Clients include arts and cultural organizations, for-purpose businesses, not-for-profits and groups that are doing great things in the world, while trying to make it a better place.

Work includes:
- Creative direction
- Branding
- Exhibition design
- Typography & custom lettering
- Illustration
- Pattern design
- Editorial & publication design
- Print and digital marketing collateral
- Focus on accessibility, including AA accessible PDFs that are WCAG compliant

Hand drawn and painted illustrations and lettering for client work, art prints, textiles, cards and more.

More info soon!

Exhibition launching April 2026, at the Melbourne Tram Museum in Hawthorn.

Soomom x Spin Spin Art Series

Design of three artist series jerseys for Soomom, a Sydney-based cycling brand. Made out of merino wool, the jerseys are ultrafine and light weight.

Image credits: 1-6 Soomom; 8-14 Tania Biland.

PROJECT:

Exhibition design including visual identity, exhibition panels, didactics and labels, along with print and digital marketing collateral.

BACKGROUND:

In the mid-1850s, some areas of the Melbourne CBD were buried under meters of clay at the direction of Melbourne City Council. This exhibition uncovers the story of what happened, why, and shows some of the archaeology discovered beneath the clay. Curated by Dr David Thompson, and on display at the RHSV gallery from September 2025 to March 2026.

ABOUT:

Formed in 1909, History Vic (Royal Historical Society of Victoria, RHSV) is a committed to collecting, researching and sharing an understanding of the history of Victoria. The society is the umbrella organisation for more than 350 local and specialist historical societies throughout Victoria.

The society is located in The Australian Army Medical Corps Drill Hall, at the southern corner of William Street and A’Beckett Street. The was designed by architect George Hallandal of the Victorian section of the Department of the Interior, Works Branch, and build by J Whitelaw between 1938 and 1939.

PROJECT:

2025 Creative in Residence at Public Record Office Victoria (PROV), including group exhibition Rewind Forward; exhibition identity concept; work presented at AAANZ 2025 Conference Unruly Objects.

The research project undertaken as part of the Creative in Residence investigated the history of graphic design in Victoria, looking at public transport tickets and related ephemera. The creative response for the exhibition Rewind Forward was titled Return Fare, and included large hand painted tickets, a slideshow showcasing photographs from the archival collection, and a contextual presentation showing records from the collection. A range of artifacts and ephemera were also on display.

Work was also presented at the Art Association of Australia and New Zealand (AAANZ) conference Unruly Objects, held at the University of Western Australia, Perth, December 2025.

INSTAGRAM - REWIND FORWARD (@vic_archives)

INSTAGRAM - RETURN FARE (@vic_archives)

ABOUT:

Rewind Forward features the work of our 2025 Creative in Residence artists: Emile Zile, Sam Wallman, Shannon Slee, Susan Fitzgerald, and Queer-ways. Each artist has delved deep into Public Record Office Victoria's collection to examine local histories that resonate with them on a personal level. Through historic photographs, criminal inquest records, original artifacts and hand written documents, they've explored Victoria's past and created works about the relevance of history on contemporary issues. 

Location: Victorian Archives Centre Gallery, 99 Shiel Street, North Melbourne

Dates: 30 May 2025 - 1 May 2026. 

10am - 4:30pm weekdays, plus 10am - 4pm every second and last Saturday of the month. Closed public holidays.

Image credits: 8—20 Natasha Cantwell, Public Record Office Victoria.

Centre spread poster in Frankie Magazine Issue 125, May/June 2025, featuring the hand painted artwork ‘Balance’.

PROJECT:

Solo exhibition featuring of a series of illustrations of local buildings including Footscray Market, Franco Cozzo, Rudimentary Cafe, Olympic Donuts and more. Also on display is hand painted signage cutsom made for the show.

ABOUT:

MetroWest Footscray
Wednesday 5 March—Friday 21 March 2025
Opening night Thursday 6 March, 5—7pm, with an introduction by Elio Sarpi.

Supported by Maribyrnong City Council’s Creative Places Pilot Program.

PROJECTS:

Graphic design, illustration, custom type including for the 2023-2024 Annual Report and 2024-2025 Annual Report.

ABOUT:

West Welcome Wagon is a not-for-profit organisation that has been supporting asylum seekers and refugees in the inner west of Melbourne since 2013.

Participant in the International Society of Typographic Designers (ISTD) Student Assessment Scheme Asia Pacific, 2024 and 2025.

https://www.istd.org.uk

Image credits: Isabel Kruger, 2025

PROJECT:

Book cover design, including front, back and spine.

ABOUT:

Book cover design for Streetwise: The origins of street names in the former City of Box Hill, by Gary Presland and Helen D. Harris. Released in 2025.

PROJECT:

Design a typeface using software RoboFont, for the course Introduction to Typeface Design at The Cooper Union, New York City, 2023. Instruction from Troy Leinster, of Leinster Type, formerly of Hoefler & Co, and teaching assistants Stephanie Moore and Yusuke Ito.

ABOUT:

Format Sans is a low contrast translation sans serif typeface, inspired by the forms and angles produced by the broad-edge Automatic calligraphy pen. It features a subtle variation between thick and thin strokes, large x-height and angled horizontal terminals on capital letters.

Quirky and a bit calligraphic, a mix of angular and rounded, Format Sans is intended for use in branding, as a display face, or as highlight and feature text.

Return Fare Two Colour Screen Print

Assembly Group Show
@Jacky Winter Gallery Collingwood
Sat July 12 — Sate August 16 2025
Opening night Friday July 11, 6—9pm

Image credit: 2—6 Jacky Winter Gallery

PROJECT:

Book design - Finding My Voice by Jo Smyth.

ABOUT:

Cover and internal design, including chapter sections and body copy typesetting, for 184-page non-fiction paperback, featuring custom type and illustrations. Cover illustration by Vienna & Co.

PROJECTS:

Design of print and digital materials including publications, brochures, graphics and infographics, social media tiles, and event and marketing material; brand development and application; photography.

AA ACCESSIBILITY:

Digital PDFs meet rigorous AA accessibility standards, to ensure audiences accessing the content via screen readers have a seamless experience. This involves following best practice in visual design for accessibility, along with meeting structural requirements, including document tagging.

ABOUT:

Our Watch is a not-for-profit organisation working toward a future of gender equality. It is a national leader in the primary prevention of violence against women, working where Australians live, learn, work and socialise.

PROJECTS:

Multiple projects - branding, illustration, photography and the design of marketing materials and publications, all using the brand's style guide, which includes a colour palette that is bright and vibrant.

Highlights include: the design of IMCL’s annual report for the last five years, working to a theme and creating a set of custom illustrations; design of a range of collateral for the International Student Help project, including banners, posters and flyers.

ABOUT:

Inner Melbourne Community Legal is a not-for-profit community organisation that provides free legal assistance to disadvantaged people in the City of Melbourne and Flemington/Kensington areas. Its mission is to promote social justice and the health and wellbeing of the community through advocacy, education and casework.

International Student Help is a free service offered to international students living in Victoria who experience legal problems connected to where they live, work and study.

PROJECT:

Mural 2.5m high x 1m wide, commissioned for a client’s house in St Kilda, Melbourne.

ABOUT:

The mural is based on the artwork Constant, which features abstract organic shapes arranged in a tight-knit configuration. Hand painted on an internal wall over two days, using paint colour-matched to the original artwork.

PROJECTS:

Design of print and digital assets for events and festivals, libraries, leisure centres, childcare centres, youth services and parks & recreation. Collateral includes marketing and communications material, design templates, print and digital advertising and environmental signage.

ABOUT:

Hume City Council is one of Australia’s fastest-growing and most culturally-diverse municipalities, located 15km from the Melbourne CBD.

PROJECT:

Artwork selected to be on the cover of the 2024 QV Women’s Centre Shop Calendar. The work is an abstract representation of the concept of intersectional feminism, and also a reflection on the idea of the divided self, due to the many roles women play throughout their lives.

ABOUT:

QVWC SHOP is a feminist design store that is an initiative of the Queen Victoria Women's Centre in Melbourne. It exists to celebrate ethically made and locally crafted goods and the stories they hold. You can buy the calendar from the shop, while stocks last.

Images courtesy of QVWC Shop.

PROJECTS:

Design of all of the market’s collateral over a 5-year partnership, from 2015-2020, including a rebrand in 2017. Tasks included creating and applying custom colour palettes, lettering and illustrations. Projects included posters, billboards and postcards, along with website and social media graphics.

ABOUT:

Seddon Makers’ Market (formerly Maribyrnong Makers’ Market) is a community-based arts and craft market. Located in the inner west Melbourne suburb of Seddon, the market celebrates and showcases local makers.

TASKS:

Graphic design, illustration, pattern design, branding, packaging design, screen printing, photography, sales and marketing.

ABOUT:

Spin Spin is a small Melbourne-based craft and design brand that produces paper goods, textiles and ceramics.

Automatic is a self-directed daily art practice, an exploration of form and colour. Works starts on paper, using a broad edged pen, and is then digitised.

“We worked with Susan/Spin Spin to improve our organisation’s capacity to effectively communicate the work that we do. Written words weren’t enough for us to create engaging and accessible content that captured our audience’s interest.

“We needed visual assets to create eye-catching and informative social media posts and to illustrate our Annual Report. These assets are important to help us convey sensitive and complex information. This included de-identified client stories where we were unable to use photos of real people, and also to depict thematic areas of work. We also wanted to move away from photos to really make our communications stand out from the crowd and solidify our brand.

“Susan created a series of illustrations for us, including the front over of our Annual Report. She provided the illustrations to us as individual files, which we have subsequently been able to re-use on multiple platforms and for different purposes, allowing us to maximise their use and enhance our brand awareness.

“You took time to understand our organisation’s underlying purpose and our work through conversations and by looking at our existing content to create assets that truly reflect who we are. You gave us many excellent creative ideas and were flexible and responsive in your approach. We have received many external compliments about the illustrations. They have considerably enhanced our communications.”

- Nadia Morales, Acting CEO, Inner Melbourne Community Legal

See the work:

IMCL - Projects

PROJECT:

Design and illustration of a customisable return address stamp, available for purchase from Woodruff & Co.

The stamps are handmade and mounted on a sustainably sourced Tasmanian Oak hardwood block. They can be used on a range of surfaces including paper, cardboard, fabric or unfinished wood.

PROJECT:

A series of three posters exhibited as part of the salon show Women*Now at QV Women’s Centre in Melbourne, late 2022 to early 2023 (and available to buy in my shop).

Screen printed as an edition of 10 for each design, on Arches Rives 250gsm cold pressed 100% cotton stock, 76cm high x 57cm wide. They feature a range of hand mixed complimentary colours.

The posters feature the typeface Bayard, designed by Tré Seals of Vocal Type Co. Seals was inspired to create Bayard after seeing signs from the 1963 match on Washington, USA, for jobs and freedom.

More information:

1. Not Now, Not Ever (poster 1, inspired by Julia Gillard’s famous speech in the Australian federal parliament in 2012), printed in cobalt blue ink.

2. Women’s Issues (poster 2, in response to the 2022 Australian federal election, which resulted in a new generation of women being elected to parliament), printed in warm red/pink ink.

3. Equality (poster 3, the aspirational aim that feels a long way off, due to structural inequalities in our society), printed in forest green/peach ink.

“Susan has designed a range of content for Per Capita including logos, reports, web graphics, social media & marketing content, and has also provided us with unique custom illustrations. The fresh approach has reinvigorated our brand and contributed to a significant increase in our impact and audience engagement. The ability to understand our work and create content that reflects our values is something we couldn’t easily find elsewhere. She is a pleasure to work with, is always professional and delivers creative solutions that are on time and on brief. “

- Emma Dawson, Executive Director, Per Capita

See the work:

Per Capita - Projects

ABOUT:

Studio Space gives you a look inside the workspaces of creative folk, from Melbourne and abroad. The aim is to investigate the relationship between the artist, their creative space and the impact this has on their work.

Subjects include Claire Ritchie, Marc Martin, Esther Sandler/Togetherness Design, Madeleine Stamer and Spencer Harrison.

Interviews and photography by Susan Fitzgerald.

PROJECT:

Creation of a custom set of illustrations, and a new colour palette; design of a series of worksheets and promotional materials.

BRIEF:

Illustrate a set of personas that highlight the attributes, values and capabilities of PhD candidates. As the illustrations are to be applied to a range of materials, from playing cards to ebooks, they need to be clear and 'readable' at a range of sizes.

ABOUT:

Empirical Research Development provides research development services with a focus on funding. They support researchers, their projects, their careers, and ultimately research outcomes. The also offer career development services and programs.

PROJECT:

Artwork featured in the inaugural LiftMeUp colouring book, showcasing the work of 16 international designers and illustrators including Sebastian Curi, Brook Gossen and Melanie Johnsson.

ABOUT:

LiftMeUp is a Melbourne-based charitable organisation that provides free support to people experiencing social isolation, depression and other mental health issues.

PROJECT:

Illustrations and pattern feature over two double-page spreads in Racheal King’s book Pattern Pulse Volume 2 .

ABOUT:
Released in November 2022, Pattern Pulse Volume 2 features the work of 100 of Australia’s top surface design talent, working in textiles, fashion, homewares, bedding, illustration and stationery. The book dives into the history, processes, and inspiration of the talented artists behind the imagery.

PROJECT:

Artwork featured in multiple editions of Together Gallery, alongside the work of international creatives including Elizabeth Olwen, Abbey Lossing, We Are Out Of Office, Carla McCrae, Anna Katharina Jansen, Judit Zengővári and many more.

Project 1, Colour Full - Fitzroy House

Project 3, Outwords - the Letter F

ABOUT:

Together Gallery is a side project of two Australian artists - Claire Ritchie and Luke John Matthew Arnold. It’s a place for people to come together, explore their creativity, find mindfulness and engage with a new global community.

PROJECT:

Conceptualise, illustrate & design a fold-out prototype Welcome Kit, given to new migrants to help them understand service offerings. The aim is to demonstrate the options visually, through custom illustrations, while keeping the written information simple and succinct.

The work was the result of a co-design project between the Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria, Per Capita and the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services.

ABOUT:

Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria (ECCV) is a member-driven peak body. It strives to advocate for human rights, freedom, respect, equality and dignity for ethnic and multicultural communities, to build a socially cohesive and inclusive Victorian community.

PROJECTS:

Branding, including a full brand refresh; the design of a range of reports and publications; creation of a set of custom illustrations and icons; design of an identify for Money for Jam, a project aimed at helping women at risk of income poverty develop their own social enterprise.

The brand work involved refining the logo, defining a new colour palette and designing new social media assets and marketing templates.

ABOUT:

Per Capita is an independent progressive think tank, dedicated to fighting inequality in Australia. They are working to build a new vision for Australia based on fairness, shared prosperity, community and social justice.

PROJECT:

Design and layout of a multipage publication, for the course Book Design, at the Cooper Union, New York. Instruction from Barbara Glauber, of Heavy Meta design studio.

ABOUT:

I designed and lay out a folio book, featuring recent examples of my work in graphic design, illustration, pattern design, typography and hand lettering.

PROJECTS:

Design of a range of communications, marketing and advertising materials. Projects also include branding and co-branding, signage and banners.

The organisation has a clearly defined brand style, including a vibrant colour palette. They produce a large volume of material and projects have a quick turnaround time, usually completed within a week or less.

ABOUT:

The Benevolent Society is a not-for-profit and non-religious charity supporting people with disability, families, older Australians and carers. The organisation has a vision for a just society where everyone lives their best lives.

“Engaging the audience during a project report launch is never an easy task. However, Susan’s imagination and graphic design skills enlivened our co-design project outcomes; the audience could visualise and relate to the presentation. 

By illustrating our report solutions, Susan enriched readers’ experience; their feedback and word of mouth reached a much wider audience.”

- Gabriele Rukas, Sectoral Development Officer - Aged Care & Disability, Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria

See the work:

ECCV - Welcome Kit

PROJECT:

Design digital and social media content for the 2019 Federal Election campaign, working within the brand guidelines.

ABOUT:

The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) is the peak body for the community services sector in Australia. It is a national advocate for action to reduce poverty and inequality. Its vision is for a fair, inclusive and sustainable Australia where all individuals and communities can participate in and benefit from social and economic life.

PROJECT:

Design promotional materials, including a flyer, invitation and print advertisements, for the inaugural Craft Victoria Silent Fundraising Auction.

ABOUT:

Craft is dedicated to supporting the production and presentation of craft and design-focused creative practices. The organisation champions makers from around Victoria, Australia and beyond, via exhibitions, festivals, talks, and community events.

PROJECT:

Collaboration between Etsy and The Cullen Hotel in Melbourne in 2015. Creatives M​arsha Golemac and B​rooke Holm curated a hotel room at the art hotel inspired by Adam Cullen. Screen printed textile cushion selected for including in the project.