Jason Little

Co-founder – For the People    

From Tasmania’s tough West Coast to Launceston’s community undercurrent – How people, place and storytelling are at the heart of lasting Place Branding success.

Abstract:
Listening to and understanding the stories within communities isn’t just important for building place – making initiatives. It’s essential to gain the trust, engagement and support of those communities. The local communities must be participants, rather than  spectators, in the transformation of their town/city/region. An authentic approach to place brands is to make sure they’re locally grown and locally owned. When tools and assets that are available to the whole community, the impact of a place identity can be  greatly amplified. In this session Jason Little (Executive Creative Director), and Johanna Roca (Creative Director) from For The People, will demonstrate how storytelling has become a fundamental part of their approach for successfully working with regions in Tasmania and beyond. They will also show how learnings from these projects challenge conventional notions of promoting tourism economic growth, whilst empowering locals to shape the narrative of their home regions.

Biography:
Jason is a designer, co-founder, educator, mentor, believer in people and optimist. He co-founded the design company, For The People, with the intent to help organisations through imagining and designing new experiences to encourage new behaviours. With over 20 years in the design industry, Jason has worked as Creative Director in leading global branding agencies on large-scale transformations for destinations, organisations and corporations.

He has extensive experience in the areas of arts, culture and place-making. He recently led the community collaboration program to develop the regional identity for Tasmania’s West Coast and Derwent Valley and Snowy Valleys in New South Wales. He was also responsible for the repositioning, design and launch of The City of Melbourne brand identity in 2009. Further work includes the brand identity programs for The Australian Cancer Research Foundation, Sydney Film Festival, The Women’s and Girls’ Emergency Centre, The 20th Biennale of Sydney, Queensland Theatre, Optus, Streamtime and Sydney School of Entrepreneurship (SSE).

Jason has taught and lectured in design institutions in Paris, Sydney and New York, and continues to engage in education through mentoring, and industry creative programs with UTS, Billy Blue and Enmore Tafe. He was Chairman of the Australian Graphic Design Association (AGDA) from 2013-15, and NSW Regional Board Director  from 2017-19. His work has been exhibited and consistently recognised at award shows around the world.