Scholarship design exemplars - 2019

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Outstanding Scholarship

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Panel 1 (JPG, 315KB)
Panel 2 (JPG, 350KB)
Panel 3 (JPG, 308KB)

Entire Folio (JPG, 817KB)
Sample Workbook pages

Sample page 1 (JPG, 1.9MB)
Sample page 2 (JPG, 1.9MB)
Sample page 3 (JPG, 2.1MB)

Sample page 4 (JPG, 2.6MB)
Sample page 5 (JPG, 2.2MB)
Sample page 6 (JPG, 2.8MB)

Sample page 7 (JPG, 2.2MB)
Sample page 8 (JPG, 2.6MB)		  

This Outstanding Scholarship Design submission is about Insight, an organisation that aims to provide practical and emotional support for the visually impaired, extended whānau and caregivers. The enquiry draws on the candidate’s personal experience of a family member (their mother), who has had to live with permanent loss of sight for most of her adult life. Working with real-world insights, along with a desire to change assumptions and offer support to those affected by this disability, the candidate was able to explore the topic with a high level of ownership, authenticity, and what translated as insider knowledge and everyday know-how. From the outset, the briefs were real-world applicable and inventive in their execution. Each brief positioned the concept of insight as a critical tool to provoke empathy and knowledge of the impacts and subsequent effects on people’s everyday functioning and activities.

The logo intelligently draws together strategies that relate to sight, including braille, blur, distortion, spots, and the establishment of a limited colour palette of black and white. These elements relate purposefully to people with visual impairment and are effectively used as graphic elements and conceptual tactics in all of the design outcomes. While black is predominantly employed to activate the concept of sightlessness metaphorically, orange is identified as representing determination and encouragement, a core value of the company. 

Each design / brief has a particular purpose. The brochure is aimed at the family members and caregivers of the visually impaired, and clearly communicates its message, the goal of the campaign, and offers support tools. It is explicit in its information and communication. The board game is a new direction that extends the scope of the student’s proposition to create empathy and understanding of the caregivers to promote 'insight' into the challenges faced. The game has a simple pattern that can be deciphered by touch, and was successfully tested with blind people to check its viability. The packaging design used type to distort and create missing pieces, synthesising the ideation and conceptual with clever graphic stylistic qualities. Interacting with caregivers and non-visually impaired people also added value to the overall proposition and decision-making.

The exploratory use of textures and tactility throughout the enquiry extends the range of graphic outcomes in a meaningful way to inform the able sighted audience about the perspective of the visually impaired. This approach is inventively played out in many different ways and forms – business cards, posters, websites, board games – then extended with viable options for development: signage, a convention, a fundraiser event. The overall approach is systematic and thoughtfully unpacked, as the candidate considers the various challenges they have observed a parent having to negotiate, work with, and solve. The workbook confirms this is a thorough investigation and independent enquiry, refining original applications through a lateral and integrated approach. 

Scholarship

(Click icons to see large versions in a new window)

Panel 1 (JPG, 349KB)
Panel 2 (JPG, 2.3MB)
Panel 3 (JPG, 318KB)

Entire Folio (JPG, 825KB)
Sample Workbook pages

Sample page 1 (JPG, 4.2MB)
Sample page 2 (JPG, 3.8MB)
Sample page 3 (JPG, 3.8MB)

Sample page 4 (JPG, 3.3MB)
Sample page 5 (JPG, 3.7MB)
Sample page 6 (JPG, 4.1MB)

Sample page 7 (JPG, 3.8MB)
Sample page 8 (JPG, 3.5MB)		  

This Scholarship Design submission is centred on ROOTS, a music festival that is a fundraiser for the regrowth and restoration of trees / forests due to damage caused by the 2019 Nelson wildfires. The overarching brief draws on the candidate's investment, personal interest, and passion for the outdoors and, therefore, is well-researched and analysed, making it a strong proposition and topic.

This submission is a thorough undertaking; formal conventions are used to establish links that build impetus and direction for this ambitious endeavour and campaign. The candidate takes their own photographs to inform and define the colour palette. From exploratory photo shoots, a set of six are selected that then act as a legend for the project, as well as imagery for infographics, posters, social media, and the festival line-up, app and website. There is a consistency that drives the design development and ideation process that conceptually activates a strong visual voice. 

Synthesis occurs early in the development of the briefs, setting tight parameters through formal design conventions and a well-appointed stylistic approach. The candidate understands the implications of formal design-based tactics for readability and conceptual signposting. For example, the use of the word “ROOTS” as the festival name, but also as a word / term / concept that has multiple meanings and visual potential for the brief; "physical tree roots, the idea of connecting objects and the wave of music”. The real-world context of the ‘problem’ enabled the candidate to develop a narrow proposition, but one that still allowed for full and in-depth exploration and resolution. 

The strength of the folio lies in the confident and controlled understanding of design conventions and situates itself within a believable and commercial design world context. Visual fluency is achieved through effective integration of typography and image to communicate concepts, as well as stylistic aspects such as vertical / horizontal emphasis, compositional divisions, grids and repetitions, gradients and overlays.

 
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