Bui Xuan Lai Dau

Hi, I am Lai, a Motion Design Graduate who loves animation and creating aesthetic things.

I was born in Vietnam, however I moved to Australia in 2018 to explore global opportunities within the creative industry.

I started doing arts at a very young age, doodling all over my parents' books and annoyed them. My family has a tradition of being teachers, so I thought that was the pathway I was going to get into as well. However, in high school I learned more about the animation and design process, and I fell in love with the creative world. So here I am!

Flora and Fauna

This project was created for the Node Fest contest, with the theme of Flora and Fauna. I explored the relationship between human and nature through the blooming flowers on the wooden hand. The flowers are my favourite Aussie flowers: morning iris, wax flower and daisy.

Immerse in the Arts!

Affordable Art Fair is a global organisation that hosts exciting art fairs in Singapore, Hong Kong, Melbourne, and more cities! This project aims to capture the vibrant, magical and immersive atmosphere of the Melbourne Art Fair. The fair was hosted in the historical Melbourne Exhibition Building.
With a colourful and cartoonish style of animation, this motion graphic expresses the unique experience that the AAF offered in Melbourne, 2023.

A Heart Loop De Loop

Immerse in an angelic and dreamy world with this Loop De Loop project.
The goal was to create a looping animation that involves the letter "A". I created an angelic heart since the letter A upside down looks like a heart. I aimed to create a soft and hazy feeling, like when you are in a dream.

FUNKY PALS

This is an advertisement for Pals, the fizzy alcoholic soda brand. The aim was to create an upbeat and fun vibe, like when you are hanging out at the beach with your friends, to match with the brand's visual identity. To achieve that, we used fast paced editing, funky music and incorporated bright colour objects and fruits in the background. I worked in a small group, and we had a lot of fun filming, color grading and editing this video.

The Designer that changed Japan

The brochure aims to summarise the legendary life and career of Yusaku Kamekura, who is also titled "the Father of Japanese Design". The minimalistic colour palette reflects Mr. Kamekura's design style which had been heavily influenced by the Bauhaus's design principles.
The lines and the red sun express the traditional Japanese elements that Kamekura incorporated into his modern designs.

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.