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Magda Ksiezek
Magda Ksiezak is a Poland born freelance creative (Graphic Designer and Sculptor) based in Melbourne, Australia. Her work features use of paper craft to create stop motion animations and experimental graphic outcomes. She works alongside a ‘killer’ team at Yell Design to create engaging visuals for marketing campaigns. Some of her past clients include brands such as Perrier, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, The Melbourne Museum, AFL Kids, and Dulux.

Early Life and Education
Magda spent most of her childhood growing up in Canberra (capital of Australia) after emigrating at the age of 5 from Warsaw, Poland, where she was born. She studied a bachelor of fine arts at the Australian National University and a diploma of graphic arts at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. In her words her ‘varied interests have given me an open-minded, resourceful and hands-on approach to graphic design.’ 

She developed a curiosity in design at age 14, studying different logos of skate and shoe brands in magazines such as Transworld. She became interested in photography and graffiti which boosted her appreciation for design and ignited her passion to pursue a creative career.

Magda claims she had little confidence in her work after graduation and now realises the opportunities this may have cost her as a creative. She didn’t push herself to collaborate with other creatives, ''‘If I were to do it all again I would definitely get out there more. Go to more events, talk to more people and just accept that I had some learning and practicing to do.’''

Yell Design
Yell Design prides themselves on being ‘Australia's first fully dedicated, short-form content studio’ (yelldesign.com) and offer services including: Internet Content, Sound Design, Frame Animation, Consulting, Handmade Crafts and Laser Cutting.

Magda first partnered with the Melbourne based company in 2015 after meeting Matt Willis (founder of Yell Design) where her skills in paper craft flourished. ‘It was there that my approach shifted and I was able to push my paper craft skills and focus on developing in areas such as storytelling in advertising, art direction and post-production.’

‘After working on The Burger (an independent paper craft project of Magda's) with a friend of mine, I was introduced to stop-motion and my curiosity for the medium only amplified.’ 

KFC
While being a senior designer at Yell Design, Magda played a fundamental role in multiple projects for the fast paced animation studio. She curated stories that the team would then produce and publish in a collaborative manor.

Magda was often responsible for talking directly to clients and understanding their needs for the task at hand, considering brand guidelines, content formats, duration and brand message. Being a well rounded roll, having an ‘eye for art direction’ helped meet deadlines and manage the art team.

Freelance Work
RRR

Each year radio station  RRR hosts a radiothon to raise essential money to keep their doors open and radio waves broadcasting. Magda was approached in 2015 to ‘create the hero imagery that would sit alongside the theme of "paint the town RRR”’

Magda brainstormed some ideas but was compelled to create a vintage style boom box in her paper craft format. Once she had agreed on a concept with the client she created small scale models to play around with color and scale before creating the final outcome.

The outcome Magda created was pushed out by a local design studio called Actual Size across social media making use of digital banners, GIFs, posters and was also featured in RRR’s own publication titled ‘The Trip’.

Dulux

Magda was approached by Stanley & Morph to help with the production of props and sets for social media content being created for Dulux. After some research she ‘sketched some rough settings for each video and quickly began looking at colour combinations that fit within the overall scheme.’

Odd Pears

In 2016, Magda was contacted by Odd Pears to ‘have some fun’ with their product. Magda said she had made shoes with paper in the past but wanted to further explore this concept for the project at hand. With complete creative freedom from the brand, Magda wanted to focus on keeping each set neat and complimenting the color of the socks.

‘What’s better than a great combination of shoes and socks?! I love sneakers so it was only natural to incorporate them into the mix.’

Pretty Neat
Magda went on to work closely with Pretty Neat to create some giant colourful props for an internal project that could be used as visual assets top the brand’s toolkit. Pretty Neat presented Magda with 4 icons they had in mind for her to create and refine into the final outcome. These included a games controller, pair of lips, an astrerix and a crescent moon.

Comments on Her Own Practice…
Magda states that her work outcomes aren’t only about the paper crafted objects but rely a lot on in-frame composition, lighting, camera work and post production.

Magda has stated that the Swann Morton scalpel is essential to her tool kit as well as a range of basic craft supplies and decent paper stock.

Websites
hellomagda.com

Yelldesign.com

oddpears.com

stanleyandmorph.com

Interviews
thedesignkids.org

thedesignfiles.net