About Chris

Are you sitting comfortably?​

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I have been a designer for all of my career, with additional skills in education and training earned along the way.​ My career began in Melbourne after completing the Diploma of Art and Design at Chisholm Institute of Technology (now merged with Monash University).

 

In the early years I worked across several companies in the promotional clothing and merchandise sector, managing client projects from brief to delivery. In those days, designers was far more hands on, with repro-cameras, hand-cut stencils, manual colour separations, Letraset transfer type and paste-up boards. It was meticulous, physical work, and it gave me a foundation in design thinking that no software tutorial can replicate.

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My career took a detour through academia, completing a bachelors degree in Politics at La Trobe University with a focus on China, Japan and India. That set the course for my next chapter as an educator.

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Over twenty years in China

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In 2001 I moved to Beijing to teach English, later in Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Ningbo. 

 

What began as an adventure became a major part of my life teaching professional English to university students as well as senior executives at Huawei, Alibaba Cloud and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange to name just some.

 

Some of the highlights of this time was my service as an part time IELTS examiner for the British Council and director of studies for TAFE NSW.

 

Somewhere in there I earned a Masters in Adult Education from Monash University, and a Graduate Diploma in Education (P–12) from La Trobe University.

 

I also acquired a Certificate 4 in Workplace Training and Assessment, which is essential for vocational trainers in Australia.

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TAFE NSW invited me to establish and direct a newly established graphic design program with their Ningbo City College partners. This program continues as an Australian accredited qualification delivered in a joint venture between now in it's seventh year.

 

Completing a the circle, I have been teaching typography, illustration, branding and visual communication practice, history & theory to college level students in East China. It has been so much fun mentoring a new generation of design professionals.

 

My Advanced Diploma in Graphic Design was achieved while teaching the diploma course at TAFE through the COVID pandemic lockdowns. This was one of the most demanding, yet rewarding periods of my working life.

 

Coming home

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I recently graduated with a Bachelor of Communication Design from Billy Blue College of Design at Torrens University. I was enrolled part-time and attended both in person and virtually, as my work commitments allowed. I have now returned to Brisbane where I live with my partner and am building a design practice focused on brand identity, illustration and communication design.

 

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As a design professional, I bring skills and knowledge that are genuinely unique. The depth of someone who has designed by hand, understands production from first principles, and has taught design theory and practice at an advanced level. In addition, I have spent nearly two decades communicating across cultural and linguistic boundaries. I know how to explain design to people who aren't designers, and I know why that matters.

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What I do now

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I take on brand identity and visual communication projects for businesses and organisations of all sizes. I have a particular interest in clients with Asia-Pacific connections, and in work that requires both strategic and visual thinking. My illustration practice spans traditional media (pen, ink, gouache, colour pencil), and digital work in Adobe Fresco and Illustrator.

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I'm also available for design education, curriculum development and facilitation projects.

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Qualifications:

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• Bachelor of Communication Design—Billy Blue College of Design / Torrens University, 2025

• Advanced Diploma in Graphic Design—Australian Pacific College, 2021

• Masters in Adult Education (Global)—Monash University, 2016

• Graduate Diploma in Education (P–12)—La Trobe University, 2009

• Certificate IV Training & Assessment TAE40116—Fortress Learning, 2019

• Cambridge CELTA—La Trobe University Language Centre, 2003

• Bachelor of Arts, Politics (Honours)—La Trobe University, 2000

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