Student Profile

Ben Wright

Art Director - Block Branding
Bachelor of Arts (Design)

From what I had heard, Curtin had the best course in design and advertising. Not to mention the only degree course at the time to my knowledge. I went to the graduate exhibition and liked what I saw.

I had a blast at Curtin. It’s the only time you can work so little but still feel like you’re accomplishing something very important. So much free time. I wish I could go back.

What sets the course at Curtin apart from others is that you learn design history, you learn to think critically and conceptually and you get a really great knowledge base to draw from. I’m sure some people reading this are dreading writing the next Design In Context essay but I think those classes were the most valuable. It's something that I've found isn't being taught at the other schools.

My highlight was standing by my little stall with my little cards and books at the graduate exhibition and feeling pretty proud of myself that I got it done in time. Possibly the only deadline I made at uni. I was also pretty happy to get some of my posters hung in the lower level of Building 201 for a while. I think they’re still there actually, kids are using them to pin notes to or something.

Classes with colour wiz Paul Green-Armytage were always very entertaining and informative. It was great to see someone so hyped on colour. Yolanda Stapleton and Lee Ingram always pushed me to stop being lazy and get some work done. Chris Kueh, Justin Randall, Jacque Shaw and Blair McLeish are some other names I can think of. They were also good.

After I graduated I took some time off for a while. I did some freelancing, got a really great contract doing mind-numbing design work for a mining company which paid for a trip to Europe. When I got back from that I basically freelanced for a while until the right job came up. And it did, eventually.

I’ve been at Block Branding since 2008. I’ve grown so much as a designer since then. I’ve learnt a lot, worked very hard, had some success with it, which has been nice. I won the Art Director of the Year at the Perth Advertising and Design Club (PADC) Awards last year which was a nice surprise.

I’m planning a move to New York later this year to try something different. Hopefully that works out. It’s not like that city’s chewed anyone up and spat them out lately.