Ton Homburg: Be Kind and Just Work
Co-owner @Opera Concept & Design
by Elizabeth Lavis
|28 Aug 2024
Ton Homburg, co-owner and self-described jack-of-all-trades at Opera Concept & Design believes in one simple mantra: be kind and just work. His company is a multidisciplinary design agency that works with companies and organizations across different sectors to help crystallize their visual identity and brand image through a collaborative and personalized process.
Homburg’s design philosophy hinges on staying endlessly engaged with the world around him. “Take a good look around, be interested in everything, and make your own choice,” he says. “Look with attention and experiment. Just do what you love and work hard.”
He was always drawn to the creative arts, dreaming of being a painter when he was young. “My father painted, and so I was brought up with paper, paints, and so on from an early age,” he says. “After high school, I went to the Academy of Fine Arts Department of Painting. Halfway through the fourth year, I thought, ‘I want to make prints with typography’, and I ended up in the Graphic Design Department. Graphic design turned out to be a fantastic extension of my art course.”
Homburg gained his on-the-ground experience through internships and agency work. “An academy is a great foundation, but ultimately, you learn the trade best in practice,” he says. He also believes in diversifying your interests and taking needed breaks from work. Make sure that you do other things besides designing,” he says. “Life outside of your projects is as important as the projects themselves.”
"MondiLab", Opera Concept & Design
On a day-to-day basis, Homburg takes the stresses and ups and downs of the design world in stride, particularly when it comes to disagreements between his agency and clients. “I diplomatically tell a client that their ideas just won’t work by asking questions and explaining my way of thinking,” he says. As many of his new clients are referrals, coming to the agency from existing clients, he’s able to establish rapport and trust based on his existing track record of success.
Homburg believes in a content-based approach as the foundation of his work, as well as a firm plan for the design to solve a problem or answer a question. Each campaign and communication strategy is different, varying in length and client communication to achieve the end goal.
“Sometimes we take a client through the complete design process if it makes sense,” he says. He also relies on his MacBook Pro with extra display, one of the tools of the trade that he can’t live without, and the camaraderie of daily team lunches to keep everyone on the same page about the project.
Teamwork, collaboration, and respect for colleagues are essential to Homburg. He holds a special place for his co-owner and design partner, Marty Schoutsen, saying that it would be him if he could have dinner with anyone, alive or dead. Homburg also sees unpredictability dictating the future of design and will grow in his personal and professional life by keeping his eyes open and apprised of trends. “I will continue to be interested in everything around me,” he says.
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