Calm the farm. If ever there was an expression that sums up Dale, this is it. He is the peace amidst the rush, the country lad in the city, the clever designer who does it better.

Dale’s the youngest of five kids, whose parents were both rural teachers, and so his view of money is not to waste it. Growing up was all about experience, not expense. He says he’s a tight-arse, but really, he sees that money’s purpose is to help you do ‘the life stuff’ and not be the point of your life.

Hence his design career has included insurance brands, super funds and banks, for products and services that make sure we all get to do ‘the life stuff’. His design solutions happen after time spent truly analysing the problem, and he’s quite brilliant at identifying the patterns that lead to unique insights.

Outside of design-life, Dale enjoys riding his pushbike. From there, he observes the world at his pace, nourished by the simplicity of perfectly brewed coffee and home-grown veggies, all while bearing an unsettling resemblance to his English Springer Spaniels, Marcie and Summer.

Life is good when you are Dale Lacy. And even better when you work with him.

After graduating with a business degree, Tony flew to Hong Kong to be a high-flying stock trader. He lasted 11 days. Thankfully his humiliation is your gain. Back home, he became an award-winning advertising creative.

Tony’s fascinated by ideas and has the kind of mind that’s always looking for connections. He revels in taking the world we know and spinning it around so we can view it from a strangely enlightening angle.

Thankfully, he also knows how to put his thoughts into words. He loves to explain, describe, host, speak in public and write. He seeks to divert an audience’s attention, capture it and lock it in. That drives his hunt for the perfect phrase and why people like to listen to his copy. His word pictures pique their interest and inspire them to act.

Tony’s generous with praise, quick to laugh, and always on the lookout for the positive in the situation. His conviction is that it is good to be alive, that work can be fun, and that no matter the setbacks, one must never lose one’s sense of humour.

Every now and then, on the train to the office from Ballarat, Lisa has a nagging feeling that she has some outstanding tax returns from the noughties. Her other recurring thought is that she was in New York when Lehmann Brothers bank collapsed in 2008, causing the Global Financial Crisis. Besides these two minor hiccups, Lisa is beyond the perfect Account Director for our finance-focussed design agency.

She loves creating and building brands and, since 2010, she’s been doing just that. Sure, it’s the process but, for Lisa, there’s an equal buzz when she sees the work, work. Lisa is campaign and brand focussed, a project manager who ‘can wade through the overwhelm and get it done.’ And Lisa is patient. How could she not be, with three boys under seven who all think they’re in the WWF and every piece of furniture is a potential turnbuckle.

Raised and back living in Ballarat, she loves sport (Test is clearly better than Big Bash) and how money is the enabler. It helps her go on beach holidays with her family of boys, live a beautiful, happy life and, most of all, hide from the taxman.

It took our Emily nearly a decade to figure out that her training as an industrial designer was the unlikely secret sauce powering her successful career in finance. That’s an awkward admission for an ideas person.

Fast forward twenty years, with a Bachelor of Industrial Design (RMIT), a business degree (Monash) and many senior leadership roles, what you have is a delicious and inspiring skillset. Emily still loves design and finance, and finds the challenge of engaging customers in a tough category to be particularly juicy. She believes that Human Centred Design is a lot like alchemy, and that only businesses who centre the needs of people will thrive.

When you meet her, don’t let Emily’s infectious energy, confident facilitation style and playful curiosity fool you. She’s an introvert at heart who loves getting lost in a good book – that’s what she tells us anyway.

Em says that people often describe her as a bridge. Not in a physical sense of course, but rather someone who understands clients, creatives and how people tick. Someone who listens and connects. You’ll love her brain, how she simplifies the abstract and ensures that everyone makes it to the other side, together.

Emily is part of Studio Hoopla’s extended team. When she’s not working with our clients on the bit before the brief, she leads strategic design consultancy Carta Strategy.