Bill Zairofi

Master of Design

Hey there, my name is Bill Zairofi. I started learning graphic design when I was still a kid back in 2001. My father at the time was the founder of a magazine company. He encouraged me to start learning graphic design as everything is moving towards the digital era. So when I was a kid, I started learning Adobe Pagemaker, which was the industry standard for publishing at the time. My father would give me an equivalent of $50 (which was a lot of money for a kid in Indonesia at the time) for helping him layout the magazine, from there I developed my love and passion for design. Until I finished high school where I felt sick of it and wanted to try and learn something new. So I came to Melbourne to get my Bachelor's Degree in Film & TV, I chose a film degree because a film for me is the perfect collective of many different art disciplines, and I can still go with my passion for digital media. However, I realized it was not an easy industry to enter, especially for an international student with not many industry connections like me, and I was struggling to obtain projects. I then decided to go back to design again, and now I am finishing my Master's Degree in Design at Swinburne University in hope that I could go back to working in the design industry.

Universal Disposable Tableware

Specialized-lid Recycling Bin

Acknowledgement of Country

The School of Design and Architecture respectfully acknowledges the Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners and knowledge-keepers of the lands, waters and sky that surround us, where we work, learn, create, communicate and make place. We recognise that sovereignty has never been ceded and this always was and will always be Wurundjeri Country. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who continue to make a better world through design.

We extend our acknowledgement to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, students, alumni, real-life clients, and knowledge keepers, who have contributed to our own education diversity and growth. We will continue to ensure that staff and students respectfully honour ancestral connection to Country and Place in everything that they do.

We are dedicated to the notion of design to make a better world and we acknowledge that making tools, shaping place, sharing stories, making meaning, wayfinding and collaborating have long been and continue to be both central and integral to First Peoples' cultures. We recognize that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ cultural contributions have continued relevance to design practice and commit to: reconciling ancestries of design and contemporary practice as well as pursuing culturally and professionally appropriate ways to engage with a diverse population of colleagues, industries and clients. In a time of treaty-making and voice we understand that there are overlaps between caring for Country and the sustainable production of goods, services, experiences, products and buildings.

Guided by the principles of respect, reconciliation, and reciprocity we undertake to indigenising and decolonising design practice by dismantling colonial structures and challenging biases that have marginalised Indigenous voices and design.

As students of SoDA you will be given opportunities to both engage with and educate yourself in Indigenous creative practices and cultural protocols through a lens of inclusivity, diversity, respect, mutual understanding, inter-cultural dialogue in all aspects of design practice. Indigenous people have been telling stories, making tools, and connecting to Country through visual media, placemaking and place marking for more than 60,000 years and these practices are part of an ongoing, evolving and live tradition.