welovedesignetc
The design courses blog for BA (Hons)
and HND Vis Comm at Edinburgh College

21 Card Design History Set

20 January 2015

HNC Graphics recently completed a design-in-context brief to create a print-based design product or gift for a gallery shop or bookstore.  One nice example came from students Olga Komanek and Aiste Plechaviciute, who teamed up to design a set of 21 cards, each illustrating a movement, technique or practitioner in design history, in the relevant style. The likes of Theo Van Doesburg, Paul Rand, Tibor Kalman, Milton Glaser, El Lissitzky and Rodchenko are all featured.

The cards are printed on linen paper in ivory, 300gsm, and the set is boxed in a black die cut card case, sized at 110mm X 70mm.








On Placement

15 January 2015

Once again we are just about there organising the work placement programme for our final year students. With the annual Berlin study trip running from Jan 27th till Feb 3rd, the rest of February is when the students will take up placement opportunities.

The response this year from employers able to take on placements, as always, has been fantastic. As well as support from many of our industry mentors, former students, and regular agencies in Edinburgh, we've also placed students at some of Glasgow's finest, including Scotland's Design Agency of the Year, Freytag Anderson. So we'd like to send out huge thanks, in strictly alphabetical order, to the following employers -

Blonde, Copyshop, Edinburgh District Council, Editions, Equator, Firefly, Freight, Freytag Anderson, The Gate, Hookson, Ignite, Lane, Lewis, Mortonward, Multiply, RAPP, Realise, Shaw, Skyscanner, Story, Studio LR, ThreeBrand, The Union and Whitespace.

We won't be finalising all the slots until next week, so there may well be some agencies to add to this excellent list, but each of our student designers will be guaranteed two different work placements. The class have just finished up a short live brief for Maggies Centres  which they presented on Wednesday to the client, and tomorrow they are presenting their ISTD (International Society of Typographic Designers) projects. Look out for samples from these projects on our Pinterest boards soon.


All Set for 2015

5 January 2015

Welcome back! January is traditionally one of our busiest months, as Semester One winds up and crosses over into Semester Two.

In terms of project-work, our NC group are presenting concepts for their Roses projects tomorrow, and have been issued with a new magazine brief; the HNC group will be handing in their YCN; and our final year students are finishing up their ISTD typography project, as well as getting ready for placement in February.  Last year we had 26 agencies and studios involved in the placement programme, and this year is shaping up to be just as successful.

Besides all of this course activity, our annual Berlin trip is happening during the last week of the month. Traditionally we take 30 students from Graphics and Interactive Design students to Berlin for seven days, primarily to attend the renowned digital festivals Transmediale and CTM. We've also arranged a number of museum outings, plus a visit to Saatchi Berlin, where one of our former students, Victorija Kravcova, is a designer. Big thanks to her for arranging a talk with the Creative Director at one of the biggest agencies in Europe. We can't wait.

Elsewhere, we have just renewed our D&AD Education membership, and have also secured our Final Show exhibition space for 2015 at one of Edinburgh's best cultural venues, the Fruitmarket Gallery. We'll soon be announcing details of our next One Week project, due to commence in March.