Ty Bukewitsch

Principal

Ty’s methods are analytical and backed up by rigorous research. He has a passion for discovering the underlying essence of a product, service or organisation to ensure brand stories connect, engage and remain memorable.

The founding member of Envelope, Ty Bukewitsch, has worked in brand design for more than 30 years. The invention of the Apple Macintosh led to a passion for typography and he left his study of pure mathematics at the University of Tasmania to pursue a career in design.

1990…

Ty embarked on a decade with Emery Vincent Design to operate the firm’s first Apple Macintosh. He learned his design skills on the job directly from Garry Emery and his team of skilled graphic designers and architects. He gained valuable experience on large, complex corporate branding projects and environmental wayfinding and signage systems including unifying Australia Post’s disparate state approaches into a cohesive national brand architecture; producing communications for state and federal governments – most significantly the Joint House Department at Parliament House, Canberra; contributing to the design of Australia’s currency for the Reserve Bank; designing investor communications for CRA Limited, North Limited and Rio Tinto. Ty also developed specialist typographic skills, helping to create a new alphabet for wayfinding at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney and the Petronas Towers precinct in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

I went to my interview with Garry with no formal design training, just a folio of typographic experiments. I clearly remember the moment when I mentioned the drawings of Iakov Chernikhov — radical architecture integrating typography at heroic scale. I said they ignited my interest in typography and I think that was perhaps when he decided to give me a three month trial to introduce technology to the practice. I stayed for 10 years.“

2000…

Ty partnered with Nelmes Smith Ashton to launch Precinct, an integrated brand design, marketing and advertising agency which rapidly established its presence in the Asia Pacific region. Initially, he was focussed on managing Precinct’s Melbourne operation, before a Hong Kong office quickly followed from where Ty helped manage a brand repositioning for Allianz Dresdner across four countries and Deloitte promote its brand values in China. Back in Melbourne, he managed a global rebrand for Computershare across five countries as well as translating the Texan energy giant TXU’s brand for the Victorian marketplace. For Phillips Fox Ty delivered a brand identity toolkit to engage its employees and external suppliers on a new brand architecture. Ty’s passion for the arts led to Precinct rebranding the Australian National Academy of Music, a relationship that would last for seven years.

Working at Emery Vincent Design taught me excellent graphic design skills. My time at precinct, working alongside Graeme Smith, taught me the importance of storytelling, adding a very human dimension to brand identity.“

2005…

In 2005 Ty established The Envelope Group, recognising his ability to link a broad range of brand research, strategy and creative collaborators from a base in Melbourne. With a new focus on projects that had personal interest as their main attraction, after over fifteen years, Envelope now has clients throughout Australia and around the wider world.

After working for more than a decade on national and international corporate brands I craved the intimacy of working with smaller organisations and their founders. I wanted the freedom and the flexibility to be absorbed inside their operations, to better understand their DNA. This gave me the opportunity to engage personally with teams and provide them some ownership over the creative work we produced together.“

2006 — 2007…

Ty managed a consolidation of Australia’s individual state based anti-cancer organisations into the unified Cancer Council brand. He celebrated a decade of collaboration with leading Australian cosmetics retailer Mecca Cosmetica helping to cement this iconic brand’s position as Australia’s favourite emporium. This partnership also produced the more irreverent kit cosmetics brand. Other experience in retail includes creating a new brand for Mimco’s first boutique on Melbourne’s Chapel Street as well as store window campaigns for SABA and managing fashion retailer Digbys brand identity since 2000. Also in 2007, Ty embarked on a decade long collaboration with SHK, responding to a brief to create something that ‘does not look like a recruitment company.’ In stark contrast a brand evolution for the Victorian Employers’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry helped consolidate its operations into an intrinsically traditional brand identity.

2008…

Ty collaborated with Green Team to create a new brand for OZ Minerals, rolling it out across its global operations. In 2010 when the bulk of OZ’s assets were sold to China’s MMG, Ty rapidly managed the rebrand. In 2011 he partnered with Green Team again on a global brand review for Nyrstar. Also in 2008 he helped create a new identity for McCallister Alcock Architects when one of Neometro’s founding partners, Clare McCallister, established MAA. Ty has a passion for design and architecture and has contributed to brand identities for leading Australian architects such as H2o architects, Denton Corker Marshall, Fender Katsalidis and ARM Architecture.

2009…

After rebranding several times in the preceding decade and still experiencing a lack of recognition, in 2009 Ty created a new brand identity for Victoria Law Foundation. The program includes the creation of a publication imprints architecture to streamline the production of the Foundation’s myriad of printed publications produced for the Victorian community.

2011…

Ty embarked on a longstanding collaboration with national planning firm Roberts Day, creating a new brand identity and communications which included launching a new website in 2017. Also in 2011, Ty managed a three year brand evolution program for NIDA in Sydney which included several student recruitment campaigns as well as managing the brand and communications across both years of Leo Schofield’s highly successful Hobart Baroque Festival.

2012…

When Melbourne’s Icon Construction merged with Sydney’s Southern Cross Ty managed the project including the creation of a library of construction images for Icon’s major projects. He has also managed national rebrands for a variety of charities such as the renaming of the Association for the Blind to Vision Australia in the late 90s. Continuing the relationship with Vision, in 2012 he managed the rebranding of Carols by Candlelight to reinforce its connection with Vision Australia.

2013 — 2014…

Ty developed a brand for the newly merged ACIL ALLEN Consulting and continued for the next five years to produce its marketing and communications including a comprehensive new website in collaboration with Digital Bridge. Further illustrating his experience with internal culture campaigns, Ty developed a program for GHD’s international workforce of 7000 people in three languages. In 2014 he rebranded Handmark, creating a brand identity that celebrated the myriad, individual artist personalities represented by one of Tasmania’s most successful independent galleries

2015...

Ty’s passion for culture is evident in his collaborations over extended periods with some of Australia’s most prestigious arts institutions — Australian National Academy of Music for seven years; Melbourne Symphony Orchestra for four years; and three years with the Melbourne International Festival of the Arts. In 2015 Ty managed the rebrand of The Australian Festival of Chamber Music in Townsville and produced its seasonal campaigns for three years. That year he also rebranded Musica Viva Tasmania and continues to produce its annual campaigns. He also produced investor communications for Australian Ethical Investment.

2016...

Ty began an ongoing relationship with the Australian Tapestry Workshop with a brief to refresh its brand identity and launch a new website. He has also developed publications for the Workshop’s globally recognised Tapestry Design Prize for Architects. In the same year he developed fundraising collateral for Craft Victoria as well as signage for its new home in Melbourne’s Watson Place. That year he developed a new brand and communications for Frank Walker’s Family Peace Foundation including an educational website supported by a national print, radio and television campaign. In 2016, Ty managed a prototype wayfinding project for The Alfred, rationalising more than five decades of existing signage into a single, cohesive approach. He also began an ongoing relationship with Architects Without Frontiers which includes a rebrand, physical and digital communications and launching a new website for this highly regarded not-for-profit that uses sustainable design to improve the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable people.

2017 — 2018…

After a 25 year hiatus Ty was invited to help Asialink recognise its history across three decades producing a 168 page printed publication. He was then invited to assist Asia Education Foundation to produce educational collateral on intercultural understanding for a range of secondary student programs for implementation both here and overseas. Ty began an ongoing relationship with Tasmania’s Ten Days on the Island which included a brand evolution and campaigns for this internationally regarded, biannual festival. He also developed a new name and brand identity for Skin Health Institute, Melbourne’s centre of Dermatology treatment, education and research.

2019…

Ty began an ongoing relationship with Signature Flooring producing multiple product campaigns targetting the Australian and New Zealand architecture community. He also renamed the irreverent Kickarts as NorthSite Contemporary Arts building on more than 30 years of recognition for this Cairns based art institution with a rebrand and new website. Ty produced collateral for contemporary jeweller Phoebe Porter’s Design Canberra commission recognising the centenary of the Bauhaus. He also managed a wayfinding project for Forensicare, Melbourne’s secure forensic mental health hospital.

2020 — 2021…

Ty worked with Independent Schools Australia on a rebrand for this Canberra based national organisation. Cementing a 25 year collaboration with contemporary jeweller Blanche Tilden, Ty produced a 108 page catalogue and associated exhibition graphics for her survey show at Geelong Gallery. He also produced a range of education materials for Asia Education Foundation, helping to improve intercultural understanding between students in Papua New Guinea and Australia. In 2021, Ty helped Signature Flooring launch its colour carpet offering, developing the campaign and marketing kit. Customisable packaging for a collaboration between First Nations artist Maree Clark and contemporary jeweller Blanche Tilden was complemented with a sumptuous catalogue. This lead to the reimagining of Vivien Anderson Gallery, one of Australia’s leading contemporary Indigenous art galleries. Ty also produced the inaugural Evironmental, Social & Governance (ESG) Report for Western Australia’s new lithium miners Liontown Resources. This year saw the launch of an entirely reimagined web presence for Envelope’s longtime photographic collaborator Andrew Curtis.

2022...

A new brand identity and website for leading Australian author Heather Rose was launched. Independent Schools Australia’s new website started educating. A rebrand of furniture designer Damian Wright was completed including the launch of his first digital presence. Another Liontown report caught the attention of global investors. Comprehensive stakeholder research was conducted for Melbourne Symphony Orchestra to better understand its brand identity. To commemorate NorthSite’s three decade history the design of an exhibition and catalogue is underway. After seven years of managing Musica Viva Tasmania’s seasonal campaigns, a brand refresh and completely redesigned website takes to the stage. More exhibition catalogues and traffic stopping window campaigns drive new collectors into Vivien Anderson Gallery.

 

2023…

A rebrand of longtime collaborator Funaki launched the next exciting chapter in its new abode in Flinders Lane. London based skincare innovator Sekkeizu entered the global market with a unique brand identity, custom packaging and a refined digital platform. MSO secured its recurrent funding with a strategic plan based on guiding principles distilled from Ty’s broad employee engagement. A hard cover catalogue celebrates Jane Giblin’s exhibition of the lives of the Mitchell sisters. More printed reports are delivered for Independent Schools Australia. Another iteration of the Australian Tapestry Design Prize for Architects needed a digital applicants information kit followed by a finalists’ catalogue and Architecture Australia advertorial. Ty helped Perth-based Decarbonology translate complex climate emissions data into clear communications. Tasmanian’s peak mental health body MHLET discovers its unique voice with a brand identity centred around consumers with lived/living experience. The Australian Musical Theatre Festival in Launceston gets a new identity for its sixth incarnation in 2024.