year and why?

The last artist I listened to is a London-based DJ called Shanti Celeste. She plays a lot of fun house music, and has a monthly show on NTS. I’m a big fan.

8. What's your guilty pleasure?

My guiltiest pleasure is indulging in skincare products. I love trying new things, reading reviews and also love the packaging design. I’m currently loving K-beauty skincare and makeup. I love beauty products so much I started a Slack channel at RGA just for this, it’s turned out to be quite popular among my colleagues!

9. What app could you absolutely not live without? What app do you wish you could delete?

I can’t live without Soundcloud and the NTS app. I love listening to a wide range of electronic music while I’m working, and both of these apps are great and worth supporting with subscriptions. There’s so much underground talent on there, as well as big-name artists. I don’t have any unnecessary apps on my phone, so there isn’t one I wish I could delete, I usually try to stick to the essentials.

10. What really motivates you?

I’m always motivated to get into my design work when I’m surrounded by a community that’s just as passionate and excited about what we’re creating. I’m lucky to work at RGA, where this kind of teamwork and energy are core values. In all honesty, the best creative work is done when people are well rested, not overly stressed, everyone shares the load, and communicates effectively and with kindness. 

11. Do you work best under pressure, or when things are calm?

I like a balance here. It’s great having a few chill days here and there, but it’s also important to embrace a bit of pressure with creativity. Sometimes you can get stuck in a bit of a creative swamp when you don’t have the added pressure of deadlines. They force you to make decisions, rather than endlessly iterating. This helps you continue to push the work forward.