Ciara Nevin

For someone studying marketing, I constantly fall victim to purchasing something just for a pretty label. I usually appreciate well-designed branding over product quality, whether it’s a wine bottle, shampoo, or even a packet of tissues. This observance has evolved into a genuine love for branding, typography, and publication design.

Whilst at Swinburne, I learnt the theoretical foundations of marketing through my business degree, while simultaneously exploring the practical side of design. This blend of knowledge allows me to be a creative problem solver, always keeping the end consumer or user in mind.

My passion for creating meaningful experiences was first sparked through hospitality. I grew up living on-site at a wedding venue in the Macedon Ranges and have worked at various major events across Melbourne ever since. This passion, along with extensive hospitality experience, led to my interest in event design and marketing, something you’ll see reflected throughout my portfolio. I’m eager to hang up my apron, open up InDesign, and work behind the scenes in event marketing and communication design.

Epilepsy Foundation: Rebrand

The Epilepsy Foundation rebrand was developed to engage the growing number of young people supporting slow and second-hand fashion through the foundation’s op-shop chains. The figuremark was designed with brain imagery in mind, while maintaining a youthful and energetic appearance.
It began with a scan of purple cabbage (its creases resembling the folds of the brain) chosen not only for its form but also because purple is the globally recognised colour representing epilepsy. The image was simplified to create a bold and effective design.
This project was supported by a full set of brand guidelines, including colour and type restrictions and layout variations of the brandmark. Part 2 of this project is where the new branding was launched at a fashion festival to celebrate the refreshed look and further engage their newly expanded audience.

Epilepsy Foundation: Event Marketing

Part 2 of the Epilepsy Rebrand Project focused on marketing the new brand identity in a celebratory way, with the refined target audience front of mind. The “Slow Fashion Festival” celebrates all things second-hand, upholding the brand’s community-oriented values by promoting both epilepsy awareness and sustainability.
The background of the main poster features a two-toned image of a clothing pile. The folds and creases in the fabric visually reference brain imagery, tying together the fashion and neurological elements of the brand. The poster adheres to branding guidelines, including specific colour and type choices. Angled text encourages the viewer to read more slowly, echoing the festival’s name. Hierarchy is established through both size and colour, with the introduction of a secondary yellow accent providing contrast and drawing attention to key elements.
The supporting posters complement the main piece, using simplified variations that align with the festival’s branding. These include similar textured imagery and catchy, youthful taglines. Displayed together, they create a cohesive and balanced typographic system that supports the Epilepsy Foundation’s refreshed visual identity.

Strength in Numbers

Analysing The State Library's existing report contents, the theme “Strength in Numbers” was devised for the publication. The theme reflects the underlying concept of connection, both between people and through the library’s technological advancements (think binary coding). Various Roman numeral motifs were utilised to reinforce the idea of merging historical elements with modernism. Horse imagery was repeatedly evident at the Library, appearing in murals, statues, and chess pieces. Additionally, the horse symbolises strength, tying back to the overarching theme.

The Pork Chopper

Edgar’s Mission is a farm animal shelter in need of an updated brand identity to resemble their strong values of compassion, friendliness and community. With a target audience of primarily children and families, the design needed to be playful and memorable, encapsulating the personality of the brand. The new brandmark, nicknamed “the pork chopper” highlights the farms’ purpose of providing sanctuary to farm animals in need of refuge through their non-for-profit business model. The combination of a rescue helicopter with the brand’s mascot ‘Edgar the Pig’, visualises what the brand stands for perfectly.

Après Ski Festival

Après Ski Festival is a fusion of snow, sport, and sound, promising an array of activities and an unbeatable experience. The festival targets 20 to 40-year-olds with a passion for snow sports, music, and partying. The poster design centres on typography. The flowing, curved letters of “Après Ski Fest” are intended to resemble words carved into a frosted surface, revealing a layer beneath. This effect also resembles movement, a key visual tactic to the design of the poster. The layering of the typography generates hierarchy through size and colour contrast, as the thick black letters juxtapose against the pale blue colour palette.

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.