Hannah Ison’s Journey: From Aesthetic Design to Educational Impact

Hannah Ison is a PhD student and sessional tutor at the Queensland College of Art and Design, Griffith University. Her love for design led her to pursue formal education and a variety of roles in the design industry. However, it was her decision to return to university and focus on educational design that truly shaped her path.

In this interview, Hannah shares her experiences, challenges, and aspirations, highlighting the profound impact of design on education and communication.

Thank you so much for being our latest Creative Spark, Hannah. Let’s start the interview by discussing how you got interested in design.

I’ve been passionate about design for as long as I can remember. In school, I used Microsoft Publisher to create birthday cards for friends and family, and when I finally got my hands on Photoshop, I was completely hooked. I would design resumes, cards, blog interfaces, graphics and layouts for my friend’s MySpace profiles (yes, MySpace). It wasn’t until late in high school that I realised design could be a potential career path for me.

When I first started university, I enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts (Design and Communication) because that was all available on the Sunshine Coast where I lived. However, I found there were far more communication subjects than design ones, so I left halfway through to attend Shillington College — a condensed three-month course. It was incredibly valuable, and I felt fully equipped to enter the professional world afterwards.

I tried various jobs — graphic designer, web designer, marketing designer — but I found them all really dissatisfying, though I couldn’t quite figure out why. After about a year of this frustration, I decided to return to university in Brisbane to delve deeper into design, now that a ‘Bachelor of Design’ was accessible to me. I completed my Bachelor of Design Futures with Honours at QCAD, and that decision shaped my path from then on.

How has your creative identity evolved?

I’m not sure I have a single definition for my creative identity, as it is constantly evolving and adapting. However, if I had to describe it, I would say it is rooted in a passion for education and a deep appreciation for the power of design to impact people.

The biggest change since I first started exploring this pathway is my understanding of the power of design. Initially, my passion was primarily driven by aesthetics, but now I recognise how design can profoundly influence and communicate ideas.

Can you tell us about some impactful projects and experiences you’ve had?

Ooh, this is a tricky one! Two pivotal experiences really shifted my path.

The first was during an assessment for my Bachelor of Design Futures degree at QCAD. We had an assessment called ‘Design and Education’, which involved creating an educational workbook for students. We got to work directly with high school students and get their feedback.

The assigned readings were really interesting (which wasn’t something I felt a lot during university), and I found the whole process really enjoyable. It wasn’t so much the final product created that made this a pivotal experience as it validated that design and education could be a focus for me.

The second was my work with a company called Skin Deep Learning while I was still in university. My role involved designing magazine-style learning materials for beauty students. From memory, I started this job around the same time as the ‘Design and Education’ assessment.

This overlap really emphasised the potential of combining design with education as a field to explore. I learnt a heap about creating effective learning materials and seeing the positive feedback from students and teachers were incredibly rewarding.

These experiences (among many others) made me realise how passionate I am about educational design and set me on the path I’m on today.

How have cultural and social influences shaped your work?

I went to six different schools growing up, each with its unique approach to education. Seeing these different approaches had a big impact on me, and I think, both consciously and subconsciously, this further fuels my interest in this area.

What challenges have you faced, and how have they shaped you as a designer?

One of the biggest challenges I’ve encountered in both my education and career is dealing with self-doubt. It’s something that has always haunted me, and I suspect it will continue to linger (yay!). However, I’ve found ways to push through it, and those strategies have definitely helped me grow in many areas.

What are your aspirations for the future of your creative work?

I’m really enjoying exploring different ways of using design for communication and education, and I hope to continue this exploration in the future because I’m always eager to learn new things. Currently, my primary focus is completing my PhD, so I’m trying to avoid setting too many other big goals to prevent my creative procrastination from taking over.

Hannah’s journey from creating simple graphics for friends to focusing on educational design underscores the transformative power of passion and persistence. Her experiences and challenges have shaped a dynamic and evolving creative identity rooted in the belief that design can profoundly impact education and communication.

As she continues her exploration and works towards her PhD completion, Hannah’s story highlights the importance of leveraging design to make meaningful contributions to the world.

You can connect with Hannah on Instagram when she’s not studying.