Graphic Design students from the University of Worcester have been working with a local company to create materials promoting the City’s recently refurbished railway arches.
Graphic Design students presenting their promotional materials to the clients
The third-year students were given a live design brief to help inform recent creative graduates of the University about opportunities to use the new Arches for their own freelance or collaborative ventures.
The railway arches have been refurbished as part of the Arches Worcester project, which is part of an investment of over £3 million from central government’s Cultural Development Fund, to create a new cultural quarter in the City. The spaces are being managed by the team behind The Kiln, a coworking space in Worcester, who set the brief for the students.
Senior Lecturer in Design, Andy Stevenson, said: "This project was about making it as 'real life' as we can make it in terms of the quick-turnaround project experiences that students are likely to occasionally experience once they have graduated. The Kiln proved fantastic clients for the students to work with.”
Students worked in small production teams mimicking one of the likely scenarios they might find themselves in when working in design studios or agencies. They came up with sample promotional materials, including posters, flyers, and designs for use on social media and bus side advertising.
Students had just two days to develop samples and then 24 hours to develop and then produce concept artwork for the different promotional materials which they then presented to the clients. The Kiln plans to incorporate some of these designs into the final campaign artwork.
The University provides students with opportunities where possible to work with external companies on projects. This project also tallied with one of the Graphic Design course's aims to help use 'design for social good', linking up the students' visual communication skills with local good causes and initiatives.
Third year Graphic Design student, Lucas Da Costa Modesto, said: “This was a helpful and enriching experience. Working in that kind of fast turnaround environment and having a taste of what it's like to work professionally in an agency is really eye-opening and gave us useful experience that we can use in future projects. This project also helped a lot in learning how to communicate properly with the people working with us who we might not know well but have the same objective of creating a good piece of graphic design. Overall, this project was a great way to evolve my skills as a graphic designer and as a team member working in a professional environment.”
Greg Smith, Co-Founder of The Kiln and F8 Creates Ltd, said: "It was a pleasure to work with such enthusiastic, motivated students, and see how they responded to our creative brief. The work produced was of a very high standard, with some amazing ideas that will definitely shape the real-life campaign they were working towards."