Young designer proves prowess
Meeting a brief for a real-life corporate client was a challenging and fun experience, says Morgan Taylor, the Hawke's Bay winner of New Zealand's first Design Distinction Awards (dDawards).
The dDawards were launched this year for young designers as a joint venture involving EIT, UCOL and the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology.
Winning the regional category, Morgan, a Year 12 student at Lindisfarne College, was presented with an iPad last week by EIT senior lecturer in graphic design Jerry Gull.
Mr Gull said Morgan adopted a Dear Diary theme for the Grabaseat-sponsored competition. He described it as "a really nice piece of subtle design based on a diary of events and activities and featuring four chairs, only three of which were occupied".
The competition was modelled on the V48 Hours Furious Filmmaking competition for budding film-makers. Students taking part registered their interest on a website ahead of the competition and were not given the brief for a poster until 7pm on the Friday of the weekend event. EIT's School of Arts and Design gave entrants access to three design pods with 50 Mac computers and screen-printing equipment.
Whether they did that or worked off-campus, they had just 48 hours to produce their designs.
Working from home, Morgan brainstormed Friday night and Saturday before coming up with his winning concept on the Sunday. "It wasn't the brief I'd imagined," he said. "Designing for a real business, a New Zealand corporate, seemed real professional. Once I had the idea, it didn't take long to put together. I enjoyed the experience. It was really fun." The 25 students who entered from Hawke's Bay were from Central Hawke's Bay College, Hastings Girls' High School, Karamu High School, Lindisfarne College, Sacred Heart College, Taradale High School, William Colenso College and Woodford House.
Melody Letfus of Hastings Girls' High School was awarded a gold and Jason Kiel of Karamu High School a silver in the regional section.
The supreme award went to Daniel Voss, 17, of Palmerston North Boy's High School. His prize includes a MacBook, return flights to Auckland courtesy of competition sponsor Air New Zealand, accommodation to the value of $250 from Jason's Travel and a meet-and-greet with Auckland creative agency Young & Shand.
Next year the awards will go nationwide with two competitions - one for high school students and another for tertiary students enrolled in arts and design programmes.
