Concours D'ecriture 2020

This is the second year that we have collaborated with The French Institute and both Napier and Edinburgh Universities in the annual Concours D'ecriture, where foreign language degree students compose a piece of creative writing, and the results are interpreted by our final year students as pieces of visual communication, expressed purely as typography.

Students submitted writing from Edinburgh, Napier, Stirling and St Andrews Universities, and these were judged by the partners this year - the French Institute, The Goethe Institute (Glasgow) and the Franco-Scottish Society.

Last year an exhibition of the work was held at the Institute, just off the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, but this year the exhibiton is all virtual - on screens at the French Institute and via instagram and the Institute's culture blog. The theme this year was music, with all the written entries being inspired by a piece of music. 

This allowed our students to think beyond print and produce some unsusual responses, including lenticular animation, video, light projections, editorial pieces and even packaging in the form of a chocolate wrapper. We also published the visuals, alongside all the written pieces, in a broadsheet newspaper, printed by Newspaper Club, and on display at the Institute during December.  Full details of the winning pieces, plus all the visual work can be found on the French Institute Culture blog here and the newspaper can be viewed at issuu.

Good News for Great Ideas

Photography by Cameron Brisbane

Graphic Design Tutor Helena Good scooped the Leadership Award at the Creative Edinburgh Awards last week, for her outstanding contribution to the Daydream Believers project, and in hugely deserved recognition of a career dedicated to design education and the Creative Industries.

The annual awards took place in the The Hub on the city’s Royal Mile, where a wealth of talent from across Edinburgh's creative community gathered to celebrate a variety of outstanding projects, initiatives, studios, individuals and ideas during the past year.

The Daydream Believers project - the Edinburgh College collaboration with industry and Secondary Schools - won the Collaboration Award for its groundbreaking programme designed to encourage creative thinking in Secondary Education and beyond, ensuring the next generation of talent can realise its ambitions.

The awards also recognised the work of two of our 2019 graduates, Edinburgh College HND Graphic Design students Joy Mooney and Natalie Loh, who were both shortlisted for the Student Award for their final project work, exhibited back in May at the Fruitmarket Gallery, and for their contributions to Daydream Believers.

Congratulations to all the winners, nominees and organisers - demonstrating yet again that the Creative Industries in Scotland is in good hands moving forward into the future.

More about Creative Edinburgh.

Daydream Believers

The Daydream Believers programme, founded by Graphic tutor Helena Good,  is aimed at secondary school pupils to help them develop essential skills necessary for the future ahead. Working closely together with Employers, Teachers, Lecturers and Student Ambassadors, the initiative is testing a new pilot programme that engages pupils with creative experiments and promotes critical thinking, and problem-solving. Here's a short film introducing the programme, and more info here.

Inspired Advice!

Here is a nice little video clip by Holly McNie and Niamh Curran which they prepared for the Schools Project as an ice-breaker for S2-S3 pupils taking on our 'Inspire' project.



The project is funded by the Scottish Government's Developing the Young Workforce initiative, and sponsored by Threebrand.  Find out more about the Schools Project project here.