Melbourne-based illustrator and designer Samantha Curcio has spent over a decade shaping brands, mentoring young creatives, and honing her craft. With a career that started in top design studios and evolved into a thriving freelance practice. Starting to freelance also coincided with the launch of her first kids book and CBCA Notable; Hello Every Body! published with Hardie Grant Kids - a huge career highlight. Her work is playful yet precise, deeply influenced by her curiosity, love for learning, and the ever-changing creative landscape. Now, as she balances freelance projects with parenting, she reflects on her journey, the lessons she’s learned, and what she hopes to see more of in Melbourne’s design scene.

Can you tell us a little about your first few steps in your design career?

I studied at Swinburne University which offered industry placement in our third year. Through this program I worked at Lonely Planet for an entire year before graduating, which proved invaluable for both growing my skills and confidence as a designer. After wrapping up at Lonely Planet I worked in a couple of leading brand studios for over 10 years. During my studio time I honed my skills, worked on a range of interesting and diverse large-scale projects and mentored young designers in our team. I then leapt into freelance when I had my son in 2021.

This new era of freelance for me has been so rewarding and has worked really well in terms of being able to raise my kids and still work flexibly. I’ve always been someone who likes having multiple creative things on the go, so freelancing and parenting is like that in a way as well. My kids are also a huge source of inspiration for my work. Starting to freelance also coincided with the launch of my first kids book Hello Every Body! published with Hardie Grant Kids - a huge career highlight.

Tell us some of your favourite, creative people and inspiring places in your city!

What should emerging designers keep in mind as they begin their design career?

Ask questions all the time! Asking for help is not a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. Soak everything up like a sponge, you can’t learn enough in those early years. I personally found that having a strong and lengthy design studio background, learning processes, workflow and project management has really helped me become a better, more confident freelancer. Try lots of different things and let them shape what you want to do, or don’t want to do. Never stop learning and evolving! Einstein said it best ‘once you stop learning, you start dying.’

Can you share the moment or experience that sparked your passion for design?

I think it came for me in high school. I was doing a lot of art based subjects, and very much immersed in a variety of creative mediums. I realised if I pursued graphic design, I could harness all the aspects of the creative process that I loved and still make a career out of it. That’s the cool thing about design, you can travel down so many different creative avenues on any given project. I employ a lot of those techniques in my illustration career now too!

What strategies do you employ to identify and create new opportunities for emerging designers?

I will recommend people for roles, or share profiles of people I’m interested in to others who might be looking for a certain creative talent, or just because ‘hey this is cool’. Even a nice comment on someone’s social media post can be a way to recognise great work. Every little bit counts I think!

Looking ahead, what do you think are the key factors that will shape the global design landscape?

AI is definitely something that a lot of creatives I know are discussing right now. It won’t go away, but it may inform the type of work people create going forward. Will we want things to be more tangible, and use more mediums that require human manipulation and craftsmanship? Maybe!

I have definitely found delving into handmade objects with my sewing machine lately to be really fulfilling. I have found my work becoming more organic even in my illustration style (albeit digital). I don’t know that my foray into a more organic style has been from the recent AI boom but it could sway design trends of the future. Even analogue photography is rising in popularity again, so I think there is a want for things to be handheld.

What are the core values or philosophies that guide your creative practice?

I like to always keep evolving, learning and creating in different ways. I don’t want to feel like I’m ever going backwards. Trying new mediums within my illustration style has been a valuable source of growth for me. Skill building is fulfilling because it opens new doors to projects that I wouldn’t even have considered as a possibility. I also love working with people who are passionate and positive about their ideas or what they are creating.

What lessons from your early career have most shaped your leadership style and approach?

Coming from a team environment in my previous design studios, I learnt the value of collaboration and mentorship early on in my career. While I work solo now, I still value collaboration and pursue ways of working that allow me to collaborate with clients, designers in my community and other small business owners.

What I love about working directly with a client is getting to know them personally and forming those professional relationships that can help produce a better outcome and create trust. I think if clients are included in the process they can enjoy the outcome a lot more because they have been brought on a journey. I feel like my work is also an expression of who I am, so if the client knows me well, there is a good chance they will be happy with the outcome. Positivity and enthusiasm are big drivers for me!

What would you like to change in the design industry of your city?

I feel like Melbourne can be such a great city for design and we have access to so many incredible creative events and spaces, but it can also feel very siloed and cliquey in some respects. I take my work seriously, but I don’t take myself seriously and I like to celebrate other people’s wins as much as my own. So perhaps a sprinkle more playfulness in the design scene, and things overall feeling a bit less serious. I think it can feel intimidating for newcomers to the industry, when it absolutely doesn’t have to be!

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Instagram | The photo of Samantha is by Ximena Jimenez and the photo of Samantha's book is by Photographer Mark Lobo.