RACHEL DOUGHTY - DIRECTOR OF ONE DESIGN

If you’ve ever sat back and admired the branding that adorns many of our country’s forward thinking and creative alcohol brands, then chances are it was the work of local agency One Design.

One of her early clients was a still-young 42 Below vodka, and the volume of work that came with that brand’s success meant that she had to gradually take on staff to help with the workload. One Design took on the design of the brand’s corporate communications, packaging design for various products and a lot of the marketing material, which was just the tip of the iceberg. The company director says that her own business grew on the back of 42 Below’s success, “Then when they sold the brand to Bacardi, a lot of their staff went on to other positions within the local liquor industry and we were lucky enough that they saw work opportunities for us there too. Also (42 Below founder) Geoff Ross of course went on to buy Ecoya, so we were called on to develop their branding too.” Their work with Ecoya helped elevate the Australasian home fragrance brand to a whole new level of desirability, and international success was soon to follow.

The small-but-perfectly-formed company went on to really forge a name for itself within the spirits, beer, wine and cider industries, as well as work for start-ups unafraid to give Rachel and her team a pretty open design brief. “Our specialisation is creating bespoke, highly-crafted, premium designs with real stories behind them,” explains Rachel, and their sublime work for the likes of Rogue Society, Terra Sancta, Matua wines, Baduzzi and Moa beer is definitely testimony to that.

The company’s clients range from smaller outfits to large scale operations like Mediaworks, which is what keeps Rachel turning up for work every day. “I love being able to see the capacity for great design at every level, and forging relationships that last for years is also so important to me.”

One of the projects she has been most proud of over the last few years has been One Design’s work with Rogue Society gin. “From the moment we met them things just clicked into place. They are great guys to work with and aren’t afraid of being pushed outside of their comfort zone at all.”

Rachel acknowledges that she and her team have been “constantly busy over the years”, which is incredibly fortunate given the ups and downs of the economy since she started, with the only testing time being the arrival of her baby girl 18 months ago, which means she naturally can’t be on call as much. “The juggle is just constant,” she says with a smile, “but it is for every working mum. I’m working on getting the balance right... slowly!”

Her core team is made up of four designers, but when work surges, their St Benedict’s Street studio office space has the capacity for additional designers to hit the ground running whenever they are needed. “We love this area and have never been tempted to move,” says the designer of the central suburbs creative hub, “the view is amazing, just for starters!”

A clear sign that the company is most definitely a New Zealand design institution - for want of a better word - is that after years of winning awards at the Best Design Awards, this year Rachel has been invited to be a judge. “It will be so insightful to be on the other side of the judging panel,” she says with a smile, “as well as exciting to see what other companies we respect have been up to.”

As I leave Rachel to her - inevitably extraordinarily busy - day she says that she couldn’t imagine a profile of the company without true acknowledgement of her “amazing” team.

“I seriously couldn’t do this without them, particularly Dave and Casey, two senior designers who have been with me for many, many years. They all continually inspire me with their amazing creativity every single day...” and I am guessing that she does the same for them. (HELENE RAVLICH) www.onedesign.co.nz