Tara Knight

Communication Design

Tara is an undergraduate student at Swinburne University of Technology, pursuing a double degree in Media & Communications (Public Relations) and Design (Communication Design). She is driven by her passions, finding joy in creating meaningful work that aligns with her values. Tara's core principles are rooted in a deep respect and care for the natural world and human experience, with a commitment to sustainability, integrity, inclusivity, empathy and continuous learning.

Upon her graduation from Swinburne in February 2024, Tara aspires to make a lasting impact in the fields of Marketing, Communications, and Design, leveraging her skills and values to create a positive change in the world. Outside of the classroom, Tara can be caught on the couch, reading alongside her cat, Beaux Jangles, or out enjoying the landscapes of RJ Hamer Arboretum.

‘The Black Cat’ Creative Typesetting

A creative and intentional approach to typesetting, using a text excerpt of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Black Cat’. This piece was part of a comprehensive mini-publication package, exploring the text’s themes of ‘truth’ and ‘justice’ within the context of horror conventions.

‘The Black Cat’ Mini Publication Pack

A view of the full multi-component publication package for Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Black Cat’, including two missing posters; two newspaper clippings; a creatively typeset, formatted and bound text extract; and a self-closing enclosure.

Distracted Driving Campaign Adshel Poster

An Adshel poster for a campaign illustrating the personal consequences of distracted driving, focusing on financial consequences to appeal to young drivers aged 18-25. This is a single instance, part of four images and circumstances that appeal to this audience, created in a range of applications.

Monothematic Publication Design

This features of spread from a publication design inspired by the writing and themes in Andrew Murphie’s ‘On being affected: feeling in the folding of multiple catastrophes’. This publication employs a duo-tone colour scheme and creative typesetting to convey the central theme of ‘multiplicity’.

RJ Hamer Responsive Web Layout

A responsive web layout developed for the RJ Hamer Arboretum, comprising a total of 12 pages optimised for both desktop and mobile devices.

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.