Top Designs speakers

Visual Communication

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.

Jessica Louey

Jessica Louey is a Senior Graphic Designer in the Melbourne Museum design studio. After graduating with a Bachelor of Design (Honours) from Swinburne University, Jessica worked as graphic designer for a range of Melbourne studios with a focus on branding before landing her dream job at the Museum.

Katherine Horseman

Since she began her subscription to Vogue Living at age 12, Katherine has loved all things design and decoration. She graduated from RMIT in 2005 with a Bachelor of Design – Interior Design and began her career as an assistant in the Exhibition Design Department at the National Gallery of Victoria. Over the following 9 years she progressed to the role of Senior Designer and designed and collaborated on over 50 exhibitions. More recently Katherine has launched her own design practice, Hohab, a spatial design studio specialising in bespoke exhibition fit outs with an emphasis on quality, reusable design.

Alice Oehr

Alice Oehr is a graphic artist from Melbourne. Her distinct, colourful style incorporates a love of food, pattern, collage and drawing. Her commercial work is sought-after by local and international clients alike, and has appeared in numerous books as well as on textiles, homewares and large-scale installations. She regularly teaches drawing workshops, exhibits her own artwork, and has author-illustrated four of her own books.

Jess McGreachin

Jess is a graphic designer and illustrator based in Melbourne. Since completing a Bachelor of Communication Design (RMIT), he’s worked across the arts and not-for-profit sectors in Australia and the U.K. He’s currently an in-house communication designer at Melbourne Museum, responsible for designing everything from marketing collateral to exhibition graphics. Aside from design, Jess is a keen artist and had written and illustrated several picture books.

Lou Endicott

Lou Endicott is a Melbourne based illustrator, window artist and surface pattern designer.

Lou worked in the performing arts and as a teacher for many years before studying graphic design and illustration in 2012 at CATC.

Lou’s designs have appeared on stationery, beer bottles, apparel, licensed street art and homewares. Lou has also designed walking maps, product labels and brand mascots.

She is continually inspired by the natural world.

Product Design & Technology

Head and upper torso of a bespectacled man in black

Dr Charlie Ranscombe

Dr Charlie Ranscombe is a researcher and lecturer in Product design engineering at Swinburne University of Technology. His experience is both as a practicing industrial designer and engineer in the UK and China, as well as in academic design research in Australia. Charlie specializes in designing and researching products that create strong connections with their users. Charlie regularly engages with industry partners including automotive design, assistive and medical industries, and consumer goods.

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.

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.

Leah Heiss

Associate Professor Leah Heiss holds roles including the Eva and Marc Besen International Research Chair in Design at Monash University and Chair of the Victorian Premier’s Design Awards. She's also Co-chair of the Victorian Heart Institute New Technologies Grand Challenge and Designer in Residence at the Australian National Fabrication Facility. Renowned for human-centered healthcare design, Leah pioneers wearable tech for acute care, aging, and hearing loss, while collaborating with the World Health Organization to enhance global guideline implementation. Her impactful design work reaches wide audiences, featured in Museums Victoria and Powerhouse collections.

Woman standing leaning against an aluminum wall looking directly at the camera. She has long dark hair and is wearing a pink top and black pants.

Dr Sophie Payne

Dr Sophie Payne is a Senior Research Fellow at the Bionics Institute and has an honorary position at the University of Melbourne. She completed her PhD in neuroscience at the University of Western Australia before moving to the University of Melbourne as a Research Fellow. Her research vision is to progress a pipeline of electroceutical technology towards the clinic to provide clinical relief in a number of diseases including inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, type 2 diabetes and urinary incontinence. Her specialty is in the use of medical devices in the autonomic nervous system to treat disease.

Woman looking directly at the camara. She has dark hair, dark eyeliner and pink lipstick. She is wearing a chunky necklace and a black jacket with beaded with barbwire and arms motifs..

Kristy Dickinson - Director

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.

synthetic dress with mixed media memorabilia from the 70s threaded throughout.

Dorela Gerardi

Dorela Gerardi has spent over twenty years managing art and heritage collections in the local government sector and is currently assistant curator at Museums Victoria for the Jenny Bannister collection. Dorela’s first professional incarnation was as a fashion and costume designer based in Melbourne and has held collections positions at the Art Centre Melbourne. Dorela holds a Master's in Art Curatorship from the University of Melbourne and a Bachelors’ degree in Fashion Design from RMIT University. She will speak about the Jenny Bannister Collection, her use of sustainability in her design thinking process.

Hailey Cooperrider

Hailey Cooperrider is a game designer and collaboration designer. For over ten years, she was a senior collaboration consultant with Collabforge, often running experiments applying games to helping people work together. Her work is motivated by a desire to create a more peaceful and playful world. In 2020, Hailey co-founded Amble Studio, where she delves into the transformative potential of storytelling games in professional settings. Her work aims to cultivate imaginative playgrounds where collaboration thrives, fostering environments for meaningful connections and creative exploration.

Jess Rowlings

Jess Rowlings is a qualified speech pathologist and researcher at the University of Melbourne. Jess is also the co-founder and CEO of Next Level Collaboration, a social enterprise that uses cooperative video games to build collaborative skills for neurodivergent children. Jess’ work is informed by her lived experiences of autism and ADHD, along with her personal lifelong love of gaming. She has also commenced her PhD investigating the experiences of neurodivergent women in gaming communities.

Creative Digital Media/Media

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.

Systems Engineering

Max Plumey

Max - a Senior Software Engineer at leading Australian telecommunications company Telstra - embarked on his unconventional journey into software during his Bachelor of Fine Art studies at the Victorian College of the Arts, where he developed an artistic practice reflecting his fascination with science and technology. Transitioning from art to code, he now contributes technical expertise to large-scale digitisation projects at Telstra. More recently, Max's passion lies in exposing telco resources to innovative third-party developers through standardised inter-telco Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).

A man looking at the camera standing in front of a large scale projection

Richard Pilkington

Richard has cultivated a truly multidisciplinary expertise with experience spanning print, UI design, IT systems, multimedia, A/V, and post-production. His career journey began with creative roles, honing skills across media and digital pipelines before transitioning into technical ICT roles. Richard's unique ability to blend creative talents and analytical skills culminated in his current position as Systems Administrator for the Multimedia department at Museums Victoria. As a Technical Project Lead, he integrated cutting-edge AV technology with indigenous storytelling through projection mapping, game engine rendering, and sensor integration for the innovative Tyama exhibition.

Theatre Studies

Tom Brayshaw

Tom works as a production manager and designer in theatre, dance, festivals and events. His lighting design credits include works at National Theatre (UK), The Civic, Holland Park Opera, The Coopers Malthouse and MTC The Lawler. He spent many years relighting repertory shows for the Royal Shakespeare Company. His set design and construction work include shows for Theatre Peckham and The Cottesloe (NTUK) as well as props technical design at The Olivier (NTUK). He has also fabricated art works for White Night, exhibitions and private functions. Tom has received a Green Room Award for AV design as part of a technical team at Melbourne Theatre Company.