so long, farewell…

We have taken our time to write this update, because it is a very difficult thing to put into words… but after 12-or-more years of honourable service, our much beloved Kate has left the ndgd/edgd team. She will be greatly missed - her dyslexia, her forgetfulness, as well as her skill of saying accidentally inappropriate things…but also for her great sense of humour, her dedication to other staff and students, and of course her teaching and design skills!!
I'm sure it's not the last we will see or hear from Kate, or her VW camper van, but for now it's So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye…

flying the nest…

Our second years have been preparing their portfolios, and have witnessed what not to do in the interview room, thanks to Mandy and Sue… with Sue displaying perhaps the WORST interview technique by anyone, ever! The real-life interviews are starting to come thick and fast now, and before long we are hoping to have all our little birds snapped up by various universities. So far we have had students accepted into UCLAN, Blackpool & The Fylde, Stockport, and Bolton Institute…
As the other interview dates start to arrive, we are hoping to send more of our second years out to show off their work, and do us all proud at EDGD!

you've been framed…

On Friday the 3rd of February, our brand new Beacon Centre has its official opening! It's sure to be a very posh affair, with lots of important visitors coming to see all our students in action, as well as to check out our new home. In preparation, many of the Creative Arts courses are organising an exhibition space to show off all our students skills… and here is our current selection process. We are going to display work from both our current 1st and 2nd years in the exhibition space, and we are planning to have lots of examples of finished projects from over the past few years up in our base rooms!
It will probably be a busy one next week, so we will hopefully get some more pictures up of the preparations, as well as of the grand opening itself! Always watching…

brand new start…

A little bit belated, but happy new year everyone! It has been all systems go the past week for us here at EDGD…we have been settling into our new building and trying to make ourselves at home. We now have real lifts, rather than a maintenance lift - handy for some of us because there are waaaaaaay more stairs in our new home! The biggest loss is the fact that there is no more Dragon's Den…yes our little office has gone forever! So any ex-students who wish to pay us all a visit any time soon, then find your way to the new Beacon Centre and head up to BC-4-06, which is the new second year base-room.
We shall get photos up soon, when we have unpacked a bit more, and hopefully we shall get some new student work photos up too…

onwards and upwards…

And here we go again…UCAS time! Our second year students are currently busy applying for university places for next year, to further their quests for fame, fortune, and employment as graphic designers! We have people applying for courses as far away as Coventry & Loughborough, and of course, there is a number of our guys who want to keep it local, and are applying to go ‘across the road’ and study at The University Centre at Blackburn College. They are also starting to get busy with preparing their (soon to be) marvellous portfolio's of design work, ready to wow the interviewers and gain the university places they are hoping for. Good luck guys, and watch this space for updates on where our second years are all going to be heading to next year…

something old, something new…

On Tuesday a group of the staff from Creative Arts went over to our brand spanking new building, to get a bit of a guided tour of our new homes. The foyer is very big and impressive, looking very fancy… there was very little furniture or fittings in when we visited, but we got to see the library (which will be huge!!), the new mac suites, the staff rooms, and most importantly our new EDGD classrooms! There was lots of ‘ooooooooooohs’ and ‘aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhs’, and we have started planning what areas are getting used for what etc… all we need to do now is finish packing up all the boxes at our old space, in time for the Big Move next week…roll on Monday!

living in a box…

Cupboards have been emptied, boxes have been packed, and reluctantly, lots of things have been thrown away. We are nearly set to start moving into the brand new Art & Design building, which will get underway next week hopefully!! It has been a long time coming, and we are equal parts excited to get a much needed new home, but also a bit sad to see the old place go - there have been lots of action in our three little rooms over the years! We will try and get photos up of the move and the new space as it all happens, but for now, it's “back to the sketch” as we try to finish getting packed up…