FROM HUMBLE BEGINNINGS!

It all began at the kitchen table of Kelly’s small apartment in Palm Beach (with her grandfather’s 486 PC) staying up late and taking on any job she could get her hands on. Kelly was determined to start her own business and through hard work and determination the computer upgraded and moved to a desk of its own, then a separate bedroom, then eventually a studio all of its own. After some great mentors and guidance the team grew and became a talented, award winning crew. Some of these spectacular designers still lead the studio and some have gone on to run their own successful businesses.

Now in a converted warehouse studio at Burleigh Heads the team prides itself on providing a creative environment small to medium business can come, work in person and experience a hands on approach to creating the visual identity for their business. The team has a strong emphasis on understanding how important it is for people to be connected to “The Dream” they are about to undertake of starting their own business

KELLY ROBINSON
CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Kelly started designing from her bedroom, determined to start a business of her own. Through hard work and determination, Graphic Design Australia has grown from humble beginnings into a large studio and team that has been thriving for 20 years. Kelly excelled through Kingscliff TAFE during her study and has been the recipient of numerous awards including TAFE NSW Graphic Designer of the Year, TAFE NSW Arts and Design – Design Prize, North Coast TAFE Student of the Year, North Coast TAFE Arts & Media Student of the Year. She believes that brainstorming and planning are crucial in making sure everything she does for clients is valuable and brings a return for them. A strong introduction process makes for a more powerful and connected outcome for all. ‘Having a plan always makes for more effective marketing, which leads to more profitable business for my clients.’ Kelly absolutely loves helping people plan their business, and always aims to help give them the biggest bang for their buck. ‘I get a kick out of seeing the excitement and freedom that starting a business gives my clients. If I can play any part in their amazing brave adventure, then I feel privileged.’ The projects that excite her the most involve food packaging and product marketing. She gets a huge buzz from seeing her creations and designs on the retail shelf.

ISAC PENA - STUDIO MANAGER
MARKETING EXTRAORDINAIRE

With a wealth of knowledge and experience in Marketing spanning the globe (and skill for cooking!), Graphic Design Australia was glad to have Isac Pena join our team in 2018. He has completed a degree in Advertising at FAESA in Brazil and went on to do his Masters in Marketing at EADA in Spain. Isac understands how business goals align with marketing strategies and has the skills to connect them through design. His parents worked in the industry long before he was born, and so being surrounded by it inspired him to pursue it as a career.

He loves the complexity of the field and his strength lies in creating meaningful branding that works from a marketing perspective. He also enjoys creating packaging design for beer wine and spirits. An exciting prospective project for him would be to create branding and marketing for a trendy beer brewery.

SKYE CRISP
SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Skye is our OG resident designer within the team. She started her journey as a Junior Graphic Designer with us over 6 years ago after completing her Bachelor of Communication Design and now is one of our very talented Senior Graphic Designers.

Since then her skillset has grown tenfold and she is dedicated to bringing brands to life through meaningful design solutions with a strong conceptual basis. One of Skye’s stand out strengths is her ability to thrive in situations that require her to adapt to different design styles to fit a particular brief. From holistic coaches, tradies, horse feed packaging design and everything in between – there’s not many industries Skye hasn’t worked within.

Skye loves working on projects that are challenging and full of personality. She particularly loves working on packaging projects and building the branding foundations from the ground up – as a full time animal lover she would love to tackle Pet Product Packaging.

LEO GIMENEZ
SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Leo Gimenez started his design journey way before he even understand what design means. From young age he connected two of his favourite things in life: Surfing and Drawing. While drawing on his old surfboards, Leo fell in love with the idea of creating and recreating nice things. At the age of 17, he decided to start his professional path. Passionate about the surf industry he started his degree in Advertising and Marketing focusing on Art Direction at Belas Arts of Sao Paulo University.

However a few years after finishing university life had different plans to offer him. With 7 years of experience working in the Advertising industry Leo arrived in Australia looking for new challenges. And with this desire to learn more, GDA found him and for the last year he has being learning as much as he can with us about branding and how to create a strong and solid visual identity for client different clients.  

His design style is very unique bringing this cool and relax lifestyle from the surf culture but at the same time very impacting with his skills from advertising.  

ELINOR BSENKO
GRAPHIC DESIGNER

With a diploma of Graphic Design and a bachelor's degree in administration and marketing, Elinor has a broad understanding of graphic design and its various applications. She has an ability to think logically as well as creatively and always strives to create brands that are smart, appropriate, and versatile.

Born and raised in Sweden, Elinor is influenced by minimalistic and functional Scandinavian design. She is fantastic at creating design solutions that speak to their intended audience, and everything she creates has a meaning behind it.

Elinor has always been a solution finder (some may call her stubborn), and a creative thinker finding her own way in life. She has a passion for lifelong learning and is always learning something new – professionally as well as personally. In her personal life, she is currently learning silversmithing, rock climbing, and Spanish.

MARIA TORRES
GRAPHIC DESIGNER + ILLUSTRATOR

Maria is one of the latest designers that joined the team. She completed her Bachelor and Master’s in Architecture in the Polytechnic University of Madrid. After studying for 6 years and working as an Architect for one year, she realised she needed to find a career path where she could develop her creativity every day at a 100%. She’s been passionate about design since she was a kid, and she created her own jewellery brand while at university.

With great illustration skills, Maria is fantastic at creating unique and out of the box designs. At the same time, she loves new challenges and adapts to any sectors. “Just like a house should be designed considering many different factors such as the location, the soil, the climate, the client’s needs; a good brand design should serve a purpose, transmit values and be focused on a specific audience”. She is passionate about surfing, and she would love to work on any surf/beach lifestyle related brand in the future.

GUS MARMITT
GRAPHIC DESIGNER

With a Diploma and Bachelor of Advertising (Feevale University – Brazil), Gus has more than 10 years of experience in graphic design. As an excellent student at uni, he received numerous awards; including Best Art Director and Best Advertising Campaign. He started his career in a small newspaper and since then he has worked in print shops, advertising agencies and e-commerce.

What he loves most about being a graphic designer and art director is being able to adjust his style to different clients needs and creating design solutions driven by positive impacts for business: “A brand can make a huge impact on business trust and confidence as people will have more chances to engage with a brand they feel visually comfortable and motivated”.

He loves working with geometric, clean and meaningful logos, transmitting the soul of a company and transforming these into real products through packaging, signage and printed materials. A dream design project for him would be working within social welfare, helping the local community.