Over the past academic year, Richmond upon Thames College’s (RuTC) HNC Level 4 and HND Level 5 Graphic Design students have worked together on various art projects with a number of local as well as international employers to produce an impressive amount of high-quality artwork.

Together with Twickenham based record store Eel Pie Records, HNC students created vinyl covers for Cuban music compilations. Earlier in the academic year, the students visited Eel Pie Records, which make its own vinyl and compilations, to discuss cover specifications and brief for the project. Other local projects involving the College’s HNC students included the creation of promotional material for local nursery, Sticky Faces.

HND students had the great opportunity to work with Ernst and Young (EY) Earth Team. EY Earth Team help organisations assess and respond to environmental change and offer innovative tools that aim to future-proof sustainability. Together with EY Earth Team, students created entrepreneurial products and services to help save the world. During this project some students were also supported by RuTC alumnus Tom Box, co-founder of Blue Zoo Animation Studio, which was founded in 2000 and is now one of the UK’s leading animation studios with two BAFTA awards for Independent Production Company of The Year.

Tim Pond, HND/HNC art and design teacher at RuTC, has been working with Haymarket Media Group based in Twickenham for a number of years and said, “Haymarket came to visit the students numerous times to give them professional feedback to their creative work. This ensured that the students were creating a portfolio that was ready to meet the competitive demands of working as a designer in a fast paced and ever-changing environment. This collaboration is a hallmark and unique selling point of our HNC and HND Graphic Design programme.”

Over the following few months, Tim hopes to introduce UI/UX training, which focuses on designing the interface of apps and websites to maximise usability and the user experience. Students and Haymarket mentors will meet on a one to one basis to get feedback and ensure that their creations are relevant, marketable and exciting.

Currently, students are working on five not yet published projects with the prestigious London based studio Winch Design, who have won a great number of awards since 1989, including categories such as World Superyachts Awards, Showboats Design Awards and International Superyachts Society. RuTC is also very proud of HND Level 5 Graphic Design student Constance for completing a remote work placement with The Marketing Society in Dubai. For their final projects, the HNC and HND students are now creating an online art gallery called e-Merge. For this, they will turn themselves into an artists’ collective that uses technologies to tell stories through images and design work.

You can have a look at examples of each student’s artwork below.