An inner compass is a set of principles to guide you through life and work and help you understand what things work and don’t work for you. It is an ongoing self-reflective practice, combined with mapping, planning, analyzing, and reevaluating your priorities, intentions, and needs. In this session, Maria Montes will talk about her independent career, which started in 2014, and what has kept her inspired and motivated—and in which sense this has fueled her work as a teacher and lettering designer and artist. This presentation may include topics from Montes’ multidisciplinary practice, such as textile design, self-generated artwork, lettering, calligraphy, and type design. She may also add a few reflections about the Australian context and the power of representation.