In conjunction with Swinburne Centenary celebration, an exhibition and publication called Pen to Pixel was developed to highlight the evolution of design at Swinburne University over the past century. Nanette Carter researched and selected 10 Swinburne graduates over 10 decades, representative of a period these designers were featured in the publication and exhibition. The exhibition was held in July at Chapel off Chapel Gallery in Prahran. The publication was used as an exhibition catalogue and continues to be used by the Faculty of Design as a promotional piece.

Design Centre was invited to design an exhibition stand and publication to showcase the work completed through the CRC Wood Innovations project. The exhibition stand featured at Furnitex, a large furniture conference held at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. This exhibition display was designed to provide the CRC team with the opportunity to demonstrate their achievements. The CRC Wood Innovations* research findings in the properties of wood for furniture construction were explained in the publication.

Since 2006 Inner South Community Health Service (ISCHS) has been working with the Swinburne University Multimedia Design Centre to produce a series of digital stories. The aim is to enable older people from living in public housing in the inner south area of Melbourne the opportunity to share an aspect of their lives through the development of a DVD resource.

‘Storytellers’ from across five public housing high-rise sites have been linked with multimedia design students to identify a piece of personal history and support each other in developing a three minute story that truly reflects the essence of each story teller through the use of personal memorabilia and digital animation.

Design students from Swinburne University were linked with nominated storytellers to help them develop and produce their individual stories. Storytellers met regularly with the students and the High Rise Support team to learn and support each other through the project.

The stories are very diverse, reflect the varied cultural and linguistic mix of the tenants, and are important in promoting a more positive image of older people living in public housing.

This third series encompasses two themes – the celebration of friendships and starting to explore the richness of our indigenous community. Five stories focus on the unique nature of friendships, which are often taken for granted; our first two indigenous stories provide an insight into the indigenous community.