ABOUT "FRANK"
simply great design
The name’s “FRANK” …Heather Frank! I’m a successful graphic & web designer and illustrator based in Brisbane, Australia. I love bringing to life my clients’ marketing, promotional and graphical requirements to help their business stand out from their competition. I work alongside a highly creative group of individuals from a number of businesses in Australia and New Zealand as the job requires, including Troika, Fastnet Wireless, Clip Magic, Success Masters & more!
Frank’s main core group of Creatives is comprised of myself for Website, Graphic Design & illustration, Andrew Broad for domain and web hosting expert, and Michele Nash is our social media mentor.
I’ve been a designer for over 20 years and have helped many successful companies to promote their businesses and make a lasting impression with the public through my unique product design and graphic style, and even have a Bannister Downs’ cow named after me! I love illustrating and bringing to life my quirky cartoon characters such as the Holy Smoke crew that appear on their pate and smoked goods, 999 chickens, and the madcap Bannister Downs cows that feature on some of their trucks and throughout their promotional material. My job is never dull with so many diverse businesses such as Double Dan Horsemanship, Fish-On, JENT & Onguard Seismic Wine Tanks, just to name a few, all requiring very different design requirements. Distance is not an issue and I’m often working online via skype or via phone with clients in all around Australia and New Zealand.
I’ve always loved art and illustrating, so design was my obvious choice for a profession. I’ve been a commercial graphic artist since I left Curtin University in 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts, having majored in multimedia. It seemed obvious at the time that the web was the happening thing and computers were just becoming a designer’s best friend. Of course the world keeps on spinning and technology keeps on getting better and better so every month I seem to be having to learn yet another program or update in order to keep up with change. I love it!
After uni I moved to Sydney and had a great time designing interactive childrens’ books and writing madcap animation sequences for Brilliant Interactive Ideas, before returning to Perth in 1996 to join web development company Pretzel Logic. At this time websites and computer-based design was in its infancy. As their Senior Designer I was responsible for designing ground-breaking websites for many of Western Australian iconic companies and government departments. Along with website design and basic html website programming, I honed my Illustration skills for interactive programs, created animations within Multimedia Director and Flash, designed logos & stationery for clients, and was heavily involved in client liaison while mentoring junior designers.
In August 1999 I moved to Toodyay, months before my daughter was born, reducing down to 3 days a week with Pretzel while taking on private clients from home. In 2001 when I my son arrived on the scene, my own business was well established, I had a strong core clientelle, and I went completely out on my own.
“Heather was our second or third team member when we were still based in a cottage in the hills. A talented, prolific and dedicated illustrator, animator and designer, Heather was responsible for some of the most innovative design work in the early days of the World Wide Web.
It is impossible to overstate the important role Heather played in the success of Pretzel Logic in those early days and she became a mentor – and a benchmark – for many young and talented designers who subsequently worked with us.
I have never worked with a more professional, capable or easy going designer.”
Steve Pretzel | PX2
In 2016 we moved to Brisbane, selling our 10 acre Toodyay property a few years later, and downsized to a suburban block near the Brisbane River.
My clients “moved” with me and I gained a heap more via word-of-mouth and personal recommendations. That same year Michele Nash moved up from Sydney to Brisbane. For the next six years, we worked with each other to promote the social media business partnership we created together. While living in Brisbane, we caught up twice a week to work together on our shared clients’ jobs. I moved back to Perth early 2022, and Michele continues to run and post on my Facebook and Instagram pages using the images I create, as she does for many of our shared clients, with weekly zoom meetings and catch-ups over the phone.
In June 2020 I started painting again, creating the first of my Rolling Stones pop art style acrylic paintings that blend the latest technologies (Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop) to create the concept artwork, with old school tracing and traditional acrylic painting during which I attempt to not get paint on the carpet and all over myself as I juggle 3 or 4 brushes and tubes of paint in both hands. I loved creating “Keef” and after testing the water with a few fan FB pages, which received overwhelming responses with many fans asking if it was for sale, I’m onto my second Stones painting with the idea of selling the prints and originals eventually on this website to Rolling Stones fans around the world. Think big I say! So here I am…painter by night, designer by day!
Keith Richards (2020) | acrylic on canvas by Heather Frank