Michael Payne
Professional Member
Michael Payne has more than 35 years of experience in illustration, graphic design and advertising art direction. He was an Honours Graduate at Swinburne University. His first position after graduation was with Ken Cato Design before landing a role as a junior art director at George Patterson Bates Advertising Melbourne. He worked mainly on the GMH account. In time he was offered a spot with Hobson Bates London, working on Hertz, Cadbury, Watneys Breweries and British Tobacco. After that stint he moved to Germany. He was offered a senior art director post with Serviceplan Werbeagentur. From there it was another senior post with Dancer Fitzgerald Sample and Roth (Fortune Group). His area of responsibility at these advertising agencies was directing campaigns for press, print and television. He worked on many famous European brands: Löwenbrau Breweries, Boehringer Ingelheim, BMW, Fischer Group, Texas Instruments, Pantene (Switzerland), Duracell and Thermolan (France).
Over time Michael’s love of design and illustration won over and he established his own graphic design studio in Munich. His main clients were Siemens and Bayerische Hypo-Bank (Merchant Bank). He also functioned as a freelance creative director for ACM Werbeagentur- whenever they needed a concept “out of left field”. Additionally a small but constant trickle of work came from the following publishers: Pan Books, New English Library, Bauer Verlag, Playboy Magazine Germany, Heyne Verlag, Goldmann, Langenscheidt and Bertellsman. These were for the most part pure enjoyment because they were well paying and he was given long deadlines and a lot of design and illustrative latitude.
After 8 years in Germany, he returned home. In Australia, his work has appeared in advertising campaigns, museum exhibitions, Australian Geographic Magazine and even on the $10 dollar banknote.
