The Producers - Lauren Broeren
Lauren Broeren (she/they)
Lauren is a designer & director from Melbourne Australia, with a particular interest in creating commercial & documentary content.
They have worked on drama and reality television, documentaries, short films and commercials in a variety of capacities, both in Australia and in the US, and has a particular interest in Graphic Design and Photography.
Lauren is inspired by authentic and diverse Australian stories, and filmmaking that makes an impact. She currently works as a senior designer for production company ‘The Producers’ & and an in-house director for their sister company Eric Tom & Bruce.
Lauren is based in Wurundjeri country, and pays respects to the traditional custodians of the lands on which they live and work.
Questions:
Tell us about your current role and design specialism(s)?
I’m currently the senior designer & directors assistant at The Producers & occasional in-house director for their sister company Eric Tom, & Bruce. My primary design role is to work closely with our directors to design and develop their Directors Treatments, helping them to win jobs.
What drew you to design in the first place and how has your design career evolved? Ever since I was a kid drawing was my favourite thing to do, so I feel like falling into the world of design was quite a natural progression for me. My path from then to now has evolved considerably and let me hone my skills in graphic design, photography, retouching, illustration and directing along the way, and my current roles allow me to utilise all of them.
What aspects of design do you get really nerdy about personally?
Spacing and hierarchy. They’re both basic principles, but are so often ignored.
There are so many new design tools out - what tools do you like to use and why? (whether digital platforms or old fashioned pen and paper!)
I can’t go past Indesign & Photoshop. They are the heavy lifters in my design work, but more & more often design platforms like Canva have proved really helpful when the turnaround time is tight.
Design Thinking - thoughts?
Whilst I think basic design principles are important, I am much more of an intuitive designer, so haven’t really delved into design thinking very much. As of yet…
What are the most persistent misconceptions about your particular design specialism that you see across the advertising and marketing landscape?
A common misconception is that there is no design work involved in creating an ad. However clients select directors based on how well the design of their Directors Treatment sells their vision, so great design is crucial to the job being awarded.
Accessible design is an increasingly prominent topic - from your experience what are the most challenging facets of accessible design? And what does best practice in accessible design in your particular design specialism look like?
Whilst my design work in my current role is targeted at a very specific audience (usually a handful of people at an ad agency), the small ways that we have started to include accessible design is through very simple additions such as gifs & video elements (which help our clients to engage more deeply with the directors vision), clean design, and auditory aids. Always trying to make things as clearly understandable as possible.
Thinking of people at the beginning of their career, what advice would you give them for navigating this constantly changing field?
There isn’t just one pathway to get to where you want to be. Find your passion and pursue it, but be willing to see opportunities in the unexpected..
