Francis Nicholls-Wunder's Bachelor of Arts, with majors in Media & Communications and Sociology, kick-started his interest in storytelling and communication that led to him to become an Owner and Director of three creative agencies.

"I chose broad electives throughout my undergrad, but the common theme was learning to write, read, and speak with a range of people about a range of subjects. I became fascinated with storytelling and these core communication skills led me to work as a copywriter and team leader for a range of businesses in the travel, marketing, and education industries.

Getting paid (albeit barely enough to keep a roof over my head) to run my own travel blog as I backpacked around the world was a definite early highlight. With my degree and some professional and worldly experience under my belt, I secured some freelance writing and editing gigs for smaller publications (including acting as Managing Editor for an online magazine co-founded by another Swinburne graduate, Chris Hawthorne) and travel businesses before ending up as the National Programs Manager at a not-for-profit focusing on cultural education.

After a few years in the workforce I fatefully met another Swinburne graduate - seriously we are everywhere. At the time, Nick Parker was an accomplished multimedia creative who was looking for a way to grow his one-man creative business into a full-blown creative agency. We teamed up, along with Kim Gardner, and founded Framework, a creative coworking space that helped us to build our network and create a great environment to foster the growth of our creative agency, Light Creative.

Ten years on I've worked with global businesses including names like Deloitte, World Vision, John West, Bendigo Bank and Pearson. And while Framework closed over the COVID pandemic, the connections I made led me to join two more creative agencies. I'm now an Co-Owner and Director of:

- Light Creative (Brand & Storytelling)
- Alyoop (UX & UI design)
- Stacked Content (Video & Photography)

Francis Nicholls-Wunder

I’ve had the pleasure of returning to Swinburne to sit on a few panels, run lectures and workshops, and even chair an advisory board. Maintaining the connections with Swinburne has been extremely valuable with collaborations on research projects and several of our staff having joined us through work placements.

My advice to any current or future students, as well as any alumni, is to make the most of your time at university. It's a magical period of your life when you have the time and space to explore your interests and learn just for the sake of learning. Be attentive and present, taking in all the different personalities and points of view that you can. You never know when or where you might meet the person who will take your career on a different path."

  • "Getting paid (albeit barely enough to keep a roof over my head) to run my own travel blog as I backpacked around the world was a definite early highlight."

    Francis Nicholls-Wunder , Bachelor of Arts alumnus and Managing Director of Framework, Light Creative and Full of Content

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