If you're looking for the best new graduates for your studio or agency, don't miss Computer Arts' New Talent special, issue 256, featuring the team's handpicked selection of the UK's best graduates – on sale 22 July 2016.
Leeds College of Art celebrated 170 years of delivering art education this summer, culminating in an innovate collection of final year student work at its end-of-year show, Made Here, held from 11-16 June.
Read on for our pick of the most outstanding work from the graphic design course – and don't forget to stop in at D&AD New Blood 2016 from 6-7 July at The Old Truman Brewery, London, to meet the students behind the work.
01. Alexander Finney
- Course: Graphic Design
- Project: Wall of Sound
"Wall of Sound is a playable, conductive ink, synthesiser and theremin, allowing interaction between what you see, touch and hear," says Leeds College of Art final year student Alexander Finney.
"It came about after thinking about how I could engage the hugely diverse audience that attend degree shows."
"Finding Bare Conductive's electrically conductive paint was instrumental in the playable wall coming to life," he continues. "The project was made possible by modern tech, but the result was a simple platform for creativity and fun!"
02. Joe Valentine
- Course: Graphic Design
- Project: Digital Enhancements
Joe Valentine's project explores how a printed poster design can be expanded into a digitally enhanced format. "Projection mapping allows the design to be versatile, meaning sections change and alter to create a whole new design," explains Joe Valentine.
"This means the visual will change over time – varying in colour, depth and perception – whilst using the same grid system and elements from the original poster print."
"I wanted to express a way in which digital projections can be used to expand on printed posters to create an interactive, alternative design that changes and alters in front of your eyes," he says.
"The idea is to explore the range of outcomes that can be provided with the use of digital formats."
03. Jessica Johnson
- Course: Graphic Design
- Project: Seven Wonders
"A millennial project resulted in the establishment of the seven contemporary wonders of the world," explains Jessica Johnson.
"Although we see these seven spaces celebrated and advertised through a photographic medium, my aim was to convey the architectural detail and the in-depth construction measurements, using the traditional method of screenprinting to represent the long standing and original features."
"Using measurements from the dimensions of each wonder, a grid was composed to create the structure of the prints," she continues. "On the second layer, a multitude of colours were used to show the vibrancy and variation of each location."
"The foiling created highlights demonstrating the spectacular aspects, and the letterpress represents the longitude and latitude of the wonders, giving the key clue as to which is being visually represented."
04. Alec Mezzetti
- Course: Graphic Design
- Project: Disfigure
"The reasons why statues are vandalised are as diverse as the reasons for building them," says Alec Mezzetti. "Some are the result of religious, cultural or political iconoclasm, others are altered to erase history and justify exploitation."
"Tyrants are toppled, either by genuine uprisings, or in staged events by occupying armies. Some use the act of vandalism to protest social injustices. At their heart, these acts, just like the statues that they are enacted upon, are symbolic."
"I used a wide range of media to explore the issue, in order to create a body of work that educates an audience and allows them to draw their own conclusions on the topic."
05. Kieran Walsh
- Course: Graphic Design
- Project: You Are Running Into Danger
You Are Running Into Danger promotes the Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament. "The CND has a great visual history to build upon; designers, artists and the common demonstrator alike have all contributed vast amounts of imagery in an attempt to achieve nuclear disbarment," says Kieran Walsh.
"Each reiteration of the cause is undoubtedly beneficial, however the dilution and commodification of the CND's visual language can damage its effectiveness. The 'peace' symbol, for example, no longer directly correlates with its CND agenda but a hippy, flower child stereotype ready to buy at the local fancy dress shop."
"Approaching the communication of an anti-nuclear agenda in an alternate manner, then, seemed more efficient. Based upon the universal maritime code of flags, the imagery of the campaign reflects the context of Trident – Britain's nautical-based nuclear program."
"Sitting between an act of protest and an everyday garment, the scarf has the ability to mutate between obscurity and legibility. Worn discreetly the product is decorative; with intent the scarf can be held as a banner and used as a tool of protest."
06. Jonny Pell
- Course: Graphic Design
- Project: Process: Digital letterpress
"Process is a document that rounds up a year's worth of my research into a publication format," says Jonny Pell. "The idea behind the display book is to provide a visual journey of the influence of technology, from a time where communication was purely verbal to the introduction of distributing information through the Gutenberg to the internet."
"By repurposing the book's content onto the wall using various formats and processes, I communicated this journey in a way that needed minimal engagement, from laser cut letterpress to digital printed posters to show an influence of technology."
"By using a range of thought processes, production processes and communication principles that took influence from key periods of communication, I was able to create a visualisation of the development of communication – like how language was a purely spoken thing with no visual system, to how voice and conversation could be placed into a lettering system that developed into the typographic alphabet."
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