About the artwork

This project celebrates the student cohort of RMIT’s Bachelor of Design (Communication Design). The images are a personal response to the theme Flock Off, School’s Out and returning to campus after 2 years of remote learning. The city also holds a unique place in the minds of our offshore students separated from their colleagues by circumstances beyond their control but linked through the idea of a particular place.

The cinematographer Amit Roy says, ‘a smart city means a city where humans, trees, birds and other creatures can grow in all their glories, imperfections, freedom and creativity.’ By that definition, Melbourne is a smart city.

The graduating students have been inspired by Melbourne’s unique environment including the birds in the air and the fish in the rivers, streams, and Port Phillip Bay. Those birds, who fill the spaces of the city with song, who steal chips, crap on heads, and generally fill the environment with a wild joie de vivre. The fish, who gather in schools, catching the light, are glinting metaphors for brilliant ideas waiting to be caught. And just like schools of fish and flocks of birds, the graduates of RMIT Communication Design are now free: school is out and the flock is off.

About the artists

The RMIT Communication Design degree is a 3-year program of study offered in our city campus in Melbourne. Communication Design students apply design methods to contextualise design strategies. Outcomes created encompass publications, websites, apps, illustration, image-making, packaging, branding, and strategic design. Flock Off, School’s Out was conceived and project managed by Charles Hoppe and Matthew Papaleo.