Meeting Ocular
By Claire Mabey (Verb Wellington, Director)
Creative Studio Ocular NZ have been a beautiful revelation for us here at Verb. If you’ve seen any of the design around for our new kaupapa, The Garden Party, then you’re seeing Ocular’s work. As a huge supporter of curious new arts projects in Pōneke, they have given their ace designer, Arron, to us as a core part of the communication for The Garden Party. Arron worked with Toby Morris (The Spinoff) to blend Toby’s signature illustration style with Arron’s own clear-sighted design to create a whole new festival brand. We love working with Ocular who are a hothouse of talent. We are excited to say that we have more collaborations in the pipeline.
We wanted you to get to know a little more about this dynamic, generous Wellington-grown business:
Q. How did Ocular start and what does Ocular do?
Like many Wellington businesses Ocular started its journey over 15 years ago in the small back room of a house. Ever growing and changing alongside our local clients, we now work with national and international partners.
We're a full service creative studio, which basically means we offer all the services our partners might need to tell their story and reach their customers (or audience). Whether its web, design, video, brand or strategy - Ocular has the skills and tools to get the job done.
Q. Describe a typical day in the Ocular office?
Every morning we kick off the day with a stand up team meeting AKA 'the WIP' (Work In Progress) so that our team of sixteen can touch base and talk through what we're working on before getting stuck into it.
Apart from the actual work we get done... you'll find us caffeinating in our open plan office forest set-up, giving the office dogs a good cuddle, or nipping down to the skatepark during our lunch break (don't assume we can actually skate though).
We have a good code of communication and fun, and we make sure that applies to our clients and work as well.
Q. In Ocular's world what would you say would be the top five things that make for great design?
Purpose: Design should have a clear focus and purpose (in film we call it the vision, or kaupapa). We believe to create good design we need to first understand our client's journey.
Clarity and perspective: Clear communication and understanding with our clients is important so that we're on the same page. Briefing is key!
Honesty: Design should be honest and highlight strengths. We pride ourselves on not giving clients stuff they don't need. So if you don't need it we'll tell you!
Aesthetic: It's obviously got to look good, beyond a matter of opinion, good design follows the fundamental design principles. People should be able to understand and engage with good design easily.
Innovation: Pushing boundaries is important. Here we celebrate creativity, innovation, and trying something new. Good design is influenced by good design. But it's not copied, is re-energized, refreshed, and repurposed.
Q. As an indie Wellington business, how would you say that Wellington itself has impacted on what Ocular is and how you operate?
Wellington sometimes seems magnetic to creatives, it's a hotspot for the arts and over time we've developed a wide network of multidisciplinary creatives and artists that we're able to collaborate with and be inspired by.
We are bound by geography. In a small city, word gets around and relationships matter. In this, we can really get to know our clients, care about them, and partner with them in their journey. We celebrate their success as they celebrate ours.
Many of our clients come from previous clients and partners, and because of the nature of Wellington's size, we quite often accumulate leads in the trade isle of Bunnings, or running into people whilst walking Boris and Doug (the office pooches) down Lyall Bay beach!
Q. What do you love about being at Ocular?
The culture - we have a team passionate about creating work that we are proud of. We have an emphasis on fun, communication and honesty and in simple terms we believe happy people do better at work so personal wellbeing is something we take seriously. We enjoy working in an environment that encourages us to push the boundaries, try new things and think differently.
One of the design elements that Arron from Ocular made for The Garden Party (illustrations by Toby Morris - a fun colab).
Check out the incredibly beautiful work that Ocular do by looking through their projects online here.
Arron oversees all things design. He’s become a master of negotiating between form and function delivering clients with visually stimulating solutions while simultaneously meeting business needs. Arron is from North Yorkshire in the UK and has worked at multiple award winning studios in London before making the move to Wellington at the beginning of 2019. Arron loves dogs and spends his free time exploring New Zealand. He's now found his second home at Ocular and heads the design team with a secret plot to adopt the resident office dog (Boris).
If you had a good time at The Garden Party this year then do consider joining the Verb Community. Our members support events like that all year, and writers residencies too. Perks include discounts tickets, merch and special Verb Community events.
