University of Wolverhampton students were tasked with creating posters designed to save lives in a collaborative project recently.
Sixteen students studying for a degree in Graphic Design at the Wolverhampton School of Art were given a design brief to create a winning poster to promote organ donation that has special appeal to young people for local community group, Promoting Organ Donation (POD UK).
The collaboration between the University, City of Wolverhampton Council, POD UK, NHS Blood and Transplant and partners at the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust saw the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Education, Health and Wellbeing team up to organise the poster project.
POD UK is a community group that meets quarterly at the University to discuss issues in organ donation, planning campaigns, events and publicity.
Students were mentored by Professor Magi Sque, Chair in Clinical Practice & Innovation in the University’s Faculty of Education, Health and Wellbeing, who talked to them about her organ donation research and offered advice about their work from a client perspective.
Marc Austin, Course Leader in Graphic Design at the University, said: “We are extremely proud of our students and the course engagement throughout this collaborative initiative. Being able to provide hands-on experience with a real-life creative brief is vital for students when they are learning and this project offered a wealth of expertise from all kinds of areas which has been channelled into some really creative work.”
Professor Magi Sque said: “Members of the panel who reviewed the poster designs were extremely impressed by the quality of work with some remarking that they were excellent concepts and beautiful designs. It’s been a real pleasure to see this project come to life and to see how engaged the students are in the subject matter.”
The student work was unveiled at a special event held in the Mayor of Wolverhampton’s Parlour where former Lord Lieutenant for the West Midlands and Patron of POD, Paul Sabapathy awarded certificates and prizes to the students in the presence of the Mayor of Wolverhampton, Councillor Phil Page and Dr Satya Sharma MBE, Deputy Lieutenant for the West Midlands.
The winner was Andre Howe who was awarded £200 for the winning design with runners up, Sam Chambers and Lennie Finch who were awarded £100 each. The winning design may be used as part of a national awareness campaign.
Sam Chambers, Graphic Design student from Halesowen who clinched one of the awards, said: "This was a really interesting project to work on as it wasn't just about making things look nice, it was designing something that could make a real difference. I'd like a career in advertising and this kind of real life project is great for my CV and will really help when I start to look for a job after graduation later this year."
Students that took part in the design competition were Ethan Bayton, Gary Cartlidge, Sam Chambers, Chris Cooper, Georgia Cox, Carlene Davis, Jaseera Douglas, Lennie Finch, Josh Hinkins, Andre Howe, Mohammed ‘Taf’ Hussain, Fabian Lacek, Billy-Dean Lawrence, Almas Mukadam, Sophie O’Dwyer and Danielle Poole.
