logo love…

Our first years are currently working on a live brief. They have been asked to create a logo design for the Red Rosettes Choir from Burnley. The choir is an all ladies, all ages group which has members as old as 8, and as young as 80! Our first years have all pitched initial logo ideas to Chris and Hannah from Burnley council, who visited us recently to discuss the designs, providing feedback and mentioning some of the ideas that they liked.
The clients are coming back into college on the 17th April to view a final logo from each of our first year students, hopefully to pick a winning design!
Good luck to all our first years :)

it's the taking part that counts…

the letter ‘A’ generally means only one thing to second year EDGD students…Advertising!! Yes, the advertising brief for 2011-2012 is underway. We are still in the early stages at the moment, the guys have been given their products by now, but it is all still research, terminology and word-play so far. However, one of the first stages is always to test the second years knowledge of advertising with Sue's Big Bad Advertising Quiz. With the quiz came an opportunity to fill up two more slots on our Star Awards wall, by naming and shaming both the class winner, and the unfortunate class loser.

A pat-on-the-back goes to Martin Hay for winning the quiz with the most correct answers, and our ‘it's the taking part that counts’ crown goes to Liam Davis for his unfortunate score in the quiz. It's onwards and upwards from here - good luck to both lads, and the rest of the group in producing some amazing advertising campaigns!!

all starry eyed…

The return of our second years last week also brought the start of a new trend…the EDGD star awards. Throughout the year we are going to present special design awards for exceptionally awesome, or exceptionally silly, displays of graphic skill. The first of these awards was to announce the Designer Of The Year for the previous 12 months, as voted for by the students. Congratulations to Adam Dempsey who consistently produced the best design throughout the first year of the course…or paid the most bribes!! Hopefully this first award will stimulate a competitive atmosphere in the second year base room, and we shall see some amazing work…mainly because we have 19 more awards to give out!!

So, second years - work hard, think hard…and do great stuff!!

And remember…we're always watching…

mr. big stuff…

It's that time once again - the great big induction project - Big It Up 2010!! All our fresh new first years were split up into teams and had to re-create larger than life chocolate bars - the selections this year were Toffee Crisp, Curly Wurly, Buttons, Smarties and a Jaffa Cake Bar. Over the course of the induction period our teams worked tirelessly to produce some really tasty looking treats… the voting process proved how good all the work was - two teams tied for second place, and the first place winners only snatched victory by 1 vote!!!

The Big It Up winners 2010 will be announced later this week…we will keep you posted ;)

"…killed the radio star"

Busy, busy, busy…we can't believe it's been a month and no posts! We have all been working away on stuff though. The second years are well into the Final Major Projects now, and most of them are shaping up nicely - no sneaky peeks yet however, we want the exhibition night to be a nice surprise…

The first years are busy finishing up all their projects in time for their progressional interviews into the second year of the course…most of them seem to be keeping their cool so far. In other first year news - they have recently taken part in a special commission for BBC Radio Lancashire. We were approached here at NDGD by the radio station and asked to pitch artwork ideas for their new upcoming 2026 exhibition space. Our students split up into teams, gave themselves cool names, and set to designing window graphics and interior display graphics. Each team then pitched their ideas live on air during the Easter break, and all-boys team The EX-perts came out on top. Our lads (Jake Culshaw, Lewis Garforth and Adam Simpson) are now putting final & finishing touches to the artwork, and are getting it ready to go to print.

A massive well done, and we are looking forward to seeing the exhibition space when its completed…keep an eye on the blog for launch dates for the exhibition etc

Read more about the artwork pitch at BBC Radio Lancashire's page here

Young Northern Designer 2010

The Northern Design Competition 2010 website went live recently, which followers of our blog & the NDGD adventures should be familiar with, because in the 2009 Young Northern Designer competition, we had three of our students shortlisted into the final!!! As such, when you click through to the 2010 Young Northern Designer category, you are greeted with a fantastic picture of ex-student Alex Hindle, all suited & booted, being presented with his award for his advertising project. We are of course, now gearing up to enter the 2010 competition with our current second years…the submission isn't until April, but watch this space for any developments. No pressure guys, but we want at least FIVE finalists this year…

You can visit the Young Northern Designer 2010 page here…

See the YND 09 archive with Alex & Jake's work here…

See the YND 09 artwork from Alex, Jake & Jack here…

it's all part of the act…

The heat is on for the 2nd years. Team A and Team B are fighting it out in the weekly Great Big Advertising Quiz, and it has to be said that Group A are trouncing Group B so far! The T.V. ad re-enactment week was one to remember though, with some great performances! The oscar went to Tom Eccles for his excellent role as the little girl in the Haribo 'sign the confession' ad - he even sported a cute ittle pigtail…bless him.

We're not sure about graphic designers, but we reckon you are a bunch of frustrated actors…walk-on parts & movie roles surely await…

So, watch this space for the final results of the advertising quiz…come on Team B - pull it back, pull it back!

"i predict a riot…"

Thursday night was the private view and awards ceremony for the Northern Design Competition 2009 at Leeds Metropolitan University. Our three nervous finalists got suited & booted for the occasion. Alex, Jack, and Jake were three of thirteen people shortlisted for the Young Northern Designer category. There were to be three winners selected for prizes, and the rest were to be given runners-up awards. We are very proud to say that both Alex Hindle & Jake Holt were selected as winners of the category, being presented with a trophy, a certificate and cash prize monies of £500 each, which was presented to them by Ricky Wilson, lead singer of The Kaiser Chiefs!!! Very special indeed…Jack Townsend was awarded a runner up prize of £100.

The award was judged by world renowned designer Wayne Hemingway, who had this to say about Alex's advertising project;

"This student certainly has an eye for advertising, coupled with a flair for graphic design, this entry shows a good understanding of the range of skills required to be successful in the creative industries."

Wayne Hemingway also passed comment on Jake's theatre poster project;

"This is an excellent range of posters which have demonstrated a high level of expertise in the field of graphic design. The theme and style of each is both creative and eye-catching."

All-in-all a fantastic night for Alex, Jake & Jack, and our little graphics course from Blackburn!!

salford school of art & design college competition

As part of Salford University's School of Art & Design end of year exhibition, they decided to hold a College Competition, where art and design students at a Further Education institution could enter work and have a chance to exhibit at the final show. We put forward some of our students work, and two of those students have been shortlisted in the competition. Jack Townsend has been selected in the Graphic Design category for his advertising project, and Rebecca Morris has been selected in the Digital Design category for one of her illustration projects. The students are to make an appearance at an awards presentation on June 10th at Salford's School of Art & Design.

northern design competition 2009

Recently all our second year students entered a favourite piece of work into the Northern Design Competition 2009, which is hosted by Leeds Metropolitan University. Art & Design students from all over the north of England have entered, and out of the 13 finalists for the Young Northern Designer Category, we have had three of our students shortlisted. Alex Hindle was selected for his advertising project, Jake Holt was selected for his theatre posters project, and Jack Townsend was selected for one of his illustration projects.

They are now due to appear at an awards ceremony down in Leeds, on the 18th June, where there will be a private viewing of all the finalists work, and there will be an awards ceremony to determine an over-all winner from all the finalists. We are keeping our fingers crossed for our three students to be among the grand prize winners…well done lads!!

You can view their work online, along with all the other entries for the Young Northern Design Competition at;

http://www.leedsmet.ac.uk/northerndesign/finalists.html