In line for design

By Kelly Yates
A NARRE Warren woman’s dream has come true after she was appointed to help organise one of Australia’s largest and most prestigious international design events, the 2008 AGIdeas International Design Week.
Each year the festival is run by a committee of volunteer design students and this year former Beaconhills Secondary College student Katie Darbyshire is heading the committee.
Ms Darbyshire, 21, is in her second year of the Bachelor of Design and Communication Design degree at Swinburne University.
This is the first time Ms Darbyshire has been a part of the organising committee.
“I have attended the event for the past four years and was honoured to be nominated by Swinburne to assist in the running of the festival,” she said.
With just over a week until the event kicks off, Ms Darbyshire said everything was running smoothly.
The annual event is held at the Victorian Arts Centre in Melbourne from 28 April to 1 May and will bring together 44 speakers from around the world, each the best in their chosen field, for a series of seminars and workshops.
There will be guest speakers from the Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, China, the United States and Australia.
A number of the design topics will include magazine design, game design, street art, theatre design and photography.
Despite the competitive industry, Ms Darbyshire said it was the creative aspect that inspired her.
“Your creativity is never ending. There are always possibilities to make your creation better. That’s what I love about it,” she said.
Ms Darbyshire has received several academic art awards and won the Beaconhills overall excellence art award for communication design in 2004 and 2005.
Danny Yount from the US is one of the guest speakers at this year’s event.
Mr Yount won an Emmy for his concept, design and direction of the opening sequence of HBO’s TV show Six Feet Under.
China’s Min Wang, the director of image and identity for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games committee, will also make an appearance at the festival.