The Arts

Inspiration from Top Designs Education Forum

Our Year 12 Visual Communication Design students recently attended the Top Designs Education Forum at Melbourne Museum, an energising experience that connected them with leading creatives and high achieving VCE folios.  The forum deepened their understanding of the design process and offered clear insight into how designers move from initial concepts to resolved outcomes.  

A highlight of the day was the presentation by Alice Oehr, a Melbourne-based illustrator and designer known for her bold colour, playful compositions, and distinctive graphic style.  She shared a broad selection of her commissioned and self-initiated work, speaking openly about how experimentation, iteration, and visual play shape her practice.  Students found her presentation inspiring, with many noting that her approach offered fresh starting points for their own SAT folios and reinforced the value of developing a personal style through exploration. 

Students also visited the Top Designs exhibition, where they examined high achieving VCE folios.  This opportunity allowed them to see how successful students document the design process, communicate research and present refined concepts.  Viewing exemplar folios helped clarify expectations around depth, clarity and professionalism, and many students commented that the structure and visual organisation of these folios gave them greater confidence in approaching their own design thinking and presentation. 

The Top Designs Education Forums aim to support VCE students by showcasing industry pathways, modelling best practice folio development and offering insight into how designers think, plan, test and evaluate their work.  For our Year 12s, the day reinforced the importance of curiosity, experimentation and reflective practice, core elements of the VCD Study Design. 

Students returned to class motivated and energised, with several noting that the experience helped them better understand how to structure their folios and push their ideas further.  Seeing what is achievable at VCE level was both inspiring and reassuring, demonstrating that strong outcomes are within reach through consistent effort and thoughtful design decisions.

Ms Lorelle Evans

Visual Arts Learning Leader

We warmly invite members of our school community, particularly students considering VCE Drama, to attend and support our talented performers.  This is a wonderful opportunity to experience live student theatre and gain insight into senior Drama.

See the full article on "Seven Deadly Sins" on the Senior School page fo this newsletter.

Ms Olivia Hamilton

Performing Arts Learning Leader