Student Design Exhibitions
Written by Tara: Freelance Designer on Tuesday, 12 of June , 2007 at 7:27 am
On Sunday my boyfriend and I went back to my old College, actually it was his old college too, but not for design, and we didn’t know each other then. When we were there it was known as Nene College, but now it’s the University of Northampton, which sounds much better 
. The college had an open day showing all their end of year exhibitions. We wandered around the fine art section which had quite a few abstracts we liked, but also a few bizarre pieces like wooden chairs taken apart and put together in different ways, I didn’t really understand those, but each to their own.
In the graphic section I was amazed at the mixture of levels of work, some had incredibly accomplished work, others you could see they were still learning. I grabbed a few brochures they had left as giveaways thinking I would post up some images only to get home and find they were from 2004, 2005, 2006 
(so I can only assume they had run out of this years). So I thought I would check on the website - they would be bound to have a portfolio on the University website wouldn’t they? Well if they have I can’t find it. I also picked up the business card of a girl who’s illustration and design I liked I thought I may be able to give some work too in the future, but when I got home I was amazed to see she hadn’t got a link to a website or online portfolio on the card. Surely this is one of the most important things for new designers to promote themselves?
Matt McArthur who is a regular commentor on my blog emailed me to let me know about a video he and his fellow students have produced to promote their end of year show at Edinburgh’s Telford College 12th - 16th June, Matt’s the one with no hair (his word not mine ). There will soon be an online portfolio for all the students there too.
Also worth taking a look at is Computer Arts Graduate Showcase of Animation I liked “Death Kitty and the Fat Man,” even though it was a little weird. The Computer Arts Site has loads of other useful information for students and professionals alike.
Have you been to any graduate shows and looked at the work or are you a student just putting on a end of year show, I’d love to hear how it went?
Category: General Graphic Design, For Design Students
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Comment by matt mcarthur
Made Tuesday, 12 of June , 2007 at 8:53 am
Thanks for the mention Tara! I would also like to add that we have three YCN commended exhibitors in the group including one Kirsten Murray who was responsible for the ‘Vision’ concept for this year’s exhibition. Also, I should point out that I am not as short as that picture might suggest haha!
Developing an online portfolio was actually part of our course and, in fact, several of us have something online already. I think we might be a little unusual in our approach of having a group domain and brand that can be used to further promote the individual students, though, but then it just happened that we’re quite a cooperative bunch with a few of us being fairly web-savvy from the word go (all ‘props’ to Mr Ben Seven for the actual setup on goodbyeprintsafely).
We’ve actually found setting up online resources very useful throughout the course and have a private forum where we can discuss briefs, post up works in progress for comment and link to useful or inspirational content out on the web. Of course, being independent of the college means we can also post up big old grumbles when we feel like it too lol!
Comment by Tara1
Made Tuesday, 12 of June , 2007 at 9:00 am
Hi Matt,
Sorry I did screen shot you in quite a funny position didn’t I .
Good luck with the exhibition. If you are interested in writing a post about your how the exhibition went and show some of your (and fellow students work (when its all finished) you are welcome to. No pressure though.
Comment by matt mcarthur
Made Tuesday, 12 of June , 2007 at 9:06 am
Thanks for the offer - will chat with the others about it.
Absolutely loving Death Kitty & The Fat Man, by the way - outstanding!
Comment by Joel Laumans
Made Tuesday, 12 of June , 2007 at 9:41 am
Tara I completely agree with you, nowadays anyone in the design industry needs to have a website and portfolio… and even more, should be able to be found by Google.
Comment by Tesss
Made Tuesday, 12 of June , 2007 at 9:42 am
Hi Tara, I had the same problems with ‘my’ graphic design students at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. Most of them were not interested in having a presentation online, just a few. I think they don’t realise how important it is, probably only after graduation, when they need to look for a job.
I also think it has to do with the type of education they get, I’ve seen presentations of other academies where the student would learn how to setup a simple basic html page during his first year, by the end of his 4 years study he would’ve learned and built a complete [interactive] web presentation including all the fancy bits like flash and video/sound. It was part of their education.
I really missed that at the academy where I worked, they simply refused to stimulate the students by having it integrated into education. One of my main reasons why I left after five years…
Comment by Aaron :: miLienzo.com
Made Tuesday, 12 of June , 2007 at 10:33 am
As you know my end of year show starts tomorrow. We actually had a dry run last night with a sponsors event - was useful as it has allowed me to practice my spiel on people and get a taster of the kind of things people will ask.
I’ve branded myself very heavily at this event - the way I see it this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Maybe the fact I work in PR allows me to recognise this, but I’m amazed how many of the other students don’t have a website. And it’s a MULTIMEDIA course!
I’ll take some photos on Wednesday of the private show, so you can see some of the works.
Comment by Tara1
Made Tuesday, 12 of June , 2007 at 10:58 am
Thanks for the comments Tess and Joel
Aaron, good luck, let me know when you have posted photos and I’ll place a link here to the post.
Pingback by Fancy a peek at my online portfolio? :: miLienzo.com
Made Wednesday, 13 of June , 2007 at 3:46 pm
[…] other day I promised Tara I’d take a few photos of the show tonight. Unfortunately I don’t have my camera with me, and besides I think […]