Digital learning… here we go!

Where did you study and what were some of your first jobs?

Straight out of high school I enrolled in the Bachelor of Communication, Advertising at RMIT University. While at RMIT I took advantage of their exchange program and moved over to Denmark for a semester to study at the Danish School of Media and Journalism. If you have the opportunity to go on exchange, do it! It’s an invaluable experience that pushes you to step out of your comfort zone while being immersed in a new culture.

After graduating, I attended the Award School in Melbourne and landed my first professional role as a Junior Art Director at Grey Melbourne. I definitely learnt a lot very quickly, but always felt a little out of my depth when it came to the Adobe programs so a friend recommended I checked out Shillington. After doing some research I enrolled in the part-time design course while still working at Grey full-time. Five years later I’m back in the Shillington classroom as a full-time lecturer and loving it.

What's the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Don’t be afraid to present a crazy out of this world concept to a client. As long as you go back to them with at least two concepts that answer the brief, your third idea can be something that pushes the boundaries. You never know, they might absolutely love it and you’ll be able to create something that’s unique and bold.

Any passion projects/collabs you would like to share?

I recently worked on a fun passion project with my teaching partner Annette Dennis. We wanted to create something special for our recent Shillington graduates that combined my love of illustration with Annette’s love for typography. The result was a small zine, or ‘brag book’, that contained an illustration of each student with some rules for good design and surviving a pandemic.

What advice would you give students graduating in 2020?

Put yourself out there! Recent graduates can be so incredibly hard on themselves and can fall into the trap of holding back from sharing their work. Be proud of your work, share it with everyone, and keep going. Work on passion projects, collaborate with others and attend all the design events you can.

What do you think the design community could do more to give back?

Keep doing what you’re doing! 2020 has been a really challenging year for everyone. It has pushed everyone to adapt in one way or another, and while it has been difficult, it has been amazing to see how the design community has stepped up to help educate, communicate and inspire.

Projects like Stay San/Stay Safe, the United Nations Global Call Out to Creative s, and Becky Wass’ simple #virtualkindness project have been so inspiring and have only solidified the importance of the design community as visual communicators in times of need.

If people wanted to know more about design in your city, what are the top blogs, organisations or events they can read up on?

Melbourne is an incredible city for design and there are so many great resources, organisations and events to check out. Some great places to start are:

● AGDA
● Side Project Sessions
● The Shillington Design Blog
● Creative Mornings Melbourne
● The Design Files
● Ladies who wine and design Melbourne

If you want to know more about Kim's work:

Shillington website: www.shillingtoneducation.com
Website: kimmelvin.com
Instagram: @kim__melvin