Seeing and hearing the world

Sharon Dunn lives and breathes creativity.

Whether she’s creating unique artwork for an Innovative Resources card set, fulfilling a design brief for a business client, or writing and performing music, she is always searching for originality—the offbeat and quirkier the better.

‘Being a musician and a designer means I’m in two creative world’s most of the time,’ Sharon says. ‘They both bring so much joy, companionship and stability to my life and allow me to see and hear the world in different ways.’

For Sharon, this immersion in creativity can include everything from architecture, product design and food, to a perfect sunset, or the clothes people wear. Even the sound of a dripping tap can be a source of inspiration.

‘I’m extremely visual and tactile, and my musical nature allows me to hear creativity in sounds that possibly annoy others,’ she explains. ‘The indicator in the car can be a perfect drum pattern for me to create a little tune or sing a song that pops into my head. I’m constantly entertained and surprised by what’s around me.’

‘Creativity’ card from Strength Cards Unlimited

Sharon has designed four card sets for Innovative Resources, including Anxiety Solutions (2018), No Room for Family Violence (2019), Strength Cards Unlimited (2022), and IR’s newest resource, Navigating Depression, published at the end of 2023.

Like so many artists who’ve been drawn into Innovative Resources’ orbit over the years, Sharon’s introduction to IR was serendipitous. After teaching graphic design in Melbourne for many years, she landed a job at Greengraphics in her hometown of Castlemaine. Her colleague, Frida Petrie, who was the original designer for Anxiety Solutions, went on maternity leave and Sharon stepped in to complete the final 40 cards of the project.

‘It turned out that Innovative Resources’ Managing Editor at the time lived at the end of my street, and the former IR Director was my neighbour across the street,’ she recalls. ‘It’s crazy how worlds collide.’

While she admits that Innovative Resources’ card sets present a design challenge like no other, Sharon also finds the complexities and nuances of catering for such a diverse audience to be creatively inspiring.

‘When I have limitations or constraints in a design brief, that’s when I tend to thrive,’ she says. ‘But, being mindful of mental health issues and social issues, such as domestic violence, can also make it challenging to determine the right tone.

‘For example, the brief for No Room for Family Violence was to create a card set with no images, but an “uplifting” design. Navigating Depression required five illustrated characters to represent the diversity of our communities, including one with a very visual physical disability—something I’d never been asked to do before. For Strength Cards Unlimited, I needed to visually represent a single word (strength) on each card, many of them quite abstract concepts, or words with multiple meanings. All of these were great challenges.’

It’s one thing to have great ideas, but another altogether to turn them into a completed image on a card. For Sharon, that process always begins the same way—with pencil and paper. She loves the process of transferring the image she sees in her mind on to paper, or as she puts it, ‘getting straight to the heart of a concept’.

‘Get Creative’ card from Anxiety Solutions 

‘When I was teaching, I always encouraged my students to sketch out their ideas first, even if it was just stick figures,’ Sharon says. ‘Then you can address things like what am I trying to say; what sort of composition and style am I aiming for; will it be an illustration or an image?

‘It can all get very overwhelming very quickly if you just jump on the computer and try to start. But when I finally bring my sketches to the screen, they come to life in a different way. I’m able to alter the style, add colour and texture, and often take it somewhere I wasn’t expecting.’

Sharon believes the key to managing an Innovative Resources project with 40-plus cards is to break it down into small steps and never think about the whole mountain you have to climb. She also trusts, from experience, that good things happen when you open yourself up to the creative process.

‘It’s a bit like songwriting,’ she says. ‘I look back at many of the songs I’ve written and wonder how they happened. Sometimes it’s a more deliberate—thinking outside the box—but other times it can just feel like a bit of magic.

‘When I was creating the images for Strength Cards Unlimited, some concepts would arrive instantly, and others I’d have to dig deep. I like the surprise element of this. You never know which will be the hard words to conquer.’

‘Music’ card from Anxiety Solutions

Sharon has covered a lot of creative territory in her years as a designer, musician and teacher, but credits her collaborations with Innovative Resources as some of her most satisfying and stimulating.

‘I’m really passionate about social justice and mental health, so to know that I’ve used my skills to make some kind of difference is really important to me,’ she says. ‘When I hear feedback on how helpful and well received the cards have been for practitioners and the people they support, it really hits home.

‘The creation of the cards has been a personal development journey for me as well, which I’m really grateful for.’

by John Holton