Tahlia White

I’m Tahlia White, a communication design and advertising graduate from Swinburne University of Technology.

My experience in a creative role, involving design application, marketing, and social media management, has given me the ability to think strategically and critically about brand communications. In my last year of study, I was selected to pitch alongside my team as a finalist in the Advertising Capstone challenge. I was also chosen as the winner of the Outstanding Student Award for Career-Ready Excellence in the Advertising major.

I love the details. For me, it’s about zooming in to really get an idea of the big picture. This translates in my strong passion for graphic design, particularly brand design, packaging, and digital applications. Communication design holds a true significance in our world, and I strongly believe in the importance of designing visual communications to have value and meaning.

When I’m not designing, you might find me at the beach, catching up with friends at my favourite local food spots, or sweating away life's problems at hot mat pilates.

Go Ride A Wave

This surf schools re-brand included a full brand identity (and relevant applications), a website design, and the design of two interactive student booklets to combine surfing with environmental education.

Biik Minerals

Biik Minerals was visualised from re-branding Swisse, to revitalise their company values with a focus on scientific innovation and nature and encourage people to achieve a prosperous and healthy life.

Port Fairy Folk Festival

Port Fairy Folk Festival’s website design uses bold and expressive visuals to reflect the organisation's character, with engaging interactive elements and ease of user navigation.

Be Man Enough Campaign

To raise awareness of violence towards women as being a gender-based issue, the Be Man Enough Campaign called young males into action; to challenge stereotypes and prevent violence.

State Library Victoria

The State Library Victoria annual design communicates the values and vision of the organisation through the statement ‘connecting to an online destination’, through contrasting imagery of modern technology with retro colours and styles.

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.