Benjamin Lamaro

Hello! I’m Ben, a communications designer with experience in advertising, photography and video. I will be graduating this year with a Bachelor of Design / Bachelor of Media and Communications from Swinburne, a slightly upsetting level of HECS debt, and a strong passion for design coupled with a wide range of experience. I believe in the power of visual communication to resonate with people, and love using my talents to highlight and support people and industries that make positive change.

My double degree at Swinburne has given me transferrable skills and a holistic view of any project I undertake. I have added to this with a semester exchange at the University of the Arts London (UAL) - ranked 2nd in the world for Art and Design courses. Living in a thriving creative city like London unlocked a whole new excitement for my work that I carry with me today.

I’ve been fortunate enough to work with several real clients in my studies, most notably winning a brief by the UK’s National Health Service with a group of fellow exchange students.

When I’m not working on a project, I enjoy winding down with a new movie or a creative video game like Minecraft or Stardew Valley (my farm is absolutely raking in profits!). I love to try new things, whether that’s simple as a new local cafe, or as involved as planning to jet off to another country (and hope my bank account forgives me!)

AC/DC Album Redesign

Here the brief was to conceive, develop and design a ‘Special Edition’ vinyl package for a specific artist and album. We could select any album we liked with two major conditions: the album design must incorporate the artist and album name and track listing, and the concept, image design and branding must be completely original. It was also important the design reflected the nature and feel of the music and the artist. I chose AC/DC’s ‘Back in Black’.

Bose Rebrand

Over the course of a semester we worked with an assigned brand to not only give them a new logo, but create a whole new brandworld. I based this rebrand on the idea of using sound as a ‘tool’. Customers commonly use different types of music to achieve a certain mood - for example, to pump them up for a gym session or to relax them enough to fall asleep. My designs reworked Bose’s existing tagline ‘Sound is Power’ to show that sound can be whatever the user needs it to be, and Bose can provide the best sound.

Bose Loop Sub-brand

The final part of the Bose project was creating a sub-brand for a sustainable initiative: a circular repair shop, where customers could get their Bose products fixed instead of contributing to e-waste by throwing them away. The sub-brand required its own logo and identity while not being too far off the original brand as to be unrecognisable. I utilised a collage aesthetic that created a cool urban style while also symbolising repairs and spare parts in a novel way

Expanse Digital Pack Design

This brief involved both a pack design and overall brand identity. We were asked to come up with a product that might fit in a small box and create packaging for 3 variants - I chose portable hard drives, and created the brand Expanse Digital to sell 1TB, 2TB and 4TB versions. The challenge was coming up with three distinct designs that also had a shared brand identity. Hard drive packaging is generally incredibly bland and boring, so I wanted to create something that looked beautiful and excited users.

Classic Reboot - The Hound of the Baskervilles

We were required to pick a fictional text that was out of copyright and create a 'mini-publication' - a teaser for the text containing a 1500-word sample and a variety of items that enhance the story. I chose the novel The Hound of the Baskervilles, which differs from most Sherlock Holmes stories in that there is a supernatural element to it. I aimed to create a publication that played with perception and fear, blurring the line between rational and supernatural, as this is the key conflict of the story.

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.