Our Young Gun profile takes a look at some of the young talent across the advertising, adtech, marketing and media sector in Australia. It aims to shed light on the varying roles, people and companies across the buzzing industry.
Today we speak to Houston Group junior designer Ticky Lan.
Time at the company?
Eight months
How long have you been in the industry?
Also eight months.
How did you get here? Was this always the plan?
Growing up I’ve always liked to draw and always knew I wanted to be doing something creative. During my last semester at uni, our lecturer was encouraging everyone to enter the student category in the AGDA award, I thought “why not” and gave it ago. Two months later I was thrilled to receive a message from Houston asking if I was interested in a junior position - and the rest was history.
Who is your right-hand person/who guides you day to day?
Our creative director Alex Toohey has been guiding me through every step since day one which I’m extremely grateful for.
What’s the best thing about the industry you work in?
I think it’s the ability to work on so many brands, be part of the design process and see them come to life – it’s the best feeling in the world.
And the biggest challenge?
There are so many new software and programs being used in the industry and it’s hard to keep up with the learning sometimes.
Whose job have you set your sights on in the future?
For now, I’m still not sure yet but I can see future me staying in the creative industry and working on some of the brands I love, particularly in the fashion industry.
Where do you turn for inspiration?
Besides Behance and design blogs like It’s Nice That and The Brand Identity, I find it super helpful just talking to everyone else in the design team. I’ve been very fortunate to work with a group of incredibly talented and experienced creatives. Travelling overseas is also a big one for me. I always liked to visit places that are relatively unknown and photograph things I find visually appealing. Often they would be the layout of a local street sign or just the typeface on a snack packaging I liked, and I would almost instantly think of how I would use that element if I had to design something like a poster.
I also spend a lot of my spare time keeping up with trends in fashion, often looking at the runways and collections of brands I love, such as Jil Sander and Acne Studios, which gives me a better idea of how to pair colours, shapes and patterns when it comes to design.
My favourite advert is:
The KitKat ad with two KitKat bars to represent “break” between a whole page of Zoom meeting schedules. It’s simple and yet powerful.
Tell us one thing people at work don’t know about you?
Growing up I also loved music and have a 6th grade certificate in piano.
In five years' time I'll be:
It’s hard to predict what the world would be like in five years for now, but I’d love to work abroad for a few months just to see what that is like.
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