Gabriel Olivier Hernandez

Hello, my name is Gabriel, and I’m a third-year Communication Design major who enjoys combining illustration and creative ideas with graphic design. I was born in Mexico City and moved to Melbourne when I was four years old. When I’m not working on a design project, I’m listening to old records and playing guitar in a ‘50s/‘60s Rock ‘n’ Roll band.

During my first year at university, I had a hard time finding my personal voice and passion in design and didn’t really know where I wanted to go with it professionally. I decided to take a gap year in Cadiz, Spain, working as a primary school Art, English, and Music teacher and showing my work in a small gallery. I came back to university ready to dive in with more confidence, having learnt that what I love is combining art and illustration with creative graphic design.

Throughout the past four years, I’ve done a lot of freelance work as both a designer and illustrator, both for myself and for clients, and I’ve even recently started my own small business selling my Capstone project, ‘HUMAN FLY’ magazine, online. To my surprise, it’s had a really strong response, and it has been growing very quickly. Creating it, from writing and illustrating to designing, printing, and promoting, was one of the most fulfilling experiences I’ve had. I’m now working on the next issue and plan to keep developing ‘HUMAN FLY’ while continuing to grow as a designer and artist.

HUMAN FLY Magazine Issue #1

HUMAN FLY is a passion project of mine that I created in my final semester of University. It is a vintage Rock 'n' Roll magazine that I wrote, designed, illustrated and published independently. It talks about the music I love and lets me use my creativity to its fullest extent, as I took the project from start to finish completely with my vision. 'HUMAN FLY' makes music magazines exciting again and stands out against the modern music publication landscape.

FUZZBALL Hair Pomade

FUZZBALL is a men's hair product company that specialises in vintage hair pomades for those old school styles. I created three packaging designs for their products, as well as accompanying folded sheets with fun illustrations and typography that act as collectibles.

Mexican Skeleton Musician Illustrations

While I was living abroad in Spain, I was doing a lot of artwork that drew on my Mexican heritage as well as my love for music. I had the opportunity to do small gallery shows and to go on the road across southern Spain with a tattoo convention. These are the works I sold, along with some of my personal favourites.

Don Quixote Reboot Publication

I was tasked with rebooting the Spanish literary classic Don Quixote. It is modern, artistic and captures the essence of the original but feels like something that could fit in the current publication landscape.

Miles Davis 'Live at the Filmore East' Album Redesign

An album cover redesign that shows off my illustrative abilities with Miles Davis being hand-drawn. The project combines my love for jazz music and for the genre's unique album cover designs from the '50s and '60s, and allowed me to put my own illustrative spin on them.

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.