{"id":95000,"date":"2017-02-01T15:54:10","date_gmt":"2017-02-01T06:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?post_type=feature&p=95000&lang=en"},"modified":"2017-06-13T12:34:32","modified_gmt":"2017-06-13T03:34:32","slug":"jeremy-brown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/jeremy-brown\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeremy Brown"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jeremy Brown is an Australian graphic designer who moved to Fukuoka in March 2016 with his wife Hiromi and son Kenji. Prior to his new life in Fukuoka, he lived and worked in Brisbane at the graphic design agency, Nous. Jeremy spent 12 years at the agency, working his way from a Junior Designer to a Senior Creative, and has recently set up his own operation, Mister Brown<\/a>, here in Fukuoka. Almost a year since his move to Fukuoka, Fukuoka Now finds out how Jeremy is getting on, and his ambitions as a graphic designer in our beautiful city.<\/p>\n

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In Japan<\/strong>: 1 year
\nNationality<\/strong>: Australian
\nIdentity<\/strong>: Graphic Designer<\/p>\n

First off, tell us who you are?<\/strong>
\nI\u2019m an Australian graphic designer who, for the last 12 years, worked at a large design agency in Brisbane called Nous. I met my wife Hiromi in Brisbane six years ago and we got married and lived there on the proviso that one day we\u2019d move to her hometown, Fukuoka. So I\u2019m here for my wife, Hiromi, and my son, Kenji, and the experience of living in Japan. Before moving here, I visited Japan seven or eight times. The first time I came for a month and I absolutely fell in love with the food, the people and the culture.<\/p>\n

You worked at a large design agency in Australia for a number of years, what did you do there?<\/strong>
\nWell before that I lived in Canberra for seven or so years, where I studied graphic design and began working in a print shop that had graphic design services. I eventually got sick of the cold weather in Canberra and decided I wanted to move up to Brisbane. I started sending my resume and portfolio to some of the agencies there and luckily Nous took me on as a junior designer. I joined them completely green – from working as a print shop worker, fixing other people\u2019s print files – and worked their\u00a0for 12 years; all the way from a junior designer to one of the senior creatives. They\u2019re like family now and really great people to work with. By the time I left I was mentoring junior designers, helping them grow their skills. The teaching element was really positive and helped with my own design; it was really inspiring watching the junior designers develop. At Nous, I specialised in branding and packaging work for big Australian supermarket brands and many of the designs I\u2019ve created are sitting on supermarket shelves as we speak.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the design you\u2019re most proud of?<\/strong>
\nThat\u2019s a hard one.. I think I\u2019m most happy with my packaging work, because it\u2019s very tangible: you can actually pick something up that you\u2019ve created. It\u2019s all about communicating well, working out how to communicate a message or feeling successfully to a consumer. That process is really interesting, you\u2019ll have research groups sitting fifty or so people down to give feedback on your design, and then there\u2019s a period of fine tuning where you get to really hone the message. It\u2019s great seeing your product actually being picked up in a supermarket because a consumer likes its design.<\/p>\n

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How did you get into design, has it always been a passion?<\/strong>
\nWhen I was a kid, I always loved drawing. I used to get pieces of paper and ballpoint pens and scribble away. But I lived in the country and had no real idea what graphic design was. At the end of highschool I was scratching my head as to what to do and my career adviser said, \u2018how about you take a try at graphic design\u2019. So I put a portfolio together and submitted it to a college in Canberra where I was accepted. I never went to university but it was never a problem for me. University is great for theory but college gave me a really practical approach to graphic design, one that allowed me to practice my skills and grow my skillset quickly.<\/p>\n

I got my job with the printshop through the college, again to get more hands-on experience and learn the really practical stuff, learning how a design goes from the screen to a printed product. More than anything, seeing so many designs come through the print shop showed me how not to create a design and how to set things up tightly so that elements can be changed at the last minute without the whole thing\u00a0falling to pieces.<\/p>\n

What do you remember of your first visit to Fukuoka?<\/strong>
\nThe first time I came to Fukuoka was with my wife, Hiromi. I\u2019d proposed to her in Australia, but out of respect to her family, I thought it would be good to ask her parents. They\u2019re lovely people and I\u2019m lucky to live so close to them. We have dinner at my Grandmother-in-law’s house regularly and chat away in Hakata-ben<\/em>. I\u2019m lucky to get to see a side of Japanese life I feel that many people aren\u2019t so fortunate to see.<\/p>\n

You just started your own company, what are your goals with that?<\/strong>
\nAt the moment it\u2019s set up more like a freelance operation but the big dream for me is to set up my own agency here in Fukuoka. That\u2019s likely to take some time; here I can\u2019t knock on doors in the same way I could in Australia. The big dream for me would be to meet some foreign and local people in the Fukuoka creative community and bring them together to create an Asia-centric design agency with the experience of Western design and culture. I believe there\u2019s a huge opportunity for Kyushu and Fukuoka to have an agency like that.<\/p>\n

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What do you like about Japanese design and how does it compare to western design?<\/strong>
\nThere\u2019s a couple of levels. The first is its minimal approach, very paired back without a lot of the bells and whistles you find incorporated into Western design. Especially packaging, it might just be a beautiful box with small type and a little ribbon or a seal. In Australia that wouldn\u2019t fly, it\u2019s just not the way things are done. But at the other end, there\u2019s Japanese newspapers magazines, with big, bold yellow type, with everything screaming at you, it\u2019s too busy and too bold. The simple stuff is what inspires me the most, but it can be hard to simplify in design, clients want and expect certain things. Many of the design principles are the same but at the end of the day you have to create something that will communicate effectively between the company and their customer.<\/p>\n

When someone hires a designer, what should they be aware of\/have prepared?<\/strong>
\nWhat they need to do is sit down and ask themselves what they want to achieve. If there\u2019s no clear idea about what they want, then the creative process can get muddled: you work through something and then the client may say, \u2018oh that\u2019s not what I was thinking really\u2019. If someone hasn\u2019t worked with a designer before and aren\u2019t really sure what they want it can help to have a look on the internet and send designs they like to the designer. If they know exactly what they want then the brief is: this is my business, this is what we do, this is where we sit in the market and this is what we want to achieve. Once those things are established, then the designer can work through the problem. Designers aren\u2019t mind readers though, so it\u2019s important to get a solid idea of what is needed as soon as possible, especially when time and budgets are limited.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your process when someone comes to\u00a0you with a brief?<\/strong>
\nOnce I get a brief, I\u2019ll read through it and ask any questions I might have, and iron these out before I start designing. If I\u2019ve had experience in that particular industry, then I may have more experience than the client, and can give them advice on best practice. From there, I\u2019ll usually do some quick scribbles, lay some colors on the screen and try and get a feel for things. If I\u2019m working in collaboration, then those ideas might be tabled and talked through. I find starting on pen and paper the best way though, it\u2019s quicker for drafting than the computer and there\u2019s an illustrative shorthand you develop that other designers also understand. Once I\u2019ve got some concepts down I\u2019ll take them into the computer and use my graphics suite to create some final designs.<\/p>\n

What tools do you use?<\/strong>
\nMy workhorse is my iMac 5k and then I use the Adobe Creative Suite: Photoshop, In Design, After Effects etc.<\/p>\n

Quick Fire<\/strong><\/p>\n

Where\u2019s your favourite place to eat in Fukuoka?<\/strong>
\nMy Mother-in-laws, but that\u2019s not available to most people. I\u2019ve recently discovered Ni No Ni, which is cheap and tasty. For this time of year though, Kakigoya are great, especially in groups!<\/p>\n

Where\u2019s your favorite place in Fukuoka?<\/strong>
\nItoshima is beautiful, I could see myself retiring there one day.<\/p>\n

and in Kyushu?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s just got to be Fukuoka – everything is here, and it\u2019s all so close.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your favorite Japanese word or expression?<\/strong>
\nBariumai<\/em> – it means really delicious in Hakata-ben<\/em><\/p>\n

Do you have any advice to newly arrived foreigners in Fukuoka?<\/strong>
\nEven just learning some basic Japanese really opens doors for you and allows you to have so much more fun. Also make sure you explore around all the little alleyways away from central Tenjin, there\u2019s so much to discover in areas like Yakuin and Nakasu.<\/p>\n

When\u2019s your favorite time of the year in Fukuoka?<\/strong>
\nThe Hanami season – it\u2019s beautiful, the weather\u2019s perfect, and I love the picnics.<\/p>\n

How do you like your ramen noodles?<\/strong>
\nI like them quite hard. At first I liked them soft, but as my Japanese palette has developed, katai<\/em> is the best!<\/p>\n

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\nJeremy can be contacted via email here<\/a>, or you can go direct to his web page, here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s our pleasure to introduce the many interesting non-Japanese living in and around Fukuoka. If you know of someone whose activities might be of interest to other readers, please\u00a0let us know<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Interview by Oscar Boyd. Interviewed on Jan. 26, 2017.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jeremy Brown is an Australian graphic designer who moved to Fukuoka in March 2016 with his wife Hiromi and son Kenji. Prior to his new life in Fukuoka, he lived and worked in Brisbane at the graphic design agency, Nous. Jeremy spent 12 years at the agency, working his way from a Junior Designer to a Senior Creative, and has recently set up his own operation, I Am Mister Brown, here in Fukuoka. Almost a year since his move to Fukuoka, Fukuoka Now finds out how Jeremy is getting on, and his ambitions as a graphic designer in our beautiful city…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":95003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_locale":"en_US","_original_post":"95000","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4911],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","location-fukuoka-prefecture","en-US"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/JB3.jpg?fit=1024%2C729&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95000"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98322,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95000\/revisions\/98322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}