Grace Harries

Communication Design (Honours)

Hi I'm Grace Harries! I’m a playful, enthusiastic and fun graphic designer based in Melbourne. I have graduated with a Bachelor of Communication Design Honours from Swinburne University. I’m a passionate creative who loves all things design! I enjoy designing branding, packaging and publications, but I’m always eager to learn and expand my skill set. I’m a hard worker who is eager to explore the many possibilities within a project, and executing it effectively to meet a client’s needs.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

This project involved giving an out of copyright text a new visual interpretation by designing an enclosure to hold a mini publication and promotional materials. I took the approach of using neon paint pours and warped ‘drippy’ text to represent Alice’s confusion and sense of not feeling real whilst in Wonderland.
The accompanying promotional materials include postcards, stamps and an invitation to the Mad Hatter’s tea party. The publication inlcudes bright and drippy pull out quote pages on transparent paper. These pages are inteded to make the reader feel Alice’s uncertainty, as if she is the one repeating the words and getting lost in the narrative.

Toys Enable Learning

My research question was how does gendered toy marketing impact children’s learning and skill development? I resolves this by creating an in-school event called Toys Enable Learning. The purpose of the event is to educate parents about the important role toys play in children’s skill development, and how gender stereotyped toys can hinder their child’s educational growth. The branding is intended to be fun and engaging with memorable mascots for each skill. The event involves an entertaining talk with booklets and stickers distrubuted afterwards. After the event an interactive screen would be left at the school for four weeks, intended for any parents and students who missed the event.

Frosted Narwhal

Frosted Narwhal is an oat milk based frozen dessert brand which is vegan, dairy free, gluten free, soy free and nut free. Our aim is to create healthy, environmentally friendly, and delicious ice cream alternatives for children and families. The branding is livley and friendly to appeal to families with young children. The logo is a narwhal with a squished ice cream cone represented as the horn. This is a playful element intended to add a smile to our customers faces. The product line includes many fun flavours in ice cream tubs, icy poles and ice cream packs. Frosted Narwhal also has local ice cream shops near beaches where customers can dine in or take away.

The Picture of Dorian Gray - ISTD Submission

This is my response to the 2023 International Society of Typographic Designers brief, Open|Close. My artefact is inspired by the Aesthetic movement of the late nineteenth century. The daffodil’s scientific name is a narcissus which in floriography means egotism. Lord Henry calls Dorian a narcissus flower in the opening chapter, and I felt it was one of Dorian’s most prominent characterisations. I intended the flowers' decay to match Dorian’s symbolising his ego death and literal death.

The physical artefact is a special edition book of The Picture of Dorian Gray that targets fans of Oscar Wilde. The intention of the soft paperback is to enhance the user's experience of handling the book. The page flipping interactivity is aimed to highlight Dorian’s downfall and act as a navigation tool whilst reading. The flower begins wilting on the page Dorian wishes to sacrifice his soul for eternal youth. This acts against Aestheticism because he uses the portrait as something more than a beautiful object, and is where his undoing begins.

B UR Best

This project was an industry brief provided by a client, The Thrills creative agency. The brief outlined I was to create a health and wellness beverage brand that filled a gap in the market. My research revealed many Australian women have an inadequate intake of their crucial daily vitamins. B UR Best is an all natural juice targeted at women aged 13-34 with iron and vitamin B deficiences. The brands market positioning was determined by the lack of everyday lifestyle beverages that are high in iron or vitamin B. B UR Best’s launch strategy involved the Matildas as brand ambasadors, with an exciting training day launch event.

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.