Congratulations!

Congratulations!

A huge congratulations to all of the School of Design Graduates for 2023!

It was wonderful to celebrate the completion of your studies together this year at our first whole school event - RMIT Design 2023 Grad shows

I was delighted to see the remarkable work on display from all programmes from undergraduate to masters and to be there to celebrate your fantastic achievements. I am very pleased to thank all the family, friends and partners who came and created the wonderful energy and atmosphere at the event.

I would also like to extend a special note of congratulations to the following winners of the Dean’s awards 2023 and to wish everyone the best in your onward careers.  We hope you keep in touch and look forward to seeing the amazing things you will achieve in your work in the future!

Andrea Siodmok
Dean, School of Design

Bachelor of Design (Animation and Interactive Media)

Joy Zou

2023 Dean’s Award Winner
Bachelor of Design
(Animation and Interactive Media)

Joy Zou has demonstrated excellence in animation practice throughout her studies in the Animation Program, including her final project. Joy took on a student co-director role in an industry project, creating an original animated music video for legendary German metal band TANKARD. Working with her fellow students, she made essential contributions in multiple areas of the production, helping to lead the project to a very high-quality result which has now been screened in over 20 international festivals and won two international awards.

Beyond her individual achievements, Joy has been committed to building a sense of community, inclusion, and belonging within the Program. Her instrumental role in the establishment of the WeAnimate Club shows her dedication to creating a supportive environment for her peers.


Bachelor of Design (Games)

Xavier Bell
Jason Reagen
Khoa Ho

2023 Dean’s Award Winners
Bachelor of Design (Games)

Xavier Bell, Jason Reagen and Khoa Ho, for their commitment to high quality production, writing, art direction and intellectual risk taking in the project "Trail of the Wretched".


Bachelor of Design (Digital Media)

Ansheng Li

2023 Dean’s Award Winner
Bachelor of Design (Digital Media)

Ansheng is a digital artist who has distinguished himself throughout his time in RMIT Digital Media, from experimenting with physical interfaces to producing accomplished 3D models, interactives, and virtual environments exploring queer temporality and migrant futurism as a Taiwanese-Australian.


Bachelor of Design (Communication Design)

Jing Bin Ter
(JB)

2023 Dean’s Award Winner
Bachelor of Design (Communcation Design)

JB is an outstanding and consistently diligent student who has recently excelled in his role on the SOD design team. He oversees all aspects of the job with remarkable efficiency.

JB is known for his strong work ethic, proactive nature, wide range of interests and skills, effective approach to projects and tasks, and his supportive attitude towards his peers. He readily takes on leadership roles to ensure tasks are completed and generously offers his time to assist his fellow students. 


Bachelor of Industrial Design (Honours)

Kate Thaus

2023 Dean’s Award Winner
Bachelor of Industrial Design (Honours)

Kate Thaus is an outstanding industrial designer who strives to excel in all that she puts her mind to. Her final year Honours outcome titled "Nox: The 6 PM Project" is a speculative design intervention that addresses rationalisation of a long-term relationship with alcohol. Kate's design research has navigated Australia's culturally embedded casual relationship with alcohol. Her final design outcome stands to challenge the norm and to awaken drinkers to a heightened self-awareness by visually demonstrating the beverages consumed at certain times and over a week duration. We celebrate Kate's exceptional desire and passion for the topic that inspires both staff and students to strive for excellence. She is the perfect exemplar to be awarded the Dean's award. Congratulations Kate!


Master of Communication Design

Lloyd Mostafa

2023 Dean’s Award Winner
Master of Communication Design

Lloyd Mostafa has sought to expand his practice through collaboration and an extended inquiry into access and inclusive publications which seek to connect the visual and verbal. His Research Project publication, 'I Want To Feel The Textures Of Your Thoughts And Experiences…' developed from a 2022 collaboration with Fayen d’Evie for 'Liminal Magazine': 'Sometimes When The Curtains Are Open, We Wave At Each Other.' In 2023 as part of his internship, Lloyd developed an innovative web-based live captioning system for ~~~~~ “...derelict in uncharted space…” at the Melbourne Fringe Festival, which received a ’Sound and Technical Innovation Award’.


Master of Design Innovation and Technology (MDIT)

Tina Mangwani

2023 Dean’s Award Winner
Master of Design Innovation and
Technology (MDIT)

Tina Mangwani's capstone project Outbound addresses this issue of social exclusion that people with locomotor disability face in accessing hospitality services in India. Using an innovative de-centralised approach and co-design methodology the project aims to create a network of restaurants that are physically and socially equipped to cater to the needs of PWDs fostering physical and social inclusion. 


Master of Animation, Games and Interactivity (MAGI)

Nhu Bui

2023 Dean’s Award Winner
Master of Animation, Games
and Interactivity (MAGI)

Nhu's work always begins with ideas of home and belonging, of culture as comfort. In her characteristic AR works, Nhu uses technical tools to bring together the familiar and the new, to transport the user into a hybrid space where the maker's memories of home in Vietnam, interact with physical spaces thousands of miles away - her works create a fusion of home and away. Nhu's thoughtful and moving works have always been anchored in strong conceptual starting places, with the tools always in the service of ideas. Nhu is an extraordinary practitioners with real vision and the capabilities and determination to bring them into being.


  • Chloe Rumble
    Chloe has demonstrated excellence in work ethic and animation practice throughout her studies as well as commitment to community through helping other students, and general program engagement.

    Luiza Alberti (Ana Luiza Souza Alberti)
    Luiza has demonstrated excellence in animation practice, including her final project. Her approach has embraced expanded animation practice, combining 2D, 3D, and mixed media. Her appetite for experimentation has pushed boundaries in design and animation process.

    Elisheva Millner
    Elisheva has demonstrated excellence in animation practice throughout her studies as well as commitment to community through helping other students, and general program engagement.


  • "Ecliptic" - by Sophie Tan, Ben Mifsud, Will Drummond, Tara Brown, Julia Guevarra and Gyles Whytcross
    For their ongoing professional commitment to team production, creativity and art direction.


  • Angelique Jorre De St Jorr
    Angelique has cultivated an impressive critical practice at the nexus of 3D, interaction, and motion design, creatively engaging with A.I., neurodivergent experience, and climate change.

    Peiyu Chen
    Peiyu is highly regarded for rigorously exploring the post-human, consciousness, and digital power dynamics through her outstanding series of character, UI/UX, and interactive 3D works.

    Johnsen Cummings
    Johnsen excelled scoring and sound designing multiple animation projects during his time at RMIT, while also taking on professional soundtrack and audio engineering projects in TV, film and theatre.


  • Marrisa Tuangthong
    Marisa's commitment is instrumental in creating a supportive community and organizing student-run workshops within the realm of Communication Design through her involvement with Ctrl+ Collective. Additionally, she plays a significant role in the Communication Design graduate show.

    Clarise Sum
    Clarissa is a highly engaging and intellectually-driven individual who demonstrates a strong commitment to her practice, as well as a willingness to share her expertise and knowledge with others in our design community. She has received two nominations in recognition of her contributions.


  • Design for Aerial Acrobatics by Janina Ariel Ahadi

    Airwalker is a self-practice app for aerialists and pole dancers that emphasizes safe training and fosters a strong sense of community and belonging. It encourages a realistic approach to the practice journey, celebrating both training and rest days.

    Hestia by Ishan Raj
    Combining an authentic frying experience with effortless cleaning and maintenance, Hestia is an enduring air fryer that fosters an emotional connection with the time-conscious user.

    Katapuls Walkers – Posterior Walkers for Children with Friedreich’s Ataxia by Megan Myburgh
    Proposing a specialised walking device designed for children with Friedreich's Ataxia (FA), a rare inherited neurological condition, to address the limited availability of suitable posterior walkers in Australia. Informed by insights from medical experts and market analysis, the customised solution aims to enhance mobility, independence, and social integration for children with FA, significantly improving their overall quality of life.

  • Razniya Sye
    Razniya demonstrated exceptional ambition followed by rigorous research, reflection and then clarity, in choosing a very complex system-driven topic which she then distilled into a focused narrative. She unpacked this narrative into components to make a game for children and adults to play.

    Katherine Yang
    GoodDye is a material-led textile innovation project aiming to circularise the dying industry by transforming agricultural waste into regenerative dyes. The project also proposes a business model to inform technical and commercial viability. The fashion and textile industries have long been plagued by the detrimental environmental impacts of synthetic textile dyes which involve water pollution, biodiversity loss, and adverse effects on human health. Adopting a more-than-human design approach with an empirical design methodology, the research examines the traditional method of colour generation and identifying the challenges of current practices.

    Ka Yiu Lau
    Ka Yiu has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to her studies in MDIT, characterized by a tireless work ethic and a dedication to mastering new technologies. Her ability to adapt to an ever-evolving field is exemplified by her innovative use of clay printing and mass-customization in her major project, Clay-Vive. This project investigates the potential implications of 3D ceramic printing on sustainability and the evolving dynamics of human-object relationships by exploring the intersection of technology, individual perception, and environmental consciousness.


  • Yana Fidan
    During her time at MAGI, Yana has built on a foundation in fine art practice to develop a nuanced, idiosyncratic and truly original approach to storytelling through animation. Jana has exhibited an excellence in her work at MAGI that is driven by both curiosity and academic rigour.

    Dane Lui
    Dane's generosity as a practitioner has made him a central and valued member of the MAGi community. His quiet confidence and calm - along with his exceptional technical problem solving skills, have allowed him to both contribute significantly to the learning of his peers as well as engage at a high level, with a range of technically diverse projects within his own practice.

    Duncan Corrigan
    Duncan's practice is characterised by a playful questioning of convention. Throughout his time at MAGI, Duncan had created engaging experimental works that push against assumptions around what games are and into the potential of what they can be. He has naturally and generously taken on leadership in many contexts; his contribution to his peers and to the program itself has been significant.

Congratulations!

Congratulations!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business.