Curiosity. Who cares what it did to the cat? These days, more than ever, a sense of curiosity is the ultimate self-starter kit, for not only every designer but every sentient human being. It’s like an action pack that no knowledge-acquisitive superhero can go without. Without curiosity to set you off, these days, you really are lost. Like it or not, the days of the clock puncher are numbered. Machines will do all the heavy lifting in no time, and the feather-dusting too for that matter. Therefore, in a sense, we must all be in the self-improvement business, whatever other business we happen to be in. Education has gone buzzword holistic. It’s everywhere you are and everything you do, or as close as it can be. Well, learning is certainly no longer the preserve of the athenaeum, the academy, the lecture room, the ivory tower, the Ivy league or even the studio – and certainly not the privileged few.

Well it’s hot and revolutionary stuff. But, however flexible and mobile a designer’s educational options may be in these heady days, the first requirement remains the same. An insatiable degree of curiosity may be the most valuable trait that any designer, artist or, again, just sentient human being, can wish to possess. After all, each of us, these days, has a world of information at our fingertips, but do we know which questions are worth asking? Of course, there’s only one way to find that out and that’s the curious thing…

This Issue Features:

M35 - Bringing clarity to the complex [Sydney, Australia, Multimedia Agency] Gemma O'Brien - The master of textual conversations [Australia, Artist & Designer] Anna Crichton - A day on the life of a cartoonist [New Zealand illustrator] Fraser Muggeridge - Prioritizing content over a signature style [London, Design Studio] Holli McEntegart - Intersectioning the real and imagined [New York Artist]