Jef Wong FDINZ

It’s a great thing to be part of this design community.

Connected to people like us, seeing how we all navigate a life in design.

Making change, not just for ourselves, but for those around us.

Knowing it’s making the journey ‘from – to’ that defines our design life.

This year DINZ celebrates a designer who has made that journey and continues it

Always growing forward, with the generosity to grow others along the way.

Defining what, at best, being a designer can be, and where it can take you.

 Taking his journey from then, to now

From the ‘I love to draw designer’, as a fresh faced AUT graphic graduate, who soon knew it would take more than natural talent, to make a mark in the industry.

To the ‘thinking harder designer’, who understood that graft was the secret ingredient in craft and putting the work into a well thought out idea, was at the heart of making something stand out, and stand for something.

From the ‘learn fast designer’, who took the chance at New Zealand’s most established design agency, to push bigger ideas on bigger stages, and expand what design can do.

 To the ‘team designer’, who saw the value in collaborating, designing like you’re playing in a band, not going solo.

The ‘Designer as mentor’, invested in new talent, pushing forward a design fellowship that has nurtured some of Aotearoa’s outstanding young designers. 

Designing how we flew, what we knew in the news, the brands we loved to eat and drink, from breweries, to producers and apples that rock. Creating the icons, that moved us, as Aotearoa moved forward.

Here is a Designer as creative champion – with 4 years as convenor of Best, D&AD judging, international speaking, and the occasional globetrotting ethnographic Las Vegas fly on the wall shenanigans.

This award goes to a designer who represents the very best of what the profession is, and what it takes to be a leader in this room tonight.

The creativity to see what could be.

The generosity to grow others.

From work ethic and a passion - going further, being better every day.

To a design leader who epitomizes diversity, inclusivity, and positivity in a modern Aotearoa.