Dianna & Su-Ann at the opening night of THE ENDLESS GARMENT: 12 February – 21 March at RMIT Gallery. A wonderful exhibition showcasing the new craft of machine knitting: changing the way fashion is designed and made – 10 international and Australian designers. The catalogue we designed will be launched at the 2010 L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival.
Photograph thanks to Mark Ashkanasy.
http://www.rmit.edu.au/rmitgallery
I was invited to be a judge for the Australian Poster Annual which was exhibited during the State of Design Festival in July. The three judges, Associate Professor John Bassani from Swinburne, Marcus Westbury (broadcaster and writer) and myself compiled a list of 30 posters each for the exhibition, we all came up with very different lists, hence a number of my favourite posters, including Now is tomorrow did not make the grade. To view the exhibited posters go to http://posterannual.agda.com.au/
It was an honour to be chosen as a judge for the recent AGDA National Awards, held bi-annually the Australian Graphic Design Awards are an industry highlight. My judges choice was The World in Words a campaign for The Sydney Writers' Festival 2008 designed by Saatchi Design.
I loved this piece – its unpretentious, evocative art direction and straightforward black and white photography. A beautiful and simple idea about memory, text and place. The juxtaposition of spectacular and suburban Sydney landmarks with well-travelled paperbacks was clever and striking, strongly branding the festival’s position in the international writers’ circuit.
To view all the results go to http://awards.agda.com.au/9th-agda-national-biennial-awards-2008/results
DWD was a winner in the 2007 Museums Australia Publication Design Awards, for Beyond Metal, an exhibition catalogue designed for RMIT Gallery.
The catalogue accompanies an exhibition touring to India and Malaysia, which features Australian contemporary jewellery and holloware. This is characterised by a uniquely Australian aesthetic that embraces raw as well as recycled materials, innovative design and use of technology. To reflect this aesthetic we chose spare yet elegant typographic treatment and design, and metallic rust and turquoise blue to represent the colours of our land. Working with supremo Mark Ashkanasy on the photography was a delight.
Floreo magazine for the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne was shortlisted for the same awards.
'So ... do you come here often?" was a successful wind-up of the AGDA Student Council's activities for 2007. The inaugural exhibition, held at Loop in mid November was a great opportunity for design students from Colleges and Universities to come together.
The work ranged from photographic, typographic and illustrative.
The hands on nature of a lot of the work showed the students weren't just relying on the computer to generate their forms of expression.
AGDA Councillor Dom Bartolo opened the exhibition with his relaxed attitude and funny enthusiasm that had everyone charmed.
The event was the last for AGDA Councillor Dianna Wells who completed 2 years with the AGDA student Council, finding it a rewarding experience with such a great group of students.
Rebecca Rodell from Swinburne won an internship at Dianna Wells Design during 2008.
Dianna has just completed two years working in a voluntary capacity as a councillor with AGDA (Australian Graphic Design Association) Victoria. Her major achievement was establishing the AGDA Student Council, which aims to assist graphic design students bridge the gap into the professional design world.
One of the initiatives was a sell out evening called First Five Out. Professional designers enlightened students and recent graduates about how they made the progression into the design world, with anecdotes and survival strategies from their first five years out of college.
AGDA South Australia and NSW will be holding similar events in 2008.