#FridayFive with Shillington Design Teacher Tia Queen

Inspiration can come from anywhere. So, on one Friday a month, we’re sharing some of our Shillington team’s favourite things from the past four weeks. This month, Shillington Brisbane Teacher  Tia Queen tells us what was on her radar in July.

1. To Follow: Dense Discovery

After farewelling a slew of e-newsletters in a recent inbox-detox, I just couldn’t part ways with my weekly roundup from Dense Discovery. Edited by Kai Brach, publisher of Offscreen Magazine, it’s a densely curated mix of practical and inspirational links at the intersection of tech, design, and culture. My recent favourite feature was Mr Bingo’s latest creation: a hand-made gravestone for your desk with a timely reminder of what makes life worth living.

2. To Read: Outvertising 2019 by PrideAM

PrideAM just dropped an awesome guide to producing LGBTQ-inclusive advertising aimed at a mainstream audience. Outvertising 2019 includes campaign case studies, compelling stats, and contributions from world-leading thinkers such as Mark Runacus (Wax/On) and Christopher Kenna (Brand Advance). Plus it features a slick design. You can download it for free here if you subscribe to the PrideAM e-newsletter.

3. To Go: TAKEO Mihoncho Honten Showroom

If Willy Wonka joined forces with Marie Kondo to create a paper shop, I think it’d look something like TAKEO’s Mihoncho Honten showroom. With more than 2,700 colours of fine paper plus around 7,000 paper types, Mihoncho Honten would spark joy for any paper lover—it’s high up on my Tokyo bucket list! Photo by Yasuo Yamaguchi.

4. To Listen: Hidden Brain

Why do we eat some animals and keep others as pets? Does living with animals really make us healthier? Hidden Brain is one of those podcasts that answers questions I didn’t even think to ask. Using science and storytelling, Shankar Vedantam reveals the unconscious patterns that drive human behaviour. Their episode Animal Instincts is a conversation with psychology professor Hal Herzog about the contradictions embedded in our relationships with animals. Illustration by Angela Hsieh/NPR.

5. Wildcard: Faune

After deciding to only use female-designed typefaces for a recent project, I discovered just how difficult it is to find contemporary typefaces designed by women that are commercially and readily available. This led to an Instagram post where I rounded up some gems I discovered, but I’d love to find more. Any female type designers/foundries out there – please tag @studiogangplank in your work! Featured here is Faune, a typeface family designed by Alice Savoie, commissioned by the Centre National des Arts Plastiques in partnership with the Groupe Imprimerie Nationale. You can download Faune for free here (under a CC BY-ND 4.0 license—just credit the author when you use it).

Have a look back at what’s been inspiring our team over the past few months! And for some drool-worthy visuals from our Shillington students, read 16 handmade album covers and 14 app designs.