12 July 2010
Dundee graduates lead the way at new designers
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design graduates have bagged a hat-trick of awards at the UK's biggest event for graduate designers.
Of this year's 25 prizes awarded at New Designers 2010 in London - which included over 3500 student exhibitors drawn from art and design schools across the UK - DJCAD students secured three of them, topping the 'medal table' for the event. The College is part of the University of Dundee.
'Throughout the 25 years of New Designers, DJCAD students have been consistently recognised as being at the forefront of design practice,' said Professor Mike Press, Assocate Dean, Design, at DJCAD.
'We are hugely proud of our three winning students. Whether they study craft-based subjects, more industry-focused areas of communication design, or are designing new interactive technologies, our students excel. In every published league table and national awards, we outperform all other Scottish institutions, and are now recognised as one of the UK's top art and design colleges. In terms of degrees in art and design, DJCAD sets the gold standard.'
The winning graduates from DJCAD were Elizabeth Humble, Alison Mehta and Pablo de la Peña.
Alison Mehta, who graduated last month in Graphic Design, was named winner of the Hallmark Cards Award. The judges remarked, ‘Alison is an enthusiastic and focussed Graphic Designer. She has created some outstanding 3D, typographic and packaging solutions. Her ability to work within a team as well as by herself shows she would fit in well within the Hallmark studio.’
She won £1000 and a month-long work placement with Hallmark. Fellow graduate Ian Ritch, who worked with Alison on their giant pop-up book designed to a brief for travel company LastMinute.com, was also given a placement with Hallmark.
The pop-up book was designed to be easily set up in busy pedestrian areas such as shopping centres and offers wi-fi so that customers could book holidays on the spot.
Pablo de la Peña, a graduate in Interactive Media Design, won the Cyber-Duck Associate Award for his `SlopeScope’ project, which lets snowboarders film and share footage from the slopes.
Judges for the prize said they 'fell in love' with Pablo’s work. They also commented on the extremely strong showing from Dundee students, who dominated the shortlist for the prize. Pablo won a placement at Cyber-Duck, the renowed web design agency, and an iPad.
'This is the first year that Interactive Media Design students had exhibited at New Designers and we had one of the smallest stands at the exhibition, so it is tremendous to get this kind of recognition for the quality of work our students are producing,' said Graham Pullin, course director.
The IMD course is being relaunched with a new name, Digital Interaction Design, for next year.
Elizabeth Humble, a Jewellery and Metal Design graduate, won the Goldsmiths' Company Jewellery Award. The judges were impressed by her ‘unique and refined technique demonstrating sensitivity to materials, technical awareness and tremendous potential.’
New Designers has been showcasing the work of the top UK graduate designers from a wide range of creative disciplines. The exhibition attracts over 18,000 visitors annually, including many industry professionals eager to check out emerging talent in areas such as jewellery, animation, furniture, fashion and graphics.
For media enquiries contact:
Roddy Isles
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University of Dundee
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E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk
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