“Originally hailing from Melbourne, Noemie Le Coz packed her bags with her fiancé and moved to New York City to take her career in graphic design further. There is a lot to learn by moving from one company to another when it comes to finding style and capturing a brand’s vision. Noemie works almost 24/7, but it pays off in how she executes her projects and continues to pursue her passion for illustration.”

♫ listen to NOEMIE'S playlist | ⌨ NOEMIE's last google search

ON HER MORNING ROUTINE

First thing, without fail, is making coffee and a full breakfast. I usually fry up two eggs and whatever veggies are in the fridge. Breakfast is what gets me out of bed in the mornings, and without it, I usually struggle. Then I’ll climb back into bed and reply to emails, eventually drag myself back out again if I’m working at an office. Otherwise, I try to stay in my PJ’s as long as possible. I’m not a morning person.

ON HOW SHE LAUNCHED HER CAREER

I started my career in Melbourne, where I grew up, at a small graphic design studio. I stayed for over three years until moving to Brooklyn almost five years ago where my first job was at Pentagram. I had lots of branding experience already, but I was now working with some serious big-wigs, like Emily Oberman, Paula Scher and Michael Beirut. I think I learned more just watching those three in meetings and around the studio than through any of the project work. I then moved on to RoAndCo, which was more fashion-focused, fast-paced, and smaller in size. The studio ran lean, so I had to learn quickly how to work up ideas super fast, trust my intuition, and not overthink. I got to try out a bit of everything such as web, art direction, illustration for clients with high expectations. I then went freelance in August 2016, and bounced around different studios like Hugo and Marie and Partners & Spade, while working nights and weekends on side projects. Apple emailed me out of the blue in February to freelance for their global marketing team, so I took the opportunity and spent 9 weeks working for them in California. Since then, I’ve continued working in-house for various brands while taking on independent projects and renovating my apartment.

“My mum is a painter and I have been very lucky that she always encouraged me to pursue anything creative. Growing up I used to collect things like Japanese bubble gum packaging and Hello Kitty merch. I was always into really colorful and graphic brands like Esprit and Fiorucci. I thankfully realized pretty early on in high school that I could get a job making this stuff, so I took all the classes I needed to get there, avoiding those that sounded like I’d need to be memorizing textbooks.”

— on her interest in graphic design

HER TIPS FOR ASPIRING GRAPHIC DESIGNERS

Pay attention to what clicks, and use that as direction. Follow brands you like, designers you look up to, and things that you’re good at. Study the last hundred years of design. While you’re still learning the ropes, become a sponge. Go to talks, observe what works and what doesn’t at work, and stay involved with things outside the world of design. Don’t worry about how many followers you have, and definitely don’t chase money. Just focus on the work and getting better at doing what you love. Both of those things will come, if you can master that first.

HER FAVORITE TOOLS FOR WORKING

Best kept secret of the moment is Adobe XD for prototyping and presenting websites. I even use it for presentation decks, but I might be the only person who does that. It’s really fast for mock-ups, and my favorite thing is it how it creates an updatable link to anything you make. In terms of tools, my whole life is on Slack now. I’ll be talking to clients in the same app as my best friends, which means that I'm working 24/7 in some ways, but it's also made working a lot easier.

ON THE BEST PART OF HER JOB

I love being able to work on so many different things over the course of the day. I might start one morning working with illustration for one project, then move on to concepting for a photoshoot through the afternoon, maybe have a client meeting, and then be designing a website. I have a bit of a short attention span so being able to jump from one thing to another so easily is what keeps me going.

Pants: Creatures of Comfort; Shoes: Adidas — *Pants:* *Creatures of Comfort; Shoes:* *Adidas*

“I like to keep larger items at home pretty sparse and light, and let smaller objects bring in color and personality. I love mixing things I’ve found on eBay and Etsy, like a set of Heller cups I recently bought with my favorite newer designers like Andrew Neyer, Eric Trine or Chen & Kai.”

— ON HER APPROACH TO HOME DECOR

Pants: Creatures of Comfort; — *Pants:* *Creatures of Comfort*;

On HER BEAUTY ROUTINE

I keep things pretty simple, purely because I don’t have the patience for elaborate morning beauty routines. I’ll wash my face with a face towel and simple cleanser, then apply Sunday Riley C.E.O. C + E Antioxidant Protect + Repair Moisturizer, Onomie Bright Concealing Elixir, some Glossier's Skin Perfecting Skin Tint, Nars Illuminator, a little eyeliner, and YSL Mascara Volume Effet Faux Cils Baby Doll. I also use Sunday Riley Luna Sleeping Night Oil every night before bed. A brand I recently did the full identity for, Billie, just launched and has converted me to using body wash and lotion, instead of my usual basic Dove bar soap and moisturizer. It’s a small move but a big upgrade!

ON SHOPPING AND HER PERSONAL STYLE

I buy a lot of vintage. My favorite stores are Horizons in Williamsburg, Duo in the East Village and Etsy. For anything I can’t find at those, I’ll look online for stores that stock my favorite labels, like Totokaelo, Ssense, Garmentory, Creatures of Comfort and Need Supply. I love anything that’s comfortable, minimal, with a slightly oversized silhouette, and some sort of unique feature like a mock-neck top, a dress with big pockets or shoes with a big platform. Generally I’m pretty dressed-down and pared-back in terms of accessories, but I have recently gotten into hoops. I’ve finally gotten used to wearing an engagement ring!

ON MOVING TO NYC

I moved to NYC on a whim with my now fiancé after we spent a couple of weeks here over the summer and loved it. We had only been together six months when we moved, which was a bit crazy. It’s amazing what a little naive optimism can do. The design scene in Melbourne is big, but working in NYC has opened up a lot of doors to bigger clients and really good networks. With so much going on in the city, people are here to make something worthwhile. I like that energy.