Jhaev Strafonda

Hi, I’m Jhaev! I enjoy creating conceptual and refined design outcomes across digital and print, identity, publication design, and typography. I am passionate about type design, typesetting, and research, and was able to delve into these interests during my final studio project which explored the underrepresentation of women in type design. I created a hypothetical annual conference called ‘FemDASH’ dedicated to increasing the visibility of women in type design. FemDASH’s speaker series raises awareness of the gender gap in type design and highlights women type designers, their typefaces, design practices, and personal experience.

FemDASH printed collateral

I created a variety of printed collateral for the conference attendees: a program, an A3 fold-out poster, and a set of postcards, which all aim to highlight women type designers. The poster features headshots of the six speakers along with their typefaces. 2 postcards are photographs from historic women’s rights rallies, and the third postcard features 10 women-designed typefaces — a quick and convenient way for designers to reference new typefaces to use or women type designers investigate.

FemDASH program

This project’s main outcome was a program for the conference. It consists of a schedule; biographies for each speaker along with their typeface; and numerous articles discussing the visibility of women in type design and Australian graphic design. The page design of the publication challenges the invisible nature of type design and visually links typefaces to its designer.

FemDASH program

FemDASH's brand identity utilises two typefaces designed by this year's speakers, showcasing unique, women-design typefaces. The colour palette was inspired by the pink highlight that appears in Adobe programs when a font can not be found or a typeface doesn’t support a glyph — representing the invisibility of typefaces designed by women.

Design Research Kit

A Design Research Kit (DRK) was implemented to gather insights from students and designers to inform my major project. The DRK contained a questionnaire booklet and 3 activities covering topics including participants' knowledge of women designers and the gender gap, how frequently women-designed typefaces are used, and collect thoughts and experiences from women designers.

Melbourne Cinematheque 2025 Calendar

Melbourne Cinémathèque is a non-for-profit organisation dedicated to presenting a diverse selection of classic and contemporary films in their original format. My proposed identity for Melbourne Cinémathèque’s 2025 is a contemporary translation of movement in early cinema. Inspired by the Luminère brothers, the dynamic squiggle encapsulates the movement of 35mm film through the mechanics of cameras and projectors, as well as the serpentine dance.

Melbourne Cinematheque 2025 Cinema Screen

Drawing from various imagery including the serpentine dance, film cameras, and projector mechanics, I created a variety of squiggles to use throughout the identity, subtle enough to layer behind text. Utilising hierarchy and a sans serif typeface, the typesetting is minimal and modern with large, centered headings.

Explore more

View all