Our guest this week is the Birmingham-based graphic designer and art director, Luke Tonge who cheerfully describes himself as a "shorts-wearing, type-nerding, eyebrow wiggling independent" – which gives you some clue to his fun style and personality.
It's not surprising, then that Luke is happiest when he's surrounded by people and aside from his freelance work, he also runs the meet-up Glug in Birmingham and is one of the co-founders of Birmingham Design Festival. He also sometimes lectures at Birmingham City University where he teaches the next generation of designers.
In this episode, we talk about the last decade or so, as we share similar paths in publishing. We were curious to know what it was like studying at Falmouth university by the sea, and how he made the most of social media and blogging back in 2007 and ’08 – not to mention, how he survived the global economic crisis and found a whole creative community online.
We learn how volunteering at Form Fifty Five for a decade paid off (the beloved platform now called Made by Folk) – as it opened so many doors for Luke. And we talk of how times have changed, why the design industry still has some way to go, but how Luke is hopeful for people entering the working world today.
