Softer look with new designer

• Graphic designer Aga Sikorska-Meikle on the tools at the Advertiser’s production desk.

By Tony Scott,
JUNE 02, 2021

Observant readers of the Advertiser may have detected a subtle change in the look of our weekly offering … a softening in the colour of some advertisements, a nuance in the modular design, even some colour in headlines rather than the stark black on white.

It has little to do with the interim editor, who coincidentally started much at the same time as new graphic designer and production manager Agnieszka Sikorska-Meikle.

“Just call me Aga, not Aggie,” she says.

Originally from Poland, she met her Tasmanian husband while working in a coffee shop in London and migrated 16 years ago.

The trained teacher started painting about 15 years ago and progressed to a TAFE graphic design course.

She quickly found work on graduating, laying out and illustrating training guide books.

Aga and immediate family, now including son Kuba and husband Ian, had 18 months back in her home town near the northern port city of Gdansk.

Back in Tasmania and after a stint with a Launceston architectural and design consultancy, she has spent the past five years freelancing and said the offer of a part-time position with the Advertiser was an ideal stable backstop.

“It’s challenging and rewarding to work with the typography and design our newspaper and website to provide graphic balance and create visual harmony.
 “It’s also good to be out in the countryside.” 

“And it allows me time to concentrate on painting again. I’ve particularly been focusing on portraiture, including private commissions,” she said.

The position also means her down time is more care free. 

The keen bushwalker believes she’s hiked and camped at many spots that a lot of Tasmanians have never seen.