Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Dr Myra Thiessen is a researcher in the Design Health Collab at Monash University and is the Program Coordinator of the Communication Design program in the Faculty of Art, Design, and Architecture. She has rounded expertise as a design practitioner, educator, and researcher with expertise in design for legibility, readability, and usability. Her work focuses on information translation and accessibility, developing communication systems that enable people, including those who may be marginalised due to cognitive differences, to share and use information in healthcare settings. Dr Thiessen is especially interested in how motivation, context, and environment affect comprehension and decision making and she specialises in evidence-based design drawing on empirical research methods to test both the preference for and performance of visual materials. As part of the Design Health Collab this interest is applied across a range of user experience design contexts.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Education/Academic qualification
Typography and Graphic Communication, PhD, Using visual explanations of complex verbal concepts to aid dyslexic children in literacy acquisition, University of Reading
1 Oct 2007 → 31 Dec 2010
Award Date: 16 Mar 2011
Information Design, Master of Arts, University of Reading
1 Oct 2006 → 30 Sept 2007
Award Date: 15 Dec 2007
Communication Design, Bachelor of Design, University of Alberta
1 Sept 1996 → 30 Apr 2000
Award Date: 14 Jun 2000
Research area keywords
- Typography
- Functional readability
- Functional legibility
- Design criticism
- Design education
- Communication design
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or
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OPTIMAL: OPTimising Immunoglobulin Management in Australia
Wood, E. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI)), McQuilten, Z. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Petrie, D. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Bielby, L. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Fanning, L. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Burgner, D. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Roberts, J. A. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Van Der Walt, A. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Heiss, L. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Daly, J. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Chai, K. L. (Associate Investigator (AI)), Singh-Grewal, D. (Associate Investigator (AI)), Irving, A. (Associate Investigator (AI)), Carrillo De Albornoz San Juan, S. (Associate Investigator (AI)), Crispin, P. (Associate Investigator (AI)), Thiessen, M. (Associate Investigator (AI)) & Le, T. (Associate Investigator (AI))
1/11/23 → 31/10/28
Project: Research
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Self-service airport security checkpoint
Flynn, D. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Aung, N. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI)), Camens, M. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Morfuni, R. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Thiessen, M. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Hwang, I. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Kalms, N. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Coxon, S. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Laubscher, M. (Associate Investigator (AI)), Millward, T. (Associate Investigator (AI)), Luzuriaga, J. (Associate Investigator (AI)), Webb, I. (Associate Investigator (AI)), Ma, H. (Associate Investigator (AI)), Lertruangamorn, B. (Associate Investigator (AI)), Lu, S. (Associate Investigator (AI)) & Ma, Y. (Associate Investigator (AI))
30/09/21 → 30/08/26
Project: Research
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Co-designing Alfred Health Universal Design Principles
Heiss, L. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI)), Mcgee, T. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Coombs, G. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Thiessen, M. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Waghorn, K. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Khoo, C. (Chief Investigator (CI)) & Couper, R. (Chief Investigator (CI))
31/01/24 → 30/06/24
Project: Research
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Digital Health Tools for Mental Health and AOD Ethnographic research
Heiss, L., Thiessen, M. & Coombs, G.
Melbourne Primary Care Network Limited (trading as North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network)
17/04/23 → 30/09/23
Project: Research
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Co-Designing a Consumer-Focused Digital Reporting Health Platform to Improve Adverse Medicine Event Reporting: Protocol for a Multimethod Research Project (the ReMedi Project)
Gebreyohannes, E. A., Thornton, C., Thiessen, M., de Vries, S. T., Andrade, A., Kalisch Ellett, L., Frank, O., Cheah, P. Y., Choo, K.-K. R., Laba, T. L., Roughead, E. E., Hwang, I., Moses, G. & Lim, R., 2025, In: JMIR Research Protocols. 14, 10 p., e60084.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Other › peer-review
Open Access -
Nineteen Questions to Evaluate Typographic Research: Chaff and Wheat
van der Waarde, K. & Thiessen, M., 2025, In: Visible Language. 59, 1, p. 77-99 23 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access -
Understanding and integrating the needs and preferences of people living with dementia in the inpatient setting: a qualitative study
Lennox, A., Goodwin, D., Leavold, F., Nicol, R., Srikanth, V., Ayton, D., Berends, M., Thiessen, M., Flynn, D. & Moran, C., 2025, In: BMC Geriatrics. 25, 11 p., 342.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
Views on the Development and Use of a New Digital Adverse Drug Event Reporting Platform in Australia: A Qualitative Study
Gebreyohannes, E. A., Thornton, C., Thiessen, M., de Vries, S. T., Coombs, G., Hwang, I. & Lim, R., 2025, In: Drug Safety. 48, p. 179-190 12 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access -
Security Self-Screening: A Passenger-Focused Approach
Thiessen, M., Hwang, I., Laubscher, M., Morfuni, R., Gonzales, B., Flynn, D. & Aung, N., 2024, IMX 2024 Proceedings of the 2024 ACM International Conference on Interactive Media Experiences. New York New York USA: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), p. 342-348 7 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Paper › Research › peer-review
Open AccessFile
Prizes
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2024 Good Design Award, Design Research: 'Sleeptite Remi Dashboard'
Heiss, L. (Recipient), Page, R. (Recipient), Thiessen, M. (Recipient), McGee, T. (Recipient), Morfuni, R. (Recipient), van den Dungen, C. (Recipient), Tucker, A. (Recipient), Sriram, S. (Recipient) & Bhaskaran, M. (Recipient), 2024
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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2024 Good Design Award, Design Research: 'Sleeptite REMi Smart Bedding System for Aged Care'
Heiss, L. (Recipient), Page, R. (Recipient), Thiessen, M. (Recipient), Mcgee, T. (Recipient), Morfuni, R. (Recipient), van den Dungen, C. (Recipient), Tucker, A. (Recipient), Sriram, S. (Recipient) & Bhaskaran, M. (Recipient), 2024
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Research Enterprise - Nominee
Aung, N. (Recipient), Flynn, D. (Recipient), Coxon, S. (Recipient), Kalms, N. (Recipient), Armstrong, M. (Recipient), Camens, M. (Recipient), Thiessen, M. (Recipient), Hwang, I. (Recipient) & Laubscher, M. (Recipient), 2022
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
File
Activities
- 1 Editorial responsibility
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Critique International Research Conference 2013 (Event)
Myra Thiessen (Editor in chief) & Chris Brisbin (Editor in chief)
2013Activity: Publication peer-review and editorial work types › Editorial responsibility