Nine UCLan students triumph at Oscars of design industry

Nine students from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) have been recognised at what is considered to be the Oscars of the design industry.

The students have all triumphed at the prestigious D&AD (Design and Art Direction) New Blood Awards, which recognises outstanding work in the design and advertising industries.

The awards are open to budding designers around the world, with winners receiving a well-respected ‘coloured pencil’.

Four Pencil award categories are handed out for a number of achievements. Winners of the various awards at the D&AD ceremony received one of the Wood, Yellow, Black or Graphite Pencil trophies.

In total, the nine students from advertising and graphic design courses won across six categories.

Graphic design students Lucy Child and Francesca Hanley won a coveted Yellow Pencil, which recognises creative excellence, for their Adidas Pool campaign.

Lucy, 23, said: “Winning the yellow pencil for our Adidas Pool project feels incredible. To be leaving university with a first-class degree and a globally recognised design award is an amazing start to my career. Both myself and Francesca are overjoyed that all of our hard work has paid off.

“Adidas Pool is a campaign we’ve created and designed to encourage teenage girls in London to use swimming to improve their wellbeing, both mentally and physically. The campaign covers a variety of relevant touchpoints and includes social media advertising, an app and Adidas Pool events.”

Fellow graphic designers Angus Meikle and Dom Parsons walked away with a Wood Pencil for their campaign efforts for Virgin Travel, as well as Angus winning an additional Wood Pencil for a solo project to promote the Heinz brand. This Pencil is given to the best of shortlisted work submitted for each design brief.

Angus said: “it has been an amazing experience and I’m so happy to come out with two D&AD awards. This achievement wouldn’t have been possible without the UCLan graphics course.”

In addition, Gabe Aplando and Jay Austin received a Wood Pencil for their new typeface font to promote the anti-fracking campaign. A Graphite Pencil, which honours good idea that is well executed and relevant to the brief, was handed to Brandon Thomas for his Sunday Times campaign highlighting the issues associated with consuming media online. Advertising students Ariel Austis Tabaks and Yi Zhang were awarded a Wood Pencil for their Adidas campaign.

As well as the Pencils, several students were also awarded Ones to Watch Awards by D&AD New Blood Judges at the event. They were; Gabe Aplando, Jay Austin, illustration student Jules Hefferon and Brandon Thomas.

All of the students’ winning campaigns can be found on the D&AD website.