Kristi Biezaite

Communication Design

Kristi Biezaite has recently completed Bachelor of Design (Communication Design) at Swinburne University. She is based in regional South Australia and works as a freelance designer and artist. In her design work, Kristi draws inspiration from both her natural surroundings and contemporary culture. She has been greatly influenced by her upbringing in Latvia, North-Eastern Europe, where craftiness and creativity, as well as the wonders of the natural world are in high regard. After studying sociology and social psychology Kristi embarked on work at an advertising agency and later went on to freelance in branding and identity design. Since moving to Australia in 2010 she has been responsible for nearly 100 unique labels and visual designs for the craft brewery she co-owns with her partner in South Australia. After finding a passion in creative illustration and gaining recognition at local art galleries, Kristi decided to embark on developing design skills with a University degree. Now having completed her Bachelor of Design at Swinburne, Kristi has branched out by not only offering design services, she also develops product labels for other businesses and has established her own screen printing workshop, as well as her own brand for natural fibre products - mainly processing sheep and camel wool using natural dyes.

Robe, SA visual identity

Branding for a natural fertiliser company

Visual response to indie rock subgenre

Grant application form design for an NGO

TVOTR "Dear Science" album cover redesign

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.