Words by Ian Gustav Ahlberg a BA(Hons) Public Relations graduate.
During the summer, college and sixth form students were invited to LCC to try out a range of creative subjects and experience life here at the College as part of UAL Insights Summer Schools.
We round up what students on the Graphic Media Design, Illustration and Visual Media and Design for Branded Spaces got up to over the course of the week.
For people who have had no prior experience with higher education, starting university seems like a daunting task. UAL Insights programmes are run by the Outreach team and offer students over the age of 16 the opportunity to find out what it’s like to study creative subjects at UAL’s various colleges.
The LCC summer schools aimed to help young creatives get acquainted with what’s expected of them should they decide to go to university in the future, and give them a chance to focus on a particular discipline to improve their confidence, skills and approach to design, art and communications.
Here’s a snapshot of what students on the Graphic Media Design, Illustration and Visual Media, Design for Branded Spaces summer schools got up to:
Graphic Media Design
Students explored typography and letterforms using traditional techniques and became familiar with the language used to describe letters. They also learned about how different typefaces convey different kinds of messages.
To acquaint the students with the history of letterpress and where the art has come from, they take part in sessions at the LCC Letterpress Studio, working on typographic posters, students experienced the physical aspect of working with wooden type and developed their layout and poster design skills.
Illustration and Visual Media
To get students thinking about merging their surrounding with visual media, they were asked to draw portraits using pencils, inks, collage and polyprint, taking all of this to the next level by creating 3D self-portraits out of clay, allowing students to explore facial anatomy and the intersection of illustration and tactile art.
To finish off, the students used silkscreen-printing techniques to create prints using different techniques, shapes and colours.
Kent Ibe, a student on the UAL Insights: Illustration and Visual Media summer school said: “I found the week really explorative and free. Working on illustration was enjoyable; it’s something I’ve only recently become interested in. At first I felt more drawn to 2D techniques like painting and drawing, but working with 3D media – clay and other malleable materials – was fun.
“This week has given me a clearer idea of what I want to do at uni.”
Design for Branded Spaces
To think about the journeys physical spaces take us on, the students were asked to think about their favourite retail spaces, and about the narrative journey they as a customer go through when their in that space. They used mood boards, thought clouds and storyboards to present their ideas. The culmination of the class was the creation of a 3D model of the space each student had though of.
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Read about other UAL Insights Summer Schools:
Find out more about UAL Insights and Outreach at LCC
Animation, Games Design and Sound Arts
Journalism, PR and Advertising
Photography, Film and Television