Natalie Cavicchiolo

Communication Design

I’m a passionate and dependable designer based in Melbourne, Australia. Currently, I’m completing my final year of a Bachelor of Design, majoring in Communication Design, at Swinburne University. I’m interested in publication, packaging, brand identity, and motion design, as well as sustainability and accessibility in design.

My goal is to create designs that seamlessly blend functionality, creativity, and beauty. By keeping up with industry trends and new technology, I strive to deliver solutions that meet the client’s needs and help create a positive change. I’m eager to continue exploring various design fields and further develop my skills and knowledge.

Apart from design, I love viewing and creating art, as well as reading. I enjoy exploring different artistic styles and mediums, and I read widely across diverse genres. I find that these passions inspire my design work and broaden my perspective.

Gothic Horror Book Set

This collection features classic gothic horror novels—The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dracula, and Frankenstein—and includes a slipcase. I transformed public-domain paintings into a representation of a key character from each story and used that image across the cover and slipcase. Each book cover has been designed to reflect the essence of its narrative while maintaining a cohesive aesthetic across the series.

Plantzzz Night Lights

The brief involved designing the identity and surface graphics for a branded boutique range consisting of three products. This is a set of three night lights for “Plantzzz”. The night lights are in the shape of flowers: a tulip, a sunflower, and lavender. While clearly being part of a set, each pack has its own distinct look. The blurred imagery alludes to falling asleep and gives the impression of a soothing glow.

Paprika

This project explored photography and art direction, with a focus on food. I photographed herbs and spices for a magazine cover. When I think of herbs and spices, I think of nature and natural beauty. I noticed how vibrant the colours of many spices were, and how they popped against the lush green of herbs. This inspiration led me to arrange the herbs and spices like a bouquet.

The Circle

This is a cover for The Circle, a dystopian novel by Dave Eggers. It has themes of surveillance, privacy, and the misuse of technology. The cover features circles to symbolise “The Circle,” the tech company in the book. The eye imagery, combined with visual data elements, emphasizes the themes of surveillance and observation. Its dark, cool, and minimalist colour palette reflects the negative aspects of the company.

No Bad Feelings

This is a publication design for Bad feeling at work: emotional labour, precarity, and the affective economy, an article by Carolyn Veldstra. I wanted to express how being forced to present as enthusiastic and happy at work while feeling bad could cause distress. I conveyed this through the illustrated faces, which appear messy, stretch and deform, and blend into one another. The colours—dark blue and bright yellow—represent contrasting emotions, while the addition of pink highlights the focus on women in this article.

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.