My creative journey took off when I was 8 and my dad taught me how to weld. I made an echidna from a shovel head and some railway bolts, and entered it into the local art show and got first prize. Since then, I’ve had two successful gallery sculpture exhibitions and won a variety of awards. This helped fund the purchase of my own DSLR camera and computer, and led to me further pursuing a passion for photography and short film making. I chose to do 3 high school major works in Visual Art, Software Design and Industrial Tech. While I was at school, I was also the photographer and designer of our school concert and festival posters. This was my first experience with graphic design and drove me to do Visual Arts and Graphic Design at the University of Wollongong.
During my undergraduate years, I was involved in a variety of extra curricular projects to continue to develop my design and content production muscles. In 2017, I joined the
Solar Decathlon for Team UOW as a Graphic Designer and Photographer, and also helping to design and build the dementia friendly net-zero energy home to compete in an international competition in Dubai. I helped develop an award-winning safety campaign with character illustrations and a sustainable and environmentally friendly pamphlet made from seed paper that would grow into native wild flowers.
In 2018, I developed the identity and branding for my cohorts
Graduation Exhibition. It was during this project that I developed a passion for data-driven and experimental design. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to attend my own Graduate Exhibition that I designed because I was in Dubai for the Solar Decathlon project. This meant that I never really had a good send off from my degree, so I decided to do Honours as well.
I ended my first Honours year with a
19,000 word thesis on the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and Design Thinking. Following this I expanded on my thesis in creative form by continuing my interest in both data-driven design and sustainability. I proposed a design entity called a Data Organism to tackle company and consumer transparency.
The Renewable Generation was created as a prototype data organism. The project took the form of an energy sustainability campaign that visualised live energy use across Australian states.
While I studied my Honours degree I decided to also start working in the field and got a job at a locally owned and operated sports company called SMAI as a Graphic Designer and Digital Content Creator. I started work thinking that I was just going to do a little bit of design on the side for a company while studying, not really knowing that they were actually an International sports brand with a huge customer base. I rapidly grew into the role, learning all the intricacies of designing for a company. I left SMAI at the end of my two years of Honours, they were sad to see me go but ecstatic with all the creative stuff I had produced for them.
I am now onto the next chapter of my life; seeking new projects to work on, new communities to be a part of, and new experiences to learn from.
