Expert Ex-Students Help Current Students on Final Project

Students are helping to signpost the new Lego Innovation Studio at Newcastle-under-Lyme College.

The Level 3 ED Graphics Design & Interactive Media students are working on a project which is set to complete on the 9^th February. There are three tasks in this project which the students have to fulfil. The first task asks the students to produce several pages of evidence in a sketchbook, which shows evidence of a variety of methods used, including traditional, computer generated materials, also the techniques and process the students learnt during the projects.

The second task sees the students produce a number of thumbnail designs that can be refined. They must also produce a number of mock-ups for the final idea, using materials and the new processes and techniques they have learnt.

In the third and final task the students will research a number of supporting ideas that will inform the Lego Innovation Studio. They can then use these ideas as a starting point for their final project.

Over the duration of their task the students will produce a number of pieces for use in the promotion, branding and sign-posting of the room.

The students involved in this task have been split into three teams depending on their skills. One team, headed by lecturer Shannon Steyn, will be focused on graphics design. They will be producing promotional material for the Lego Studio, which includes posters aimed at staff and students. A second team, headed by lecturer David Burgess, are the illustration team and will produce three 2.5m x 1.5m prints to be placed outside of the Lego Studio. The last team is headed by lecturer Mark Smith and this team is the 3D computer modelling team and they will design a mural 265cm x 288cm in size to go along the wall outside the ED Graphics Design & Media staff room.

In order to produce these final pieces and coursework the students have been encouraged to bring in resources from home, from old toothbrushes to sponges. They were also given resources to use in college, including ipads, cameras and graphics tablets.

The students also had help from former students of NULC who have gone onto have successful careers: Tom Perry, a letter smith from PezandPencil of Stoke on Trent, Anthony Owen, the Creative Director at Delineo in Manchester and Jon Paul Green, lead Graphic Designer at Q Railing in Stoke on Trent. All three ex-students completed the Level 3 ED Graphics Design & Interactive Media course and Ant and Jon also completed a level 2 course in Art & Design prior to that.