Film Stars in Stoke!

 Level 5 Students' Art Direction projects are featured on the Creative Review Feed section this month.!  All, obviously deserve an Oscar! Check out the link.........


http://www.creativereview.co.uk/feed/april-2014/15/iconic-movie-moments

LOVE WHAT YOU DO.

Second and Third Year Graphic Design students attended the Cheltenham Design Festival for the third year running, together with Advertising & Brand Management. Heroes of the day were Ian Anderson (Designers Republic), Tom Roope (Rumpus Room, and a personal thank you for input , influence and insight into my MA), Morag Myerscough - who was literally a million miles an hour!!  how does a person fit that into 'stuff' they do everyday???????????

Matt gets Creatively Reviewed !!!!!!!!!

Matt Brighton, level 5 Graphic Design student at Staffs is featured on this week's Creative Review feed///........(.http://www.creativereview.co.uk/feed ) with his work for the Roses Competition brief.

A campaignable brand identity that changes the perception and helps persuade the public that local libraries are an important part of a community and offer a host of benefits. This poster campaign plays on clever phrases and words to show the public that there is a lot more to libraries than what they realise, hence the campaign - "A Whole Lot More"

Designed by UK Design Student, Matt Brighton

https://www.behance.net/gallery/A-Whole-Lot-More-Search-Offline/14527589

Graph Design is BUZZING!

Third year Graphic Design student, Jordan Pass, won his category in a competition set by B-Hive in Birmingham. The competition was open to all students currently in their 2nd, 3rd/final year of study and MA . The winners gaining the opportunity to undertake one of 30 paid placements. The scheme was also open to 2013 graduates, so the competition was huge. (This was Jordan’s second competition win in the space of less than a week having also won his category in the Roses Competition in Manchester)

The deal was simple, B-Hive is split into 5 categories – Marketing, PR, Advertising, Graphic Design and Web Design. Each category consisted of a panel of judges representing leading creative agencies and big brands.

To take part students picked the category that was most appropriate, downloaded the brief and started to craft their response. The best entrants in each discipline were invited to present to a panel of industry experts during a three day event in March 2014. (Think Dragons Den with less dragon-like dragons!) Winners also received a bespoke training course courtesy of Graduate Advantage.

 The brief – launch a new fashion brand ‘Threads’  - required a brand identity and full suite of brand collateral working across all forms of media. Judges were looking for the work to demonstrate both its versatility and why it’s right for the target audience, so developing a full suite of collateral and promotional materials was crucial, along with a clear justification for the designs. Judges also looked for strong and original ideas, as well as at the crafted end results including the process used to arrive at the solution. Scamps, sketches and workings out were as vital in explaining how students arrived at their preferred designs.

The win brings Jordan’s tally of work placements to 5! which include Dinosaur, Vital Marketing, Orb, NEC Group and The Holman Group.

Jordan survives the Wall of Death!

The Roses Student Awards are a great opportunity for up and coming designers to compete with like minded individuals across the country and demonstrate their commitment, focus and creative talent in answering one of 9 briefs set by industry - leading studios and creatives.

To win or to be a finalist/shortlisted for this annual competition, is an important accomplishment for the students, and shows that if you work hard you can achieve great things.  Not only do they have something tangible to show for their work but have the added bonus of a placement with a great agency if they win -  where they will continue to develop and gain valuable experience.

Both final year and second year students entered this year from Graphic design and Illustration and the competition, as ever, was strong. Graphic Design student Jordan Pass won his category – the brief asking for an integrated campaign to convince members of the public to risk their lives in search of the ultimate thrill – the wall of death! Wayne Mitchell and Ollie Buxton, also from Graphic Design, were runners-up with their solution to encourage people to learn a second language and Steve Garrington Miller, from Illustration, was runner-up with his solution to encourage the public to report potholes in the road and get them filled. The 9 briefs were set by

Thomson Brand Partners, Tayburn, ViVid, Like A River, Bjl, Dinosaur, Uniform, Love Creative and The Chase – who all offered a placement for the winners of their particular brief. Jordan will be working at Dinosaur as part of his placement. In addition to this, his work will appear on The Drum Website.  

INPUT+++++++++

Level 6 Graphic Design students are hosting an exhibition based on the theme of 'advice'. Everyone is welcome, the venue is kosmonaut, Manchester - 6-9pm on Thursday 6th March. See you there!

The Chase for Royle approval

Final year Graphic Design students received an insight into The Chase -  Manchester + London creative agency, from Creative Director Steve Royle this week. 

For the second consecutive year, Steve kindly accepted the opportunity to set third year students a very challenging brief in order to fulfil the "Answering an External Brief' part of the curriculum -  which aims to give the students an opportunity to work on an industry led project, whilst employing their skills, talent and visual communication knowledge, that is written, driven and overseen by professional specialists.

This is also a great opportunity for students to add to their portfolio with additional professional work - not to mention the chance to have regular tutorials with the creative director of a design studio who were voted number one in the Design Week Creative League Table.