Erin Frakes

I am a restaurant marketing manager who creates photo and video content for restaurants’ social media accounts, like TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. I also communicate with customers and influencers online, and design marketing collateral for print and digital applications. I analyse engagement data and develop strategies to bring in more customers. Being a jack of all trades landed me my career in restaurant marketing and I believe it will be the key to my future success.

When I’m not developing content for local restaurants or working on other design projects, I’m a cat person who reads and reviews books on my personal social media, writes novels, takes photos and videos, skis, rock climbs, bakes, sews, plays Dungeons and Dragons, sings, plays the ukulele, and goes to the gym. I have always wanted to get a taste of everything the world has to offer, and these experiences provide a huge source of inspiration for my creative work.

I’ve secured several letters of commendation and awards of excellence throughout my academic career and have built a network of creatives from Darwin to Melbourne. I’m the go-to person for photography, film, design, and marketing in my network.

I hold a Bachelor of Design in Communication Design and a Bachelor of Media Communication in Creative Writing from Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia.

Something Naughty

Something Naughty is a dessert cookbook for beginners starting their cookbook collection, for the client, Pan Macmillan. There is a gap in the cookbook market for dessert staples and according to user surveys, online recipes can be untrustworthy, confusing, and are clogged up with too much fluff. Something Naughty needed to be approachable, easy to follow, and straight to the point. I leaned into the idea of treating yourself with something a bit ‘naughty’, by scribbling all over the book, transforming the design into a fun, interactive experience.

Sweet Street

Sweet Street is a fictional dessert festival based in Melbourne’s CBD. I designed a print festival guide and website for this project, including a fully interactive map, illustration, and restaurant photography.

Thinx Rebrand

The previous Thinx branding did not reflect the company’s mission and values. It also did not suit the company’s secondary branding elements. I took twelve weeks to study the Thinx brand, and developed new branding, including a brandmark, tagline, and applications.

The new branding reflects Thinx’s values of sustainability, comfort, reusability, inclusivity, and innovation.

Mona Annual Report

The task for this project was to redesign an annual report. I chose the Mona museum in Tasmania. I focused on the theme of love to represent the passion that produces art, and the sense of connection forged by the community.

Simmer Packaging

Simmer is a fictional organic dried herbs and spices brand, offering a higher quality option without the inconvenience of sourcing fresh herbs and spices. It was a challenge to create a design with a point of difference from other herb and spice brands and to reflect the brand's unique qualities.

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.