Brief Cases aims to bridge the gap between academia and commercial work by setting students industry briefs which address skills gaps and tackle emerging issues. This year, students across BA (Hons) Graphic Design and BA (Hons) Illustration at Staffordshire University reaped several prizes ranging from gold to highly commended.
The students were challenged to respond to a ‘creative enterprise brief’ or ‘a luxury packaging brief’ and received support from Brief Cases founder Veronica Heaven and industry partners throughout the project.
The ‘creative enterprise brief’ focused on how a local or national business could tackle one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) through an advertising campaign.
Staffordshire University students won all three top prizes in this category and three highly commended awards. Gold winning student Alex Patterson, 23, from Andover, impressed with his Made in Stoke campaign which champions Stoke-on-Trent.
“The goal I was interested in looking at was sustainable communities and development. Since the university is in Stoke-on-Trent, I thought it was a good place to look at for regeneration. There is a lot of new projects related to levelling up in the area and making creative spaces, so I did a campaign project to bring more creative people to the area.”
He added: “It felt pretty satisfying to get gold. It’s nice to have that validation for doing a good piece of work. I’ve always looked to go beyond the brief in my work because that’s how people stand out and win awards.”
The ‘luxury packaging’ brief asked students to consider how brands can apply sustainable credentials while maintaining their premium status. BA (Hons) Illustration student Daisy Jackson won Gold for her submission based on clothing brand Canada Goose. Charlotte Toms and Kyle Grattage also celebrated winning the silver and bronze prizes.
Daisy, 21, from Congleton, said: “I looked at Canada Goose and changed their packaging into something more sustainable. I changed the actual presentation, using different textures, used a cotton bag instead of plastic which could be personalised as well as limited edition designs to make people want to collect them.
“It was a great surprise to win gold! It’s nice to know that all the hard work was appreciated and it was good to get feedback from industry professionals. It has been really insightful for me and helped me push boundaries that I didn’t know I could push before. It has been a really great learning process.”
Industry judge Kevin O’Donnell, Managing Director of Xerox, commented: “The students showed comprehensive market research, excellent insights and great delivery of a commercial brief. Great job by the students and also the supporting lecturers that show passion and enthusiasm and help the students come on leaps and bounds.”
Graphic Design student Richard Johnston was also highly commended at the recent Creative Conscience Awards after reimagining Twining’s tea packaging, using sustainable materials and an origami style design.
Sam Owen, Graphic Design Course Leader, added: “Brief Cases and Creative Conscience provide a structured approach and allow our students to really get stuck into societal and environmental matters that they truly care about. Through in-depth research, students carve out unique briefs and they’ve produced a bumper crop of ace outputs again this year. The teaching team were blown away.”