Graphic Design Teacher
Sydney

Julie Stinson

What do you love about design?

This quote from Paula Scher sums it up for me, “It’s through mistakes that you actually can grow. You have to get bad in order to get good.”

I feel that this is my career! Mistakes that have helped me grow. Skills that I developed from re-assessing how I could improve. I love seeing a design concept go through refinement to become the simplest solution to a problem. That is so satisfying. I love that ‘aha’ moment in the end admiring that solution.

Why do you teach?

I just love people, really. Design of course, but people first. Getting alongside them, encouraging them to be the best that they can be. And I love seeing them grow, trying new things and nailing them!

Tell us about your design career outside of Shillington.

My beginnings were in museum work. There was that time I worked for a printing house in Western Sydney—which did help fuel my love for all things print—apart from this I can pretty much say that I was hooked starting from my three-month (unpaid) internship fresh from design school. I had a desire to be a part of the storytelling from our rich cultural history here in Sydney—whether it was from the Great Depression through Susannah Place Museum, or celebrating the 50s style and fashion through the Fifties Fair, or commemorating the 100 years of Vaucluse House being open for the public to enjoy—every brief is diverse and has unique challenges. I now love working with the talented scientists and creative teams at the Australian Museum where I’ve learned fact from fiction about Tyrannosaurs, met with Gadigal Elders to help tell significant cultural stories in an Aboriginal voice through the GADI exhibition, and learned that minerals are not rocks! The most wonderful thing is working as part of a collaborative and supportive design studio—much like at Shillington—all sharing in the creative process.

What or who are you loving right now?

My family (hopefully, everyday)! Colourful, patterned illustration design by Tom Abbiss Smith, Alphabet Studio’s work, training at my local gym, especially in Les Mills RPM!

If you were a typeface, what would you be?

Brandon Grotesque, practical and warm.

What’s your favourite blog?

Can’t go past It’s nice that for all-round inspo.