I am such a fan of this lovely lady.

Adrianne Barba is a designer/illustrator from Perth. She runs her own design business – bird.STUDIOS – where she produces beautiful work for corporate clients.

I couldn’t have the Friday Five series without including Adrianne so here goes…

If you could be anywhere else in the world right now, where would you be?

My family in Macedonia live near a beautiful mountain that is a national park called Pelister. It’s like a magical forest from a fairy tale, full of lush trees, tiny wild strawberries and bears!

Magazines, Books, Art or Music – what gives you the most inspiration?

Books. I’m a reader instead of a tv-watcher. I also collect vintage children’s books and these are a huge source of inspiration for me. I love how brave the illustrators were in the 50s/60s era as well as the unusual stories. One of my favourites is a book by Carla Greene from the late 1950s called I Want To Be A Coal Miner . There’s a flickr set of some of the pages here.

When did you first realise that you wanted to be a designer?

I used to look at greeting cards, signs, cereal boxes, movie credits, books anything visual really as a kid and critique them – I was rather judgemental! I wanted to be the person that got to design these things. After deciding being a music teacher was not for me but knowing I still wanted to work in a creative field, I started look at design as a career.

What project/design are you most proud of?

A print I designed as an anniversary present for my husband.

What advice would you give to someone that is interested in becoming a designer?

Make stuff. Don’t over-think, over-analyse or spend too much time getting sucked into looking at inspiration on the internet, just keep making things and practicing. Get away from the computer – come up with concepts outside or away from your screen, then work in the studio to put it together. I also believe you should invest time in getting a solid education in design and typography principles as well as improving your writing skills and getting a basic grip of web development. These will help you become a better designer with a broader understanding of communications. Decide whether you want to do a little of everything or become really good in one area (ie, specialise).