CHAT BACK: Ladies and gentlemen, meet Bob Gill

Meeting your heroes is always a tricky prospect. We build up ideas of what they'll actually be like, should we ever get to meet them. There is the hope that they will be everything we've imagined – humble, generous with their time and happy to chat. And then there is the fear they'll be none of these things. That they will see you as just another nagging fan, oblivious to the impact they have had on your life.

Toward the end of 2006 I had the unexpected pleasure of meeting, and spending time with, one of my heroes – legendary designer Bob Gill. The meeting itself was not unexpected, one of my creative directors had spent the best part of six months organising Gill's first visit to Australia. What I wasn't prepared for was Gill's boundless energy, contagious enthusiasm, generous spirit and razor sharp wit.

After graduating university I was encouraged by my first creative director to soak up as much of Gill's philosophy as possible. I was told to study his approach to idea generation and to learn from his clever use of language. I did as I was told, opening myself up to a way of thinking I had never experienced. I remember thinking how smart, surprising, funny and brutally simple his work was. Design work that had been produced 30 years earlier still resonated as I quickly learned that while styles come and go, unique and original ideas are timeless.

When it was confirmed that I would get the opportunity to meet and spend time with Gill, I was suitably excited and anxious. At the time he was 75 years old and travelling alone from New York to Sydney to deliver four lectures. Having given us little idea as to the content of the lectures we all waited to meet the man whose work we knew so well, but of whose personality we knew little.

His arrival in our studio that November afternoon was electric. Everyone there that day, even the account managers and production staff, was transfixed. His energy was contagious as his thick Noo Yawk accent boomed around the room. He was funny, charming and nice. You couldn't help but like him. Within minutes he was asking to see the studio's work, to critique and discuss our ideas.

I sat nervously with my creative director as Gill flipped through our folio, nodding his head, then shaking his head, often questioning our approach to the work and occasionally smiling in approval. Some of the work he liked, some of it he didn't. If he felt an idea could've been simpler, he said so. Asking us why we did this and didn't do that. I did my best to respond, loving every minute of it.

Bob Gill delivered four lectures to packed theatres in Sydney and Melbourne, speaking passionately about the pursuit of new ideas and the power of intelligent graphic design, with the energy and enthusiasm you'd be lucky to find in designers a quarter of his age.

Meeting Bob Gill inspired me, energised me and reminded me of why I love design. I have always aspired to reach the end of my professional life with a body of work as clever and timeless as Gills'. Having been fortunate enough to have met the man behind the work, I now also hope that at 75-years-old, I share his passion, energy and enthusiasm, not only for design, but for life.