Isabelle Nguyen

Isabelle Nguyen is a Communication Designer who mainly focuses on publishing, branding and advertising. In additon to being a communication designer, Isabelle has a background in digital marketing. After finishing up at Swinburne studying Bachelor of Design / Bachelor of Media and Communications, she strives to be a junior graphic designer at a local design studio in Melbourne in her early years of her design career. Using her creative problem solving skills, she enjoys using her creativity towards design for social good with her campaign designs. In her last semester as a Swinburne student, she has acquired an internship as a digital marketing assistant and graphic designer for an inspiring social entrepreneur with multiple brands that requires assistance in branding and digital marketing to build their online presence. Outside of her professional life, she values quality time with friends and family – whether that’d be here in Melbourne or travelling overseas! Although she’s a homebody 80% of the time, she can’t refuse to see the world.

SERVICE WITH A SMILE

Text: Bad feeling at work; Emotional labour, precarity, and the affective economy; by Carolyn Vedestra.

This publication explores and expresses the themes of how emotional labour is gendered, that women are expected to be nurturing, empathetic and supportive in their personal relationships and workplace. This was demonstrated by expressing the frustrations of the subjects in the text through expressive imagery, typesetting and grid layout whilst being functional at the same time.

WALKING ON EGGSHELLS CAMPAIGN

This social issue campaign targets towards young adults (18- 25) who are unaware of the signs of emotional abuse in partner relationships. After researching and benchmarking other domestic/emotional abuse campaigns, an illustrative design approach was used to capture the target audience into learning more about emotional abuse in a non-confronting way. A range of media touchpoints were created to communicate that emotional abuse is still abuse.

SUGAR CAVE FESTIVAL

This design concept focuses on a fictional dessert festival called the ‘Sugar Cave Festival’. The idea behind this concept focuses on attracting locals and tourists to indulge their sweet tooths in Melbourne. The guide provides information about the type of events and vendors catering to the attendees. This project showcases imagery and typographic treatment skills through creating a festival poster and an A5 festival guide.

SPIRIT CHASERS

A supplied box dieline was given to create a brand and product variations with distinctive surface graphics. This design concept focuses on pre-mixed alcoholic drinks with three different flavours; Vodka Raspberry, Vodka Watermelon & Honeydew, and Vodka Passionfruit & Mango. The brand ‘Spirit Chasers’ was created to market towards young adults that are looking for a convenient ready-to-drink beverages for occassions. The illustrations express fun, freshness and flavour in the drinks.

CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY FOLIO

This is a creative photography folio to showcase my skills with a DSLR and image editing. The concept of this series is an amusing juxtaposition of a young subject matter performing grown-up like day-to-day activities.

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.