Henry Leng

Communication Design (Honours)

Hi, I’m Henry.

I’m a Melbourne based Designer and Illustrator and recent graduate of Communication Design (Honours) at Swinburne University of Technology.

I’ve loved to illustrate from a young aged and was inspired to take up design in my teenage years as a way to apply my creativity into real-world outcomes. I love the huge diversity of projects and unique clients to be found across the industry and am constantly inspired by the ground breaking design work to be found all around us.

I’ve been lucky enough to work on some fantastic and challenging briefs over the 2020–2021 Covid lockdowns, initially through my work at the Swinburne Design Bureau and then through Industry Placement at The Brownbill Effect and later in my role as Junior Designer at Pidgeon Ward, where I have worked over the last six months. Working with such talented industry front-runners has been an amazing opportunity and immensely advantageous in building my technical and professional skills.

Towards the end of 2021 I have been leaning more enthusiastically into freelance illustration on top of my design roles and have found it to be massively rewarding embracing my artistic passion into my design outcomes. I can't wait to enter the industry full time and work with more and more talented designers!

'Lockdown' Portrait series

TRUISMS The Crisis of Democracy

A Small Amount of Mischief

'Best Bud' Dog food brand

AC/DC BACK IN BLACK 40th Anniversary

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.