Simon Owen

Simon Owen is a Naarm (Melbourne) based multi-disciplinary designer and writer. He graduated with a Bachelor of Design maj. Communication Design and a Bachelor of Media & Communications maj. Cinema & Screen studies at Swinburne University of Technology.

His personal interests include swimming, drawing, photography, and creative writing.

Tao Te Ching Publication

Ancient Chinese wisdom reimagined as a laser-cut acrylic publication, bound with steel wire and wooden beads. Purpose: convey the Tao’s key concept of ‘softness’ while creating a paradoxical object which defies understanding (just like the Tao). Click image to view YouTube video.

Yusaku Kamekura Brochure

Biography of Yusaku Kamekura. Designed for print with one red and one black ink. Purpose: capture both the Japanese identity and Russian Constructivist-inspiration of Kamekura’s work.

Rosebud Kite Festival Poster

Poster design. Purpose: a crafty and quaint postcard to promote a kite festival on the Mornington Peninsula. Multimedia digital collage including scanned and photographed elements.

Oatland Label & Bottle

Work for fictitious oat milk brand. Bottle created in Blender, watercolour label illustration. Purpose: an oat milk brand with the confidence of full-cream.

Lake Tyrrel Photography

Blow-up: Sunrise on Lake Tyrrell salt flats. Purpose: capture the ethereal landscape of the salt flats which are reminiscent of somewhere on Mars. Click to view the full image on my Flickr.

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.