Emma Sampson

Throughout my life I have always had a love of creating and capturing beautiful things. Finally in 2022 my passion was able to become my career. Now in 2024 I will graduate with my second degree - a Bachelor of Design, majoring in Photomedia. Over the course of my degree as a mature age student at Swinburne, I have been immersed in the Adobe Platform. Creating visual artworks and photographs I never thought imaginable. The following images are a snippet into my portfolio of work from the last 2 and a half years. I hope to show how I have developed my design and photographic abilities, while also inspiring you!

Dancing Blue and Red

A photograph from within my photobook titled 'Luminism' created for my Capstone project. This image highlights the overall theme within the book ~ the connection between Light and Time.

International Women's Day 2025 Magazine

As a proud Feminist, I took the opportunity to highlight Women’s Empowerment in a semester long assignment early in 2024.
For my final submission I was tasked to create branding for an
event that would go hand in hand with my chosen topic of Women's Empowerment. I have included designs of a magazine I photographed and created for International Women’s Day 2025.

Joyfull Magazine

During my first class of 2024, I got to experience being an Art
Director and Photographer for a food magazine company. The
hardest part of this whole assignment was trying to source
Candy Canes for a Christmas theme photoshoot, in the middle
of January!
I was required to produce layouts, mood boards, supply all
props and food, style the food and set, and be responsible for the layout the final collateral artwork.

Good Weekend Magazine 'Treasures Edition'

In one of my final photography classes of my degree, I was tasked with Photographing a 'treasure' valuable to a friend or family member, creating a story about their 'treasure' and finally designing a magazine layout and front cover.

Re-Designed Vinyl Cover, Tones and I 'Welcome to the Madhouse'

In one of my first university classes, I was tasked with choosing an album cover to redesign. I chose to redesign Tones and I's album titled ‘Welcome to the Madhouse’. The design represents Tones’ journey into the music industry, her mental health, loneliness, grief over losing a very close friend and the 2 years she spent in Covid lockdown.

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.