Ron Tandberg

Ron Tandberg was born in 1943 and grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Pascoe Vale. He attended CoburgTechnical High School and went on to study at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Tandberg chose to focus on design and advertising, he explains that "From Design, I learnt the importance of simplicity and getting a message across with impact."

He dropped out of the Institute in his fourth year. Tandberg went on to work in various positions. He later worked as a high school teacher during the 1960s' and became involved with the Victorian Secondary Teachers Association and began producing cartoons for their journal. The Editor of the Age newspaper asked Tandberg to do a cartoon for the Age Education page. Tandberg recalls "Perkin wanted me to do a pocket cartoon for the front page. I think I was the first cartoonist ever to use the technique of drawing to a news story."

Tandberg was then employed by the Age part time whilst he was teaching, and soon began working full-time for the Age .Tandberg remains working at the Age, he spent about sixteen months working at the Herald Sun in the 1980s, but returned to the Age. Tandberg explains that "The Power of a cartoon is that it shocks. You don't want people to look at it as if they are looking at the news. You want to surprise them, and you want them to react. If I can get something that's sharp and simple in a very tiny space, I feel I've done my job."

It is interesting to note that Tandberg generally works from home and faxes his cartoon into the office. His cartoons respond to letters sent to him earlier in the day and also to the news stories, which are sent to him a little later in the day. Tandberg has won 10 Gold Walkley Awards.