YCN has announced its annual collection of live creative briefs open to students and recent graduates. Now in thier 8th year, the awards identify and showcase emerging talent in design and communication. The awards are based around a collection of live creative briefs, written each year by partnering brands, charities and other organisations.
The list of clients this time around includes Google, HMV, P&O Ferries, Ted Baker, and Castrol. All of the work Commended as part of last year’s YCN Student Awards is also available to view on the site, and includes some written notes and thoughs by the designers, giving a nice insight into their working methods.
These include commendations by two of our HND students from last year, Alazne Amadov and Gemma Rundell.
The deadline is 26th March 2010. Let's hope we can pick up some more commendations!
Working with Photographers
9 November 2009
Thought this bit of info from Iain Lauder at Redpath might be useful for those of you working on the Spirit project.
"On the photography brief, the way I tell our designers to deal with any collaboration,
be it photography, illustration or copywriting is sort of the same.
It's basically about being organised, having a clear idea of what you are looking for, but also remembering that certainly in the real world, the person you have approached has a style that you like, which is why you've chosen to use them. I appreciate that here it is slightly different because you're being told who to work with but that can happen too and when this is the case, it's even more important to get the other person on your side. Make them feel that they are also there to contribute and have a wee creative brainstorm if need be. Also, the most obvious but important thing is to arrange a meet and get them to talk through their portfolio, show interest in their work like you expect/hope people to do with yours and listen. Listen to what they like doing, ask them questions, make them feel important and then steer them onto your project and what you're looking to do. Even show them the layouts, so they can see the format and space their images will work in. This will have a huge bearing on how they shoot, whether they need to keep any spaces clean for copy etc. Preparation in advance is so important. A tip is often to pull out a few examples of the style or image you're looking for and chat these through.
The final point though is to keep it upbeat and don't be too dominating, too heavy on the art direction."
This is an exciting opportunity for both Designers and Photographers. It will be a challenge for both groups but one that will hopefully be mutually beneficial.
Hand in for this project Wednesday 2nd December - watch this space!
"On the photography brief, the way I tell our designers to deal with any collaboration,
be it photography, illustration or copywriting is sort of the same.
It's basically about being organised, having a clear idea of what you are looking for, but also remembering that certainly in the real world, the person you have approached has a style that you like, which is why you've chosen to use them. I appreciate that here it is slightly different because you're being told who to work with but that can happen too and when this is the case, it's even more important to get the other person on your side. Make them feel that they are also there to contribute and have a wee creative brainstorm if need be. Also, the most obvious but important thing is to arrange a meet and get them to talk through their portfolio, show interest in their work like you expect/hope people to do with yours and listen. Listen to what they like doing, ask them questions, make them feel important and then steer them onto your project and what you're looking to do. Even show them the layouts, so they can see the format and space their images will work in. This will have a huge bearing on how they shoot, whether they need to keep any spaces clean for copy etc. Preparation in advance is so important. A tip is often to pull out a few examples of the style or image you're looking for and chat these through.
The final point though is to keep it upbeat and don't be too dominating, too heavy on the art direction."
This is an exciting opportunity for both Designers and Photographers. It will be a challenge for both groups but one that will hopefully be mutually beneficial.
Hand in for this project Wednesday 2nd December - watch this space!
My Song
First year students are busy working away on their type project with some great results. This brief encourages them to recreate the lyrics to their favourite song in an interesting typographical manner. This was originally set by Ian Kirby of Lewis Design as part of the Second year mentoring programme. With such a strong first year we thought we would extend the challenge to them!
As part of their final submission students must present the work digitally using the music alongside the lyrics. The challenge in this project is to engage with the lyrics and type and to look at how we can push typography in an interesting a visual manner. As part of our research we looked at some of the work featured on Fontfeed.com
We are already starting to see some great experimenting. The hand in for this project is Tuesday 17th Nov.
I am really looking forward to seeing the end product - watch this space!
As part of their final submission students must present the work digitally using the music alongside the lyrics. The challenge in this project is to engage with the lyrics and type and to look at how we can push typography in an interesting a visual manner. As part of our research we looked at some of the work featured on Fontfeed.com
We are already starting to see some great experimenting. The hand in for this project is Tuesday 17th Nov.
I am really looking forward to seeing the end product - watch this space!
Mentor Presentation - Hannah Bloomfield
4 November 2009
In a first for the mentoring project, one of our HND Year 2 students presented work from their current mentor brief to a select panel of Telford's Senior Management.
Hannah Bloomfield's brief was to redesign Telford's corporate identity and bring it bang-up-to-date, enhancing the visual appeal both for students and for the college as a learning institution in the modern, competitive educational marketplace.
With acting Principal Greg Irving, Head of Marketing Alex Field, and Department Head Jeff Brown all in attendance, Hannah pitched a really clever and energetic set of design alternatives to the College's current corporate visual identity. This included some great ideas on the use of the campus' interior, as well as posters, a website layout, billboards and of course a set of very cool new logos.
The presentation produced lots of positive discussion and plenty for the College Board to consider. Hannah's mentor Iain Lauder, from the Redpath agency, was also on hand to provide some informative industry insight into the project.
Check out some examples from Hannah's work-in-progress (click each for a bigger version):
ETC Logo
ETC Logo - Books
ETC Promotional Poster
ETC Prospectus
ETC logo- construction
Hannah Bloomfield's brief was to redesign Telford's corporate identity and bring it bang-up-to-date, enhancing the visual appeal both for students and for the college as a learning institution in the modern, competitive educational marketplace.
With acting Principal Greg Irving, Head of Marketing Alex Field, and Department Head Jeff Brown all in attendance, Hannah pitched a really clever and energetic set of design alternatives to the College's current corporate visual identity. This included some great ideas on the use of the campus' interior, as well as posters, a website layout, billboards and of course a set of very cool new logos.
The presentation produced lots of positive discussion and plenty for the College Board to consider. Hannah's mentor Iain Lauder, from the Redpath agency, was also on hand to provide some informative industry insight into the project.
Check out some examples from Hannah's work-in-progress (click each for a bigger version):
ETC Logo
ETC Logo - Books
ETC Promotional Poster
ETC Prospectus
ETC logo- construction
Adobe @ Tidalfire
3 November 2009
Tidalfire, in conjunction with Adobe, are running an Adobe Creative Suite 4 Week during November. This is a series of events in Edinburgh and Glasgow focusing on Adobe Creative Suite 4 applications, technologies and solutions.
Amongst the presenters will be Adobe's Steve Burnard, and Design guru Harry Hemus.
Design Team members David Wilson, Chris Hughes, Richie Bisset, Stuart Aitken and Mariusz Panciewicz will all be attending, and hopefully building on their current software knowledge (and of course integrating it into delivery to the students).
For more info, check out the Tidalfire site.
Amongst the presenters will be Adobe's Steve Burnard, and Design guru Harry Hemus.
Design Team members David Wilson, Chris Hughes, Richie Bisset, Stuart Aitken and Mariusz Panciewicz will all be attending, and hopefully building on their current software knowledge (and of course integrating it into delivery to the students).
For more info, check out the Tidalfire site.