Marama Amity

Communication Design (Honours)

Hello, I’m Marama, and I’m a communication designer from Swinburne University. I design because I want to find new and interesting ways to communicate and tell stories.

I got into design because I was really creative growing up and I wanted to find a way to express the things I and other people were experiencing. I’ve found that design has been one of the greatest ways to express myself and communicate to other people.

During my time at uni I’ve worked for a year in industry at a road safety non profit run by Monash University called the National Road Safety Partnership Program. While I was there I created a campaign, worked with external professional stakeholders, and was an integral part of a 3 person team.

I’m really excited to get into design and work with publication and experiences in particular. My goal is to tell people’s stories and create connections between them.

Epilepzym Medicativeritum

This project required a visual essay to be presented. The focus was on prescription medication packaging and investigated the way people with epilepsy interact with medicine and the medical system.

Rapt headscarf and headwrap exhibition design

Rapt addressed a brief to tell the timeline of head scarves by exploring 5 different headscarves from different cultures through time. The exhibition told the story of each headscarf throughout time using moments from history and pop culture.

Are You Roadworthy? behaviour campaign

The Are You Roadworthy? campaign asks drivers to check to ensure that they are ready and fit to drive, not only physically, but emotionally and mentally as well.

NTARC investigation report

The NTARC investigation report used data from one of the biggest heavy vehicle insurers to present 2023’s crash data. The publication was creative directed by me in collaboration with academics, data scientists, and external stakeholders.

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.