Top Designs 2026 Education Forums

9:30am: Jo Pritchard, Visual Design Manager, Museums Victoria

1pm: Matthew Maginness, Exhibitions Designer, Museums Victoria

9:30am Beci Orpin, Illustrator & Designer

1pm: Ashley Ronning, Illustrator and Artist

11:15am Ravi Vasavan, Artist & Designer

9:30am Jack Murray, Architect, Exhibition Design Documenter at Museums Victoria

1pm TBC

Jo Pritchard

Jo Pritchard

With over 25 years experience as a visual communication designer, Jo worked in publishing, branding and digital realms before landing her dream job at the museum 15 years ago. Since then, Jo has had the privilege of working on multiple award-winning exhibitions and installations, including the Pauline Gandel Children’s Gallery and First Peoples exhibition at Melbourne Museum.

She loves collaborating with other designers, artists and creatives to deliver immersive, multi-sensory experiences that bring stories to life. Jo is driven by the desire to exceed a brief, in order to delight, surprise and continually engage audiences in new ways.

Matthew Maginness

TBC

Beci Orpin

Beci Orpin / Source: Beci Orpin / Photo: Beci Orpin

Beci Orpin is a creative practitioner based in Melbourne, Australia. Her work occupies a space between illustration, design and craft. Beci has run her studio for over 20 years, catering to a wide range of clients including Facebook, Disney, Google and Uniqlo. Beci also exhibits her work both locally and internationally. She has authored and illustrated four D.I.Y books and four children’s titles. Her work is described as colourful, graphic, bold, feminine and dream-like, and she has been referred to as a ‘national treasure’.

Ashley Ronning

Ashley Ronning is a Naarm-based illustrator, artist and risograph printer. Her creative endeavours began when she was five and she cut her own hair to complete a picture of a pony. She can usually be found in her studio drawing, printing or working on her next zine. When her pens are down she's playing pinball, going to gigs or having a daydream in the sunshine.

Ashley's clients include Who Gives A Crap, frankie magazine, Five Senses Coffee, Sticky Institute, ABC, Milk Records, The Wheeler Centre, Meanjin Quarterly, PBS FM, Laneway Festival, Poison City Records and She Shreds magazine.

Ravi Vasavan

Ravi Vasavan

Ravi Vasavan is an artist and designer shaping meaningful brand and digital experiences. As Head of Transformation at Convo, he merges design, technology, and social impact. Previously at Koto, he worked with startups, global brands, and AI. A deaf creative, Ravi champions accessibility and inclusivity in design. Beyond work, he enjoys making pizza, biking across Australia, and collaborating with deaf creatives to foster a thriving deaf arts scene. 

Jack Murray

Jack Murray is a registered architect, Exhibition Design Documenter at Museums Victoria, and sessional staff member at RMIT University. He worked on Our Wondrous Planet producing complex fabrication models and documentation packages. His work outside of the museum explores interdisciplinary methodologies, performance and play. He is interested in the relationships between cultural working methods and architecture, and interactions between people, culture, and civic space. His work has been exhibited as part of the 2018 Venice Biennale (Iskandar Puteri 100YC), ‘Documenting Space’ at George Paton Gallery, and was most recently presented internationally at the ISSS Conference in Houston. He is currently working in the spatial design team at Melbourne Museum, and with City of Melbourne on a public art project through ‘Test Sites’. He has previously worked for Searle x Waldron Architecture, Setting Line Theatre Consulting, and professionally in theatrical design and production. He also teaches into Architectural History and Design Studio programs at RMIT.  

11:15am: Leah Heiss, Human Centred Designer, Besen International Research Chair in Design at Monash University

11:15am: Emma Stenhouse, Proud Ngarrindjeri woman, Artist and Product Designer

9:30am: Kristy Dickinson, Proud Wiradjuri woman, Jewellery Designer

1pm: Matt Borg, Architect & Urban Designer

11:15am: Kristy Dickinson, Proud Wiradjuri woman, Jewellery Designer

1pm: TBC

11:15am: Tahnee Edwards, Yorta Yorta and Taungurung woman, Designer and Community Worker

9:30am: TBC

1pm: Caroline Francis, Senior Lecturer in Industrial Design at RMIT University

11:15 am: Kristy Dickinson, Proud Wiradjuri woman, Jewellery Designer

Leah Heiss

Leah Heiss is a leader in human centred design for health technologies, systems and services, including wearable technologies for acute care, ageing and hearing loss; and the co-design of models of care including for cancer, eating disorders and global health. She is currently working with the World Health Organisation, using design strategies to improve the uptake and implementation of WHO guidelines across countries. Leah’s design work has been recognised with nine Australian Good Design Awards, including the 2018 Good Design Award of the Year, the CSIRO Design Innovation Award and the 2022 Australian Women in Design Award.

Emma Stenhouse

TBC

Kristy Dickinson

At the helm of Haus of Dizzy, proud Wiradjuri woman Kristy Dickinson creates bold, playful, statement-making jewellery that celebrates and honours Indigenous culture—imbuing a sense of empowerment and joy within everybody who wears it. Often featuring powerful political and social messages, each Haus of Dizzy piece is designed, laser-cut, hand-painted and assembled in the company’s studio, located in Fitzroy, Melbourne/Naarm.

Matt Borg

Matthew Borg is a Senior Adviser in architecture and urban design at the Office of the Victorian Government Architect. He provides project design advice and advocates for good design outcomes. Matthew has over twenty years’ experience in architectural practice and has tutored at graduate and undergraduate levels at the University of Melbourne. He is passionate about inclusivity and the creation of buildings and environments that improve our communities and experiences.

Tahnee Edwards

TBC

Dr Caroline Francis

Dr Caroline Francis is the Program Manager of the Bachelor of Industrial Design (Honours) program at RMIT University. She is passionate about promoting design and STEM career paths for the next generation of societal shapers, sustainability advocates, radical innovators, and tomorrow’s problem solvers.

11:15am: Isobel Knowles and Van Sowerwine

Isobel Knowles and Van Sowerwine

With a shared passion for stop-motion animation, storytelling and technology, Isobel Knowles and Van Sowerwine have a 20+ year career creating elaborate interactive artworks, moving short films and unique immersive installations which have been celebrated all over the world. Their latest works explore virtual and augmented realities.

11:15am: Tiffany Garvie, Photographer

11:15am: Mia Mala McDonald, Photographer

Tiffany Garvie

Tiffany Garvie is a Gunggari woman. Her mother’s family are from South Central Queensland around Mitchell and the Maranoa River. Tiffany blends her ABC radio background with a passion for photography and has worked in mainstream and First Nations media and communications. She captures diverse narratives and storytelling through portraits, landscapes, and event coverage. A National Portrait Prize finalist and Koorie Heritage Art Show winner, her portfolio includes work for Melbourne Theatre Company and Clemenger BBDO. From classic portraits to architectural shots and First Nations cultural events, her work reflects a wide-ranging curiosity and storytelling ability.

Mia Mala McDonald

Mia Mala McDonald was born in Daylesford on Dja Dja Wurrung country. Her photographic style is characterized by a playful approach, utilizing vibrant colors, distinctive forms, and an acute attention to detail. Her artistic vision is evident in each photograph she produces, creating visually captivating and emotionally evocative images.

Mia has won various awards for her work, including the Australian Music Photographer of the year by Australian Women in Music the prestigious Martin Kantor Portrait prize.

9:30 am: Robert Jordan, FPGA and Hardware Engineer

1pm: Richard Pilkington, Technical Project Lead at Museums Victoria

Robert Jordan

TBC

Richard Pilkington

TBC

11:15am: Visual Communication Alumni TBC

11:15am: Systems Engineering Alumni Panel TBC

11:15am: Product Design Alumni Panel TBC

11:15am: Media Alumni Panel TBC

TBC