Education
2009–current Doctor of Visual Arts (by research)—Griffith University
2004 Master of Design (by research)—Monash University
1991 Bachelor of Art (Graphic Design)—Swinburne University
1990 Diploma of Art (Graphic Design)—Swinburne Institute of Technology.
Solo Exhibitions and Installations
2012 ‘Typographically Speaking’—One-Way Street Party. Surfer’s Paradise Festival
2012 ‘Goodbye Helvetica’—T-space Gallery, Gold Coast
2004 ‘Visualising Steampunk’—The Foundry Gallery, North Fitzroy
Group Exhibitions
2013 ‘Foxtrot’—Scooters Gallery, Kirra
2013 ‘We Heart Music’—Crown Studios, Burleigh
2013 ‘Alt Design Summit’—Alt Gallery, Utah
2012 ‘Dexhibition’—Skate Deck charity fundraiser, GCIT Coomera Campus
2012 ‘Launch Show’—Darkmoon pop-up art space, Burleigh Heads
2012 ‘Beautiful Bitmaps’—UPPERCASE Gallery. Calgary, Canada
2012 ‘We Heart One Way’—One-Way Street Party. Surfer’s Paradise Festival
2012 ‘AGDA Poster annual finalists’—Gallery of Australian Design, Canberra
2012 ‘Colour Wheel’—87Artzone, Upper Coomera
2012 ‘Speaking to the Individual—District 01 Gallery, Sydney
2012 ‘We Heart Numbers’—Rabbit Hole Gallery, Brisbane
2012 ‘Square One’—Bleeding Heart Gallery, Brisbane
2012 ‘Seven w/Another’—Substation No. 4, Brisbane
2011 ‘We Heart Holidays’—Kerbside, Brisbane
2011 ‘Paste Modernism 3’—Cockatoo Island, Sydney
2011 ‘Shared Vision… Wspólna Wizja…’—exhibition series, Poland
2011 ‘AGDA Poster annual finalists’—Gaffa Gallery, Sydney
2011 ‘We Heart Winter’—White Box Gallery, Gold Coast
2011 ‘We Heart Home’—Home Exhibition, Brisbane
2011 ‘Flat White Spaces’—Bermuda Point, Varsity Lakes
2011 ‘The Art of the Book’—Robina City Gallery, Robina
2011 ‘We Heart Paper’—White Box Gallery, Gold Coast
2009 ‘Samoobsluha: self service’—Lightspace Gallery, Brisbane
2005 ‘Children’s Book Week’—Customs House Gallery, Warrnambool
2004 ‘Performance’—The National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
2004 ‘Visualising Steampunk’—Monash University Faculty Gallery, Caulfield
2003 ‘Sustainable Living’—Federation Square, Melbourne
2002 ‘Dimensional Illustrations’—Dromkeen Museum, Victoria
2001 ‘Put Yourself in the Picture’—Chapel off Chapel Gallery, South Yarra.
Research Publications List
Dutcher 2012, ‘You Are So Loved’ Chronicle Books, San Francisco, USA (works included)
MAGMA 2012, ‘Bright! – Typography between Illustration and Art’ DAAB Media, Cologne, Germany (works included)
Falla, D 2012, ‘Goodbye Helvetica’, Finesse Press, Byron Bay (typography research publication—full text)
Hade 2012, ‘Choi’s Package’ Choi’s Gallery Publishing, Shanghai (works included)
Whittle, S, 2012, ‘Needlecraft Style Directory’ RotoVision SA (works included)
Bridger, E 2011, ‘Shared Vision… Wspólna Wizja…‘ exhibition catalogue (works included)
QCA Gold Coast 2011, ‘Gold Coast Creative: vol. 2’ Sanctuary Cove Publishing, Gold Coast (works included)
Falla, D 2011, ‘Things We Have Learned In Our Life So Far’, Finesse Press, Byron Bay (typography research publication—editor and chapter)
Fischel, C and Gardner, B, 2011 ‘LogoLounge Master Library’ Rockport Publishers (works included)
Dr Grymm, 2011, ‘1000 Steampunk Creations’, Quarry Books (works included)
Falla, D 2010, ‘Visualising Steampunk’, LAP Publishing, Germany (masters research publication—full text)
ed. Falla, D and Faulkner, H 2010, ‘Comfortable Shoes Only’, Finesse Press, Byron Bay (student photography research publication—editor and chapter)
Falla, D 2009, ‘The {tague} project’, Finesse Press, Byron Bay (public art research publication—full text)
Falla, D 2001, ‘Looking Better in Print’, Tertiary Press, Melbourne. (280-page textbook on desktop publishing—full text)
Falla, D and Miller, C 1994, ‘Woodlore’, Omnibus Books, South Australia. (Award-winning children’s book made from wooden illustrations).
Commissioned illustrations for over 30 children’s books. Publishers include: Macmillan, Pearson, Rigby, HarperCollins, Allen & Unwin, Five Mile Press, Nelson and Weldon Owen.
Artist Features
2012 Novum magazine
2012 Digital Arts magazine
2012 Raw Ink magazine
2012 Artflow magazine
2012 Artbox magazine
2011 Gold Coast Creative magazine
2011 Winter For Elbows online magazine
Select Awards and Scholarships
2012 ACUADS—Winner Distinguished Teaching Award
2012 QANTM Create Awards—Shortlisted twice
2012 Semi-Permanent Poster competition—Highly Commended
2012 Arts Queensland Career Development Grant—Recipient
2012 UAP Brisbane Public Art Project—Invited to tender
2012 Griffith IEIS travel grant—to attend Masters workshop in Rome
2012 Dulux Colour Awards—Shortlisted
2012 Griffith AEL group research grant—Election survey
2011 AGDA Poster Annual—Finalist
2010 Women in Technology Awards—Shortlisted Candidate
2010 Work selected to appear in ‘1000 Steampunk Collection’ and ‘The Design Federation Annual’
2010 Q2 program for innovation—nominated
2007 DG Portfolio magazine—Double-page spread in ‘textures’ section (Visualising Steampunk)
2005 Digital Media World Digital Imaging Awards—Second Place (Pedal Dress)
2001–2003 Monash Postgraduate Fellowship for Masters study (Visualising Steampunk)
2001 Arts Council of Australia—Grant for picture book creators (Jump, Baby!)
2000 Australian Publishers Association Design Awards—Shortlisted (Night Owl)
1996 The New York Dimensional Illustrators Awards—Bronze Medal (Weather or Not)
1995 CBC, Book of the Year Awards—Honour Book (Woodlore)
1996 The New York Dimensional Illustrators Awards—Bronze Medal (Woodlore).
Artist Representation
Creasenso Talent Agency in France
Art to Art online gallery.
Other Activities/Affiliations
2013 MC at ’7×7′ number 4 for DIA Gold Coast
2012 Masters Program Reviewer for Monash University
2012 MC at ’7×7′ number 3 for DIA Gold Coast
2012 Speaker at the Pallazzo delle Esposizione (Palaexpo), Rome, Italy
2012 Participated in School of Visual Arts (SVA) Masters of Typography program, Rome, Italy
2012 Coordinated QCA design students projects, including: Griffith 1K Innovation Challenge Awards winners
2012 Tactile Typography workshop for QCA Gold Coast ‘Experience Day’
2012 Guest Speaker at ‘The Salon Night’ for Community hArt.
2012 Program reviewer for GCIT
2012 Guest Speaker at GCIT
2012 Guest Speaker at Martin College
2012 Speaker at ’7×7 Youngbloods’ for DIA Gold Coast
2011–2013 Founding member of the ’We Heart’ Collective
2011–2012 Open Day, First-year Camp, and Graduation participant for QCA Gold Coast
2011–2012 Author for Gold Coast Creative magazine
2010–2012 Contributing writer to Desktop Magazine
2009–2012 Current member of the DIA
2009–2012 On the board of the Design Federation
2011 Invited stakeholder in the master-planning stages of the Cold Coast Cultural Precinct development
2008–2011 Ongoing writing and delivery of short courses on a variety of subjects for Griffith Enterprise
2010 Poster presented on ‘Work Integrated Learning (WIL) at QCA Gold Coast, Griffith University’, as part of the ‘INTED Teaching and Technology conference’ in Valencia, Spain
2009 Guest lecturer at the SMAANZ annual PhD conference held at Bond University
2009 Accompanied QCA design and photography students on overseas study tour to Prague for three weeks. Undertook my own “tague” project as part of DVA research
2008–2010 Coordinated QCA design students projects, including: Highlights exhibition at Gold Coast City Council Chambers, Gold Coast Creative graduate catalogue, Studiotown graduate catalogue, Mediamorphosis graduate catalogue, Southern Cross Packaging Awards winners, Sierra Grand sculpture installations, Stir.org projects for social change, Kiva.org projects for social change.
2006–2008 Guest lecturer at the Sustainable Tourism Centre for Research annual PhD conferences
2000–2003 Guest lecturer at the Vis.Com annual conferences
2000–2002 Vice President of the Illustrators Association of Australia
1996–2002 Society of Book Illustrators (SOBI) founding member.
Research Interests
Steampunk A sub-genre of Science Fiction, where the technology is made visible and supposes that other more ‘magical technologies were available in a Victorian age of steam. My Masters research investigated a visual aesthetic for Steampunk, and was recently published by LAP Publishing and is currently available for sale on Amazon.
Tactile Typography I am interested in exploring the interplay between tactile and digital image making and seeing how pre-digital technologies and crafts can be reinterpreted using modern graphic design techniques and software, especially with regards to typography.
Work Integrated Learning Because of my position within Liveworm Gold Coast and also my involvement with Community Design and convening Industry Project, building relationships—between our students and the wider community—has become an intrinsic part of my role at QCA Gold Coast. I have a proud record of finding our students employment and successfully coaching them through the transition between student and emerging professional, as well as managing projects through Liveworm, such as the Kombumerri Project, The Southern Cross Packaging Awards and the Gold Coast Creative Publication. I recently gave a paper at the INTED conference in Spain about the success of our WIL program at QCA Gold Coast.
Select Graphic Design Commissions
Australian Pterygium Centre—Brochure and folder design
Sydney Aquarium—3D installation
Pacific Fair shopping centre—two exhibition designs
Australian Conservation Foundation—catalogues, labels and merchandising
Coca Cola—signage
Hungry Jacks—signage and in-store promotions
Select Illustration and Typography commissions
WIRED Magazine—Pin and String logo for May 2012 issue
Brownbook Magazine—Pin and String logo and map of the Middle East
National Heart Foundation—Christmas cards
SuperFunds Magazine—14 bi-monthly editorial illustrations
Dulux—Fairy Paint labels
The Met—’Water and Wetlands commemorative tram”
Big Sister—complete Christmas packaging range
Red Hot Chili Peppers—poster.
Work Experience
2005–current Design and Typography Convenor: Griffith University (QCA)
(Bachelors of Visual/Digital Media, Bachelor of Digital Design, Bachelor of Design) Responsible for: writing courses, creating briefs, writing and delivering lectures, ongoing assessment and tutoring into Graphic Design 1, 2 and 3, Digital Imaging, Digital Environments, Applied Digital Design, Industry Project, Typography 1 and 2, CDP 1 and Community Design subjects, as well as supervising the industry work placements. Creative Director of Liveworm Gold Coast—a creative incubator for third year and honors Graphic Design, 3D Design and Digital Design students, that primarily involves building creative community partnerships.
2005–current Creative director: Moonsail Design
Responsible for: day-to-day running of typographic design studio. Taking design commissions from briefing to completion. Client services, branding strategies, marketing, graphic design, typography, web design, finished art, and print specifying.
2005–2009 Creative director: D’signart Creations—Gold Coast branding agency
Responsible for: creative direction of three graphic designers and seven sign-writers. Taking design commissions from briefing to completion. Client services, branding strategies, marketing, graphic design, signage, typography, web design, finished art and print specifying. Also responsible for networking and the generation of new business.
2005–2009 Multimedia and Cultural Studies lecturer: Central Queensland University (CQU)
Responsible for: teaching digital imaging, web design, animation, multimedia theory, web programming, advanced video production, 3D modeling, narrative structures, cultural industries, essay writing. Specifically: Maya, After Effects, Director, ImageReady, Dreamweaver, Adobe Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop.
1995–2005 Creative director: Small Hours Studio
Responsible for: day-to-day running of graphic design studio. Over 400 design and illustration commissions (see attached list). Taking design commissions from briefing to completion. Client services, branding strategies, marketing, graphic design, typography, web design, finished art and print specifying.
2001–2004 Design lecturer: School of Multimedia Systems—Monash University
(Bachelor of Multimedia Systems) Responsible for: restructuring the first year design and visual communication syllabus. Writing and presenting 26 weekly lectures to over 100 first year degree students, every year.
2001–2004 Design lecturer: Swinburne TAFE
(Cert III in Multimedia, Cert II in Electronic Publishing, Cert IV in Desktop Publishing) Responsible for: web design, digital video, non-linear editing and structuring desktop publishing courses based on my textbook: Looking Better in Print.
1991–2004 Illustrator and designer: Small Hours Studio
Biography
Dominique Falla is also known as the “Tactile Typographer” due to the specific nature of her art practice. She has explored a diversity of different techniques and media over the years and has recently settled into creating typographic pieces for exhibition, using different tactile media.
Originally from Melbourne, Dominique now divides her time between the Gold Coast and Byron Bay, and her artistic career spans more than 20 years as a graphic designer, illustrator, artist, author and university lecturer.
Dominique has lectured at various educational institutions, and given papers at various conferences including the Queensland College of Art, Central Queensland University, Kingscliff TAFE, Swinburne TAFE, Monash University, SMAANZ conference in Melbourne, INTED Conference in Valencia, SPAIN and 7×7 DIA talk on the Gold Coast.
Dominique has had features in art and review publications including: Novum Magazine, Gold Coast Creative, Twofold, ArtBox Magazine, Winter For Elbows and The Herald Sun. She also writes for Desktop Magazine and the Design Federation and has authored several creative publications, including: ‘The {Tague} Project’, ‘Looking Better in Print’ and ‘Goodbye Helvetica’.
