RMIT Design Archives

It’s an oldie but a goody.

Throwback to the RMIT Design Archives Journal Vol. 5, No. 1 (2015), a special issue on automotive design edited by Emerita Professor Harriet Edquist AM.

The cover features styling exercises for the Holden HQ Monaro Coupé window, c.1971, hand drawn by legendary automotive designer Philip Zmood.

Inside:
• Norman Darwin on Early Automotive Design in Australia
• An interview with Philip Zmood by Tony Lupton
• Judith Glover & Harriet Edquist on Women in the Early Australian Automotive Industry
• A review of the landmark exhibition" Shifting Gear: Design, Innovation and the Australian Car" by Tony Lupton

“As we look to how the automobile of this century will respond to new economic, environmental and industrial pressures, it is well to consider the achievements of the past…” – Harriet Edquist

Explore the issue via RMIT University Library or on Issuu – link in bio.
Discover more of our automotive collections, including archives from the Holden Design Studio and Repco Brabham Engines, on the RMIT Design Archives website.

If you visiting Canberra, you can explore the history of Holden in a new exhibition "Rear vision: the Holden collection" at National Archives of Australia in Canberra.

Here’s an alternative design by Richard Beck for Australia’s ten-cent coin. In 1963 a competition was held to design Australia’s decimal currency. For bank notes designers Gordon Andrews, Richard Beck, Max Forbes and George Hamori submitted proposals. A separate competition was held to design the reverse or ‘tail’ side of the new decimal coins, Stuart Devlin and Richard Beck were amongst the competitors. As this photograph shows, the designers sculpted their preliminary designs into plasticine and plaster. An advisory committee comprising artist Russell Drysdale and designers Hall Missingham, Douglass Annand and Alistair Morrison met with the artists and designers throughout the design development process.

Ultimately. Stuart Devlin was selected to design the coins—his ten-cent piece featured the lyrebird—and Gordon Andrews was chosen to design the notes. The new decimal currency was introduced in 1966.

Richard Beck (1912-1985) was graphic designer, illustrator, photographer, advertising consultant, educator. Born in Christchurch, UK, in 1912, Beck migrated to Australia in 1940, joined the 2nd AIF and served in Australia and overseas until 1945. After the war, he established the Richard Beck design consultancy in Melbourne, working in advertising, illustration and exhibition design. In 1954 Beck won the limited competition for the 1956 Olympic Games poster, which was also chosen as the basis of the Olympic publicity stamp. Beck lectured in Graphic Design at RMIT, and Prahran College of Technology. He won many awards from the Australian Commercial and Industrial Artists Association, National Packaging Association and the Industrial Design Council, and in 1992 was posthumously awarded the inaugural Hall of Fame Pinnacle Award by the Australian Graphic Design Association.

image credit: Photograph of ten cent coin design, 1963-1964, designer Richard Beck, photographer, Bennet Photographic, Gift of Barbara Beck, 2011. Collection reference 0001.2011.0010.

Here’s a tear sheet from Mode Winter 1977 from the archive of fashion designer Clarence Chai. The photograph was taken by Bernie Richter, who worked for Mode in the 1970s. The model's theatrical silk garment, designed by Chai, with its oversized ruffle collar and cuffs is inspired by the pantomime character, Pierette. Richter has captured the garment and the melancholy narrative of the lovelorn Pierette superbly in this image. It is one of a number of striking photographs he took for Mode featuring Chai’s designs.

Clarence Chai (1946–2022), graphic designer, fashion designer and retailer, was a trailblazer in Australian fashion and in the development of Melbourne’s q***r design culture. Initially trained in graphic design at Prahran Technical College and later at RMIT, Chai established a fashion practice after a formative trip to London in 1973. His work drew on an Asian aesthetic and increasingly embraced a gender-fluid approach to dress.

Chai Clothing and Accessories label and retail store operated in Melbourne from 1974 to 1989 and expanded to Sydney in 1983. In 2022, Clarence Chai donated his archive to the RMIT Design Archives, preserving this important legacy for future generations.

Visit the RMIT Design Archives collection website to explore more highlights from the University's fashion design archives. Link in bio.

Image credit
Media clipping from Mode Winter 1978, photographer, Bernie Richter, fashion designer Clarence Chai, Gift of Clarence Chai, 2022. © 1978 Bernie Richter. Collection reference: 0004.2022.0033.63.

Peter Corrigan’s 1978 preliminary design for the Melbourne Art Trams project is now on display in the RMIT Library, Swanston Street, Melbourne.

Corrigan’s tram, W2-class No. 567, was one of six trams transformed into moving art works for the first Melbourne Art Trams project in 1978. Bold and provocative Corrigan's painted tram proved controversial. As Russell Jones from the Melbourne Tram Museum noted in 2018, Corrigan’s “cheeky No. 567 created an international incident” when the Japanese Embassy lodged a diplomatic protest over his use of the Japanese naval ensign alongside the enigmatic slogans “Mother Knows” and “Sayonara Koala.” The tram was quickly withdrawn, and the flag painted over, an act of censorship that reportedly frustrated Corrigan. Even in its altered state, Corrigan’s design for No. 567 was short-lived, as it was overpainted in 1982 with a work by artist Mike Brown.

Today, Corrigan’s tram design survives in a photograph taken by architectural historian Conrad Hamann and Corrigan’s model showing his original concept, both held in the RMIT Design Archives collection. Architect Sean Godsell later incorporated a reference to the tram’s bold stripy design with its “Mother Knows” slogan into the interior design of RMIT University’s Building 100. This episode in Melbourne's cultural and transport history lives on!

In September 1982, the art trams project received a Merit Award for an Outstanding Contribution to the Built Environment by the Royal Australian Institute of Architects.

The display in the RMIT Library was curated by Jenna Blyth, the RDA’s Collection Co-ordinator, in celebration of the Library’s new digital displays of the Peter Corrigan Collection of Rare Books and Journals.

Image credits:
Model of Art Tram", 1978, designed by Peter Corrigan, Gift of Edmond & Corrigan 2017. Collection reference: 0006.2017.0104.
Photograph of Art Tram Class W2, Number 567 designed by Peter Corrigan, photographer, Conrad Hamann, Gift of Gift of Edmond & Corrigan 2017. Collection reference: 0058.2013.0055

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Step into RMIT’s Design Archives to explore the history, practice and resurgence of hand lettering on Wednesday 29 July at 11am. This free event is part of 2026 Melbourne Rare Books Program.

The RDA’s conversational session and curated display will feature work by Godfrey Fawcett (David Lancashire Design), Alex Stitt, Eric Maguire and Stephen Banham. Discover how hand-crafted letterforms have shaped Melbourne’s visual culture and how they are being reimagined today.

We’ll unpack original artworks, sketches and production materials to reveal how hand-lettered forms moved from drawing board to street, screen and print. Whether you’re a design student, practitioner or simply fascinated by typography, hand lettering and city signage; this is a chance to see rare materials from the Archives, hear the stories behind them, and reflect on why hand lettering continues to matter in a digital age.

Registration is free but essential as space is limited. Visit the Melbourne Rare Books Week to book a place, or follow the link in the RDA’s bio.
Presenters:
• Stephen Banham, an Australian typographer, type designer, writer, lecturer and founder of Letterbox, a typographic studio.
• David Lancashire, AGI, an Australian artist and designer, and founder of David Lancashire Design
• Susan Fitzgerald, Graphic Designer
Where: RMIT Design Archives, 154 Victoria Street, Carlton VIC 3053
When: Wednesday 29 July at 11am.

Melbourne Rare Books runs from 23 July until 1 August. See for more details.

Image credit:
Hand lettering alphabet on board, c. 1980s, designer, David Lancashire Design, letterer, Godfrey Fawcett, RMIT Design Archives, Gift of David Lancashire 2015. Ref: 0033.2014.0008.1

Earlier this week the RMIT Library celebrated and formally launched the Peter Corrigan Collection of Rare Books and Journals.

Melbourne architect Peter Corrigan's (1941–2016) personal collection of architectural books and journals, including rare and historically significant works spanning the 17th to 21st centuries, was bequeathed to RMIT University Library.

The collection is now available to the public for the first time through digital displays hosted across RMIT campuses – the digital displays were purchased with funds from the Peter Corrigan Trust. Thirty-three items from the Peter Corrigan Collection have now been digitised, extending access while ensuring their preservation. See the full story and pictures of the launch in the story below.

access.

Introducing the Peter Corrigan Collection RMIT University Library formally launched the Peter Corrigan Collection on Tuesday 2 June.

Designed by noted architects H. W. and F. B. Tompkins and built in 1911–12, Centreway Arcade was one of the first all steel-framed commercial buildings in Melbourne. In the 1980s, architects C***s, Carmichael and Whitford remodelled the interior to introduce a sense of civic scale and presence. Their scheme transformed what they described as a single-storey arcade “akin to an underpass” into a soaring three-storey volume. The exterior was embellished with what was been described as a “metal brooch”. The architects aimed to “express and acknowledge the Arcade’s role as a major pedestrian way.”

The refurbishment included small, specialised shopfronts set on an angle to the ground-floor walkway; a 200-seat first-floor restaurant linked by two bridges; and a central light shaft that illuminated third-floor offices. The architects’ work on the Arcade received a Royal Australian Institute of Architects Award. The project team included Peter Carmichael, Steven Whitford, Kerry Clegg, Miguel Ygoa and Martyn Tribe.

It was a pleasure to hear architect Grant Amon, a former employee of C***s, Carmichael and Whitford, discuss the Arcade and its many design features during Design Week as part of the Robin Boyd Foundation’s “C***s Carmichael Whitford: Round Table." Thank you to Peter, Robin and Steven who participated in the discussion. Unfortunately, the Arcade was remodelled again in recent years, and only a hint of the C***s, Carmichael and Whitford scheme is now visible. Pictured are images of their design. Visit the RDA’s website to find out more.

Image credits:
Centreway Arcade, 1988, architects C***s Carmichael and Whitford, photographer Tim Griffith, Gift of Peter Carmichael and Robin C***s.

Spellbound in the Archives: The Jigsaw Factory and Troppo Print Studio

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our event Spellbound in the Archives: The Jigsaw Factory and Troppo Print Studio, and a special thank you to our presenters Matt Feder and Sarah Murphy from Troppo Print Studio.

In this session Sarah and Matt led us on a deep dive into the design archives of the Jigsaw Factory and their impact on contemporary design, and publishing. The program forms part of their ongoing research of archival collections of graphic design. Participants were given an inside look at the making of Troppo’s new limited-edition artist book, The Dictionary of Hand Screen Printing and the rich source material that informed it, especially The Dictionary of Magic ─ a lavishly illustrated large-format book containing games designed by the Jigsaw Factory.

We wrapped up the session by trying our hand at Letraset, a hands-on and engaging way to finish the event.

Thank you, Matt and Sarah!

Image credit:

Spellbound in the Archives: The Jigsaw Factory and Troppo Print Studio, RMIT Design Archives, May 18, 2026

RMIT University

Game On! Typotronic Revisited

In 1998, designer Stephen Banham (Letterbox) and architect/macromedia specialist Peter Hennessey (Drome Pty Ltd) created Typotronic – an electronic game that challenged kids to spot and build words from Melbourne’s iconic signage, from Pellegrini’s and Flinders Street Station to the American Donut van and Dinkum Pies.

After disappearing into digital oblivion, Typotronic is back. RMIT’s Born Digital Cultural Heritage Lab has brought the game to life again through digital emulation – complete with original sound effects (yes, including tram dings 🚋).

📍 See it in action
RMIT Design Archives Gallery Window
154 Victoria Street, Carlton
🗓️ Melbourne Design Week | 14–24 May

Presented by RMIT Design Archives and the RMIT Born Digital Cultural Heritage Lab. AusEaaSI is supported by the Australian Government through the ARC Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities grants. Melbourne Design Week is an initiative of the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.

Visit the website to find out more about this transformative project.

Image credit:
Game On! Typotronic Revisted in the RMIT Design Archives Window. Design by Stephen Banham . Image provided by Stephen Banham.

Event cancellation

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we regretfully have to cancel tomorrow's Melbourne Design Week event, Born Digital: the architectural archives of Bernard Joyce and William Nankivell.

We are sorry for any inconvenience or disappointment this may cause.

Please keep an eye on the RMIT Library Events page for other events in the RMIT Design Archives, and we look forward to seeing you at some time in the future.