Alex Stitt was an Australian graphic designer, illustrator, writer and animator.

Stitt graduated with a Certificate of Art and Diploma in Advertising Design from Melbourne Technical College (now RMIT University) in 1956 and began freelancing for Melbourne advertising agency Castle Jackson. This was the year television broadcasting began in Australia and, working with clients of Castle Jackson, Stitt soon produced some of the first animated commercials for the new medium [1, 2]. Over the next 50 years Stitt would be active across the Australian media landscape, including print, radio, television and film [1].

Stitt's creative output has included some of Australia's most recognisable advertising campaigns. Between the late 1950s and late 1970s Stitt produced more than 100 animated television spots for the Christian Television Association and in the late-1960s he designed the ICPOTA cartoon character for The Age newspapers which ran as a television and print campaign and used to promote classified advertising for decades [2, 3]. ICPOTA is an acronym for 'In the Classified Pages Of The Age'. But it is Stitt's work in public health promotion that is best known. In particular, the 'Life. Be in it' and 'Slip Slop Slap' campaigns of the 1970s and 1980s.

In 1975, Stitt created the cartoon character Norm for the 'Life. Be in it' public health campaign that encouraged people to be more active. The campaign, which included television commercials, print cartoons and community-based programming was produced by Phillip Adams of the Monahan Dayman Adams advertising agency for the Victorian State Government [1]. The campaign's success in Victoria led to its relaunch as a national initiative by the Commonwealth government in 1978. Running until 1990 and relaunched in 2022, 'Life. Be in it' is one of the longest running advertising campaigns in Australia and one of the country's most impactful public health initiatives [1, 4]. At times public awareness of the campaign has exceeded 90% [1]. Indeed, the Norm character was so iconic it became an entry in the Macquarie Dictionary: "Norm (noun) an average citizen viewed as a non-participant in any kind of physical exercise, while addicted to watching spectator sports on television" [1].

In 1981, Stitt again collaborated with Phillip Adams of Monahan Dayman Adams to produce another of Australia's most successful public health campaigns, 'Slip, Slop, Slap' [1]. The campaign features Dix's cartoon characters Sid the dancing seagull and Sid's son presenting a skin cancer prevention message. First commissioned by the Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria, the campaign expanded across Australia, running until 1988 [5] It was updated and relaunched in 2007.

In the late 1980s, Stitt was asked by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to produce a logo for their School of the Future educational technology project. In producing the logo, Stitt suggested renaming the project the Sunrise School. This name and Stitt's logo were subsequently adopted. The Sunrise Collection at Melbourne Museum contains a range of project items incorporating Stitt's logo.

Stitt was inducted into the Australian Graphic Designer Association Hall of Fame in 2002 and Design Institute of Australia Hall of Fame in 2011 in recognition of his significant contribution to Australian design [6]. In 2016, he was made a Member of the Order of Australia for service to the graphic arts profession, to the animated film and television industry, and to the community through public health programs [7]. The 2011 book Stitt: Autobiographics, authored by Alexander and his wife Paddy, is a graphic memoir of his 50-year design career.


References

[1] Stitt, A. & Stitt, P. (2011). Stitt: Autobiographics. Hardie Grant Books.

[2] The Age (2002). Graphic designers who challenged the norm, November 10, 2002, online edition.

[3] Stitt, A. (2011). Alex Stitt: Retrospect. Desktop Magazine, number 277.

[4] Roy Morgan Research (2022). One of Australia's all-time favourite TV campaigns will be back on our screens from New Year's Day, bigger and better than ever. Press Release 29/12/2022. https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/9137-life-be-in-it

[5] Bevers, R.l (2011). Alex Stitt Design Archive, RMIT Design Archives Journal, Vol.1 No.1.

[6)] Design Insitute of Australia (2011). Alexander Stitt - Hall of Fame, www.design.org.au/hall-of-fame/alexander-stitt. (7) Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (2016). Mr Alexander STITT, Queen's Birthday 2016 Honours List, 13 June 2016, https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1153827

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