The Hot Desk: morning routines of book designers
Introducing a new series and a fun way to get to know each other a little better.
With ABDA being a made up of a variety of in-house and freelancer members who often don’t get to meet face-to-face, we asked a few designers if we could have a peek at their workspace and find out what they do to get fired up in the mornings. It would be fair to say coffee plays an extremely important role!
Mark Campbell
Head of Design HarperCollins
In-house, Sydney
I walk my dog every morning, which, combined with coffee, is the perfect way to ease into the day. I ride in to work everyday, which gives me a 20-minute period to prepare myself for the day – what is due today?/what meetings do I have? – and to switch my brain into gear in general. Once I hit the office and my desk, it’s a never-ending waterfall of emails, questions and directions for the team, so it’s important I’m on top of it all before I step foot in the door.
Astred Hicks
Design Cherry
Freelance designer, Sydney
My morning ritual is two hours of making onigiri for lunchboxes, doing craft/reading/lego, telling a small person to put their shoes on roughly 70 billion times, drive to school listening to science podcasts (usually Brains On! or Wow in the World), school drop off then stop for a takeaway coffee before returning back to my studio to sit down at the computer with coffee in hand and go over emails, make lists and relish the prospect of being the boss of the stereo for 6 hours while my brain slowly clocks over into work mode.