Public thanks: Phil Bush

When I was at school, apparently I told my mum in about Year 10 that I wanted to be a book designer. I don’t remember doing this. When it came time to choose what I wanted to do after school, there were a few options that appealed to me: graphic design and science – perhaps medical science research.

Because I loved art so much, in the end I opted to study graphic design.

My university degree was called Bachelor of Design in Visual Communication. I hated first year. It was boring and general and I think they actually used it to weed out the students who weren’t likely to stick with the course. We did a subject that I really disliked called creative problem solving. I don’t know why I hated this subject so much – its now something I do ALL the time, and a skill that I am so pleased to have! Perhaps it was too much for my green just-out-of-school brain.

I made my way through uni, never really fitting in with most of my cohort – I just wasn’t “way out” enough. I really enjoyed illustration, photography, design computing and 3D model making, but really disliked animation, and film making sorts of subjects. It seemed that I was a “print” girl.

In my final year, I had to do a major project, and I chose to do book design. WIthout even realising it, I had come back to my long-forgotten dream. I gained my degree with honours, and was terribly pleased to have completed it, and finally be out of there!

I saw a job advertisement for a position as an in-house book designer with a major international publisher. (This sort of job is REALLY rare because most book designers work freelance.) The applicant needed one year of experience – which I didn’t have. But I applied anyway. I made my way through the selection process, and was successful in gaining the position.

I LOVED it. My boss’s name was Phil Bush. He gave me so many opportunities to learn so much. I pestered him almost every day, looking for more to do. I think I must have driven him mad. However, as I grew more experienced, I was able to work more independently, and make decisions for myself and recognise the next job to be done.

When he gave me opportunities to do important things like design a cover for a book, he always gave me great feedback on what he liked and didn’t like. He never used any of my cover designs, but then neither should he have – because they weren’t very good!

But I was learning and I loved it. I was also re-gaining my self-confidence in my abilities. Uni had really stuffed my self-confidence. I was NEVER the person they wanted me to be. I wasn’t hip. I wasn’t way out. I didn’t push my designs as far as others might (and this is something I have had to work hard on). I began to feel that I wasn’t actually very creative. But working this job, I came to see that I was good at what I did. I was the person they needed in the job.

Later on, when I went on maternity leave, Phil was struck down with throat cancer. From his diagnosis to death was only about 7 days. We were all in shock.

I learnt so much from Phil. I still wonder why he gave me the job. I have no idea what it was about me or my sample designs that I did for him, that made him choose me. But I am terribly grateful and thankful that he did.