Willhmina Wahlin

Willhemina (Willie) Wahlin (PhD) is a practice-led design researcher, facilitator and practitioner, working across the social innovation and higher education sectors for over 15 years. She is a Senior Design Strategist at Portable, a design, research and technology agency that seeks out areas of policy failure and social need in the areas of access to justice, mental health, education and more. Willie brings to this role her background in design research, facilitation and engagement, communication design, journalism and arts practice. At Portable, she has delivered projects in the areas of education, justice, mental health and gender equity. She brings creativity and passion to each project, as well as an ethical approach to working on projects that are challenging for designers and participants alike. She believes in delivering high-quality work that can lead to real and tangible change for those who need it most. Willhemina’s design background spans design research, practice and education. She is an award-winning tertiary educator with a doctorate in Communication Design and Honours in Graphic Design, focusing on the design of ‘difficult exhibitions’ that tell the stories of lived experiences of trauma. She has led a number of post-doctoral research projects that sit at the intersection of human-centred design and co-design. These have included using design methods for community engagement in local government strategic planning, and as a creative pathway for lifting the civic engagement of young regional Australians. Her communication design practice spans user experience design (UX), exhibition design, publication and layout, branding and storytelling. She has designed over 25 exhibitions that have have focused on human rights and social justice advocacy, which have been shown in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Switzerland, Australia and, in the US, the Holocaust Museum in Houston, the United States Institute of Peace, Columbia University, the University of Dayton, Yale University and the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. Most recently, she authored a chapter in the book, Museums and Mass Violence (https://www.routledge.com/Museums-and-Mass-Violence/Morrow-Sodaro-Kahn/p/book/9781032605449?srsltid=AfmBOopuorfbbj6hXoVqRt2pgziMjqF9_qQNwOV4sRgMbynYM202CUr5), published by Routledge. In addition to design, Willhemina trained and worked as a journalist for many years, writing for magazines, newspapers and digital publications in Japan, the United States and Australia. She has also worked as an editor, assistant editor and proofreader for books, magazines and academic journals, and has been a host and producer in community radio in Sydney. Prior to this, she worked in the creative industries as a writer, performer, stage hand and tour coordinator for music and theatre.