Our
Students

Where do you work?
At the moment I work full-time for Richmond Wheel & Castor Co., a big industrial company in South-East Melbourne. I also freelance through my own small design business, genevieveink, on weeknights and weekends.

What is your role?
At Richmond, I work in the Marketing Department as their graphic designer alongside a web designer and the marketing manager. Every day is completely different. Some days I'm calling clients, creating databases, very often working on 100+ page catalogues and taking photos. I recently spent one day driving a cart around on a private golf course, taking photos of clients at a company golf day.
In my freelance business, I have quite a few roles; creative director, designer, consultant, illustrator, proofreader, copywriter, typesetter, photographer, promoter and I'm also a blogger over at genevieveink.com.

When did you gruaduate from Shillington?
I studied at Shillington in 2008 and I did the part-time course over a whole year.

How confident did you feel about entering the design industry after you graduated?
It might sound a bit egotistical, but I felt really confident about getting into the industry – I was approached by my first client three weeks before graduating, and I was pretty much applying my classwork to a real-life design project. I was working, freelancing, gigging and studying. I quit retail once I started freelancing. Six months later I was working in my first full-time design position. The way the course at Shillington was set up really prepared me to work in the industry.

Why did you decide to do the course?
Because I wanted to round things out creatively. I'm very 'right-brained' and always getting ideas for things to create. I had the Shillington brochure sent to my house two years in a row before finally deciding to give it a shot. The course length and class times really appealed to me too. I was supporting myself financially so going to university wasn't an option.

What was the most valuable thing you took away from the course?
The design principles – I'm often reminded of them while I'm working on layouts. Also, the realisation that I could do graphic design as a career!

What do you enjoy about being a graphic designer?
The variety and the jobs where I get to do a lot of illustration and typographical work – music clients are great for this. I also really like getting repeat work from clients in my freelance business.

Where do you see yourself in 12 months?
Freelancing full-time and doing mostly music-related design work. I'm also settling down with my fiancé so my ability to work from home and sustain a livable wage through freelancing is becoming increasingly important.

What has been the highlight of your career so far?
So many things, but three that stand out so far. Being asked by some good music friends – who became multi Golden-Guitar winners – if I would be their graphic designer (ongoing client, great guys, great to work with). Also, being approached by the Melbourne Museum to be a guest speaker at Top Designs 2010 (just found out this week that I've been invited back to speak at Top Designs 2011) and, most recently, getting paid a full days' wages to drive around in a golf cart on a private golf course, taking photos with some super-expensive camera gear and getting loads of free food and drink at a company golf day!