Hear straight from our graduates.
I took the plunge and gave up my day job. It was really daunting at first but honestly the best career decision of my life.
Graphic Designer, Tritium
Vanessa Burgess
What were you up to before Shillington?
Prior to Shillington, I was working in marketing communications in the retail and energy sectors. I was fortunate to work on some large-scale branding and advertising projects and became interested particularly in the visual side of brand stories. As time went by, I started to gravitate towards the areas of campaign management and working alongside creatives in advertising agencies.
Why did you decided to study design? Why Shillington?
It was after a tour of an advertising design studio one day that I decided I wanted to become a designer. I was intrigued by what they did and how they arrived at their designs. It all seemed so creative and structured at the same time. The thought of going back to study for a few years didn’t appeal, so I started searching for courses that would teach me the concepts of design at an accelerated rate. When I found Shillington’s full-time course it seemed too good to be true. Shillington’s website answered my questions and concerns and frankly the beautiful high quality portfolios of prior students really won me over. I wanted to produce that level of work. I took the plunge and gave up my day job. It was really daunting at first but honestly the best career decision of my life. Saying I was equally excited and terrified on my first day at Shillington Melbourne back in 2012, is an understatement.
What’s your typical day like now?
Currently, I work at Tritium in Brisbane as an in-house graphic designer. Tritium is leading the way internationally in EV (Electronic Vehicle) charger technology. A typical day starts with a coffee of course! then running through emails, scheduling in design work, attending briefings and meetings, researching and whiteboarding ideas, briefings suppliers and then settling into designing with my fav tunes. While a cliché, no one day is ever the same. I work across a variety of design projects including print layouts, large format designs, renders, animations, infographics, social media and digital designs, mockups and technical designs for the engineers.
I enjoy the fast to market nature of my role. Ideas quickly become a design reality here in this innovative and evolving technology space. I’m extremely grateful for my experiences at Shillington which gave me the tools and structured learning to handle live design projects. I experienced inspirational teachers (a special thanks to Corrie and Dave) who encouraged me to embrace my own style around the design theories and how to evolve a seemingly simple design concept on paper through to full rollout. Portfolio week does happen in the real world – in fact all the time! The great thing about Shillington is you learn how to listen, how to research, how to generate and present your design ideas. So once you’re ready to fire up your Adobe program, you’ve got this.
Why do you love working as a designer?
I love the challenge of taking an idea and making it work visually. It’s very exciting to start a new brief and wonder where it’s going to end up. I really enjoy collaborating with others, it’s amazing what team work achieves and the enjoyment of seeing your designs going live out there in the world and how they contribute to the larger marketing picture. They say overnight success takes years and its true. I’ve been that pro bono freelance designer for small businesses, the logo designer for wine glasses, the junior finished artist surrounded by seasoned designers wondering how I got the gig and the visual designer for a client who wanted designs out the door yesterday. It’s really worth putting yourself out there. Now, when I sit quietly at my computer and put on my headphones it comes back to the same thing for me, a drive to create beautiful and functional design in this world. I say stay humble, stay curious, keep learning.
Visit Vanessa’s website.
Arwa Al-Salam
Designer, Human Appeal
Babeth Olde Hanter
Junior Art Director, SOV
Jamie Krups
Creative at Stab Magazine
Megan Dweck
Visual Designer, McKinsey & Company
Emily Campos
UX Designer, Wix
Sinead Murphy
Freelance Graphic Designer
Caitlin Clancy
Designer, The New York Times
Miwako Suzuki
Integrated Creative Director
Rachel Urquhart
Founder, Pony Gold Studio
Ellie Pinney
Freelance Designer
Lauren Koste
Freelance Designer and Craft Beer Specialist
Eman Abdallah
Designer, Humachina
Lori Beth Kaye
Senior Product Designer, The Iconic
Anastasiia Vinnichenko
Designer, Tile Creative
Ray Wong
Designer, Oink Creative
Araki Koman
Freelance Illustrator and Designer
Keiran McCann
Graphic Designer, Victoria’s Secret
Jaira Adlawan
Senior Visual Designer, Sephora
Ani Monteleone
Designer, The Wall Street Journal
Hamish Snow
Designer, Josephmark
Eleanor Robertson
Designer, Paul Belford Ltd
Gerald Torto
Strategist, Re Agency
Linda Gao
Designer, HBO
Ella Donald & Charlotte Carnegie Brown
Co-Founders, Studio Duzi
Will Batrouney
Graphic Designer, Ignite Online
Bianca Oggiano
Designer, Design Haus Liberty
Christopher J Porter
Designer, I See Sea
Dominika Stanczyk
Designer, Open Water
Katie Lodge
Business Development Manager, Frost* collective
Vanessa Bertagnole
Graphic Multimedia Designer, Surf Life Saving Queensland
Amee Wilson
Art Director, Clemenger BBDO
Shannon Gordon
Designer, R/GA
Jordan Demetriou
Junior Designer, Principals
Ashley Ronning
Illustrator and Founder of Helio Press
Emily Somers
Founder, Bravery Co.
Yarron Frauenfelder
Design Director
Anara Davletaliyeva
UX Designer and Developer, Appliances Online
Erin Gale
Designer, Target
Tiffany Yee
Designer, Forever 21
Amy Sheehan
Art Director, Insider Inc.
Emma Ladlow
Designer, University of Nottingham Students' Union
Braden Floris
Designer, GoFundMe
Alexis Waller
Design Director, R/GA
Halah El Kholy
In-House Designer, Brew Tea Co
Alexander Rog
Junior Designer, oOh!
Jessica Bakker
Junior Graphic Designer, Beyond Communications
Bianca Chu
Senior Designer, eBay
Tally Thompson
Graphic Designer, Awesome Creative
Greg Bemis
Creative, Nike
Arnold Omanyo
UX/UI Designer, Digital on Demand
Tahmena Lutfi
Digital Designer, Qantas and Jetstar Hotels
Meredith Wallis
Designer, King & Partners
Miranda Mayne
Freelance Graphic Designer
Lindsay Koffler
Graphic Designer, Refinery29
Bobby Hendry
Designer, Brilliant Logic
Anika George
Designer, AKQA
Mark Osmond
Designer, Thumbs Up!
Lily Moore
Designer at Sotheby’s
Liana Modolo
UX Designer, Rex Software
Victoire Scherer
Junior Graphic Designer, Neoscape
Mikel McCavana
Designer, Moment
Kelly Hansen
Graphic Designer, Amazon Books
Alexander Wu-Kim
Concept Creative, ANDPEOPLE Australia
Kirsten McColl
Designer, WH-O
Nicole Rogers
Designer, Birchbox
Frankie Young
Founder, Studio Neubau
Pooja Dharia
Branding Designer, FCB Health
Jackson Todd
Art Director, Van Der Zwaag
Dawn Moloney
Founder, A Making Life
Caroline Keefe
Freelance, Nickelodeon
Sophie Lord
Creative Director, Hello May
Ocki Magill
Founder, Letter Bug Studios
Andy Vargas
Designer, Bitâcora
Moshe Bien
Designer, Nucleus
Crystal Lin
Designer, DNA Design
Stephen Grace
Designer, Christopher Doyle & Co.
Jing Ong
Designer, Autumn
Paul and Amoni Liddell
Graphic Designers, Westpac CX and Feel
Eleanor Rogers
Letterpress Printer, Chapel Press
Andy Tharagonnet
Designer, ThumbsUp
Erin Donati
Founder, Harley Quinn & Co.
Ben Peters
Freelance Graphic Designer
Brad Holten
Designer, Big Idea
Natalia Baker
Freelance Graphic Designer
Guy Pittard
Freelance Graphic Designer
Bea Sambalido
Freelance Graphic Designer
Oceane Combeau
Designer, Fernand et Firmin
Charly Tudor
Graphic Designer, Holdens
Anna Mullin
Illustrator, Sneaky Racoon
Theo Witrylak
Visual Designer, EPAM
Stephanie Antill
Founder, St Clement Creative
Paul McKie and Myles Sharpe
Directors, Autumn
Pete Conforto
Designer, For The People
Nicol Reid
Founder, Little Creative
David Scott
Designer, The Mix
James Birks
Freelance Illustrator and Designer
Jane Durlacher
Graphic Designer, Paper Stone Scissors
Rachel Lee
Freelance Graphic Designer
Romayne Gadelrab
Freelance Graphic Designer
Janno Saft
Founder, frank wo
Roo Cassels
Designer, Big Fish
Vanessa Burgess
Graphic Designer, Tritium
Olivier Adam
Freelance Graphic Designer
Molly Sitter
Studio Designer, Spring St. Social Society
I took the plunge and gave up my day job. It was really daunting at first but honestly the best career decision of my life.
Graphic Designer, Tritium
Vanessa Burgess
What were you up to before Shillington?
Prior to Shillington, I was working in marketing communications in the retail and energy sectors. I was fortunate to work on some large-scale branding and advertising projects and became interested particularly in the visual side of brand stories. As time went by, I started to gravitate towards the areas of campaign management and working alongside creatives in advertising agencies.
Why did you decided to study design? Why Shillington?
It was after a tour of an advertising design studio one day that I decided I wanted to become a designer. I was intrigued by what they did and how they arrived at their designs. It all seemed so creative and structured at the same time. The thought of going back to study for a few years didn’t appeal, so I started searching for courses that would teach me the concepts of design at an accelerated rate. When I found Shillington’s full-time course it seemed too good to be true. Shillington’s website answered my questions and concerns and frankly the beautiful high quality portfolios of prior students really won me over. I wanted to produce that level of work. I took the plunge and gave up my day job. It was really daunting at first but honestly the best career decision of my life. Saying I was equally excited and terrified on my first day at Shillington Melbourne back in 2012, is an understatement.
What’s your typical day like now?
Currently, I work at Tritium in Brisbane as an in-house graphic designer. Tritium is leading the way internationally in EV (Electronic Vehicle) charger technology. A typical day starts with a coffee of course! then running through emails, scheduling in design work, attending briefings and meetings, researching and whiteboarding ideas, briefings suppliers and then settling into designing with my fav tunes. While a cliché, no one day is ever the same. I work across a variety of design projects including print layouts, large format designs, renders, animations, infographics, social media and digital designs, mockups and technical designs for the engineers.
I enjoy the fast to market nature of my role. Ideas quickly become a design reality here in this innovative and evolving technology space. I’m extremely grateful for my experiences at Shillington which gave me the tools and structured learning to handle live design projects. I experienced inspirational teachers (a special thanks to Corrie and Dave) who encouraged me to embrace my own style around the design theories and how to evolve a seemingly simple design concept on paper through to full rollout. Portfolio week does happen in the real world – in fact all the time! The great thing about Shillington is you learn how to listen, how to research, how to generate and present your design ideas. So once you’re ready to fire up your Adobe program, you’ve got this.
Why do you love working as a designer?
I love the challenge of taking an idea and making it work visually. It’s very exciting to start a new brief and wonder where it’s going to end up. I really enjoy collaborating with others, it’s amazing what team work achieves and the enjoyment of seeing your designs going live out there in the world and how they contribute to the larger marketing picture. They say overnight success takes years and its true. I’ve been that pro bono freelance designer for small businesses, the logo designer for wine glasses, the junior finished artist surrounded by seasoned designers wondering how I got the gig and the visual designer for a client who wanted designs out the door yesterday. It’s really worth putting yourself out there. Now, when I sit quietly at my computer and put on my headphones it comes back to the same thing for me, a drive to create beautiful and functional design in this world. I say stay humble, stay curious, keep learning.
Visit Vanessa’s website.
Cari Sekendur
Art Director, LMNOP Creative
Alexandra Menzies
Freelance Graphic Designer
Tim Jones
Brand Experience Director, venturethree
Carla Scotto
Freelance Graphic Designer
Meg Walker
Designer, Milkshake
Christina Capetola
Designer at Wayfair
Louise Hamer
Design Lead, We Are Empire
Ina Estrada
Founder, Par Vous Designs
Chrystal Christie
Photographer/Graphic Designer, One Round Entertainment
Ulrika Johnson
Designer, Fantasia Accessories
Sam Jacobs
Senior Designer, Time Inc.
Sean Raynor
Designer, Watermark Studio
Irina Manning
UX Designer, Manning Labs
Margherita Baldi
Freelance Visual Designer
Henriette van Baren
Graphic Designer, ABC Carpet & Home