Profile
Rhiannon Payne is a Teaching Fellow on the BA Graphic Design programme at Loughborough University, where she is the module leader for the third-year Studio Practice (Negotiated Project) module and the second-year optional module Creative Placemaking. She is also the Admissions Tutor for the BA Graphic Design programme.
With a background in illustration and a career spanning both graphic and interior design, Rhiannon brings a multidisciplinary approach to her teaching, helping students explore the intersection of narrative, space, and visual communication. Before joining Loughborough, she worked as a senior designer at deVOL Kitchens, specialising in high-end kitchen design, before founding My Designer Friend, an independent interior design consultancy. Her expertise lies in crafting immersive, story-driven spaces, drawing from her experience in both illustration and interior architecture.
Alongside her teaching, Rhiannon is passionate about research and curriculum development, particularly in the area of narrative environments—integrating storytelling principles into spatial and experiential design. She is currently developing new teaching approaches that bridge graphic and interior design, encouraging students to think beyond the page and screen and into the built environment.
Beyond academia, Rhiannon has firsthand experience in architecture and renovation, having built one home and undertaken a major renovation on another. She also has a love for model-making, using it as both a design tool and a creative practice.