IDI Creative Axis - Institute of Designers in Ireland

8 REGIONAL NEWSNews from 3rd Level Collegesof Design around the countryInstitute of TechnologyCarlowIT Carlow, which runs the oldest IndustrialDesign course in Ireland, has developed a newhonours degree in Product Design Innovationthat focuses on the design, marketing andbusiness aspects to working as a designerwithin a company.Design students in the college won the topprize in the Vaseline graphic designcompetition to design a limited edition pot ofsalve. Five product design students were alsoshort-listed for the Bombay Sapphireglassware design competition, with onestudent, Catherine Boland receiving therunner-up award. The college continues itswork with SME’s (small to medium sizedenterprises), with eleven final year students,funded by Enterprise Ireland, who are workingin conjunction with local businesses todevelop relevant products.Another interesting area that is beingexplored is that of multidisciplinaryeducation. Design students have worked withmarketing students on projects, and a team ofindustrial designers have just finished a shortproject on Sustainable Mass-ProducedFurniture with furniture design students fromGMIT Letterfrack.Student work will go on display in June2007, and this display will coincide with thearrival at the IT of the IDI/Enterprise IrelandBest of Irish Design exhibition and linkeddesign event.Art Design & Printing@ DITThe main news from DIT is in relation to theprizes won by Design students. These winnersinclude:Linda Curtis, Vis Com year 3 Winner ofNational Tree Week Poster competitionAine Kierans, IDI Visual CommunicationGraduate of 2006Sarah Johnson, Winner of HamiltonOsborne King student Interior Designerof the Year 2006Gergor Timlin, runner up Habitatcompetition 2006.Cork Institute ofTechnologyOne of our main news items was the factthat on the 9th November, Fourth year VisualCommunications student Claire Horgan wasawarded first prize in the prestigiousGraphic Design Business Associations IDEAcompetition at a reception attended by manyof the key players in the design and mediaindustries in Jurys Hotel, Dublin.The Irish Design Effectiveness Awards 2006were held in Jury’s Hotel Ballsbridge onNovember 9th 2006. Created and managed bythe Graphic Design Business Association(GDBA). The awards were developed toshowcase the impact that the communicationsdesign sector has on commerce, governmentand anybody or organisation, large or small,that needs to deliver a message.Claire’s winning packaging designcompeted against stiff competition fromdesign students in NCAD, DIT and LimerickCollege of Art amongst others and is atestament to the high standard of work beingproduced by students of the BA (Hons) inVisual Communications.This academic year saw the introduction ofthe Industry Advisory Panel Graphic DesignAward in the BA Design Communicationsprogramme. This competition is designed toexpose students to industry-client briefs andto encourage and foster creativity as well asthe visual-verbal presentation skills requiredin Graphic Design within the restraints ofstringent deadlines.Over the course of 4 weeks, the studentsworked closely in their teams, with twomembers of the Media CommunicationsIndustry Advisory Panel; Frank Dowling ofSouthern Advertising and Jim Horgan ofConcept Advertising. The brief, provided bythe panel members, involved the design of aCorporate Identity for Carbury FoodIngredients and its application to signage,vehicle livery, stationary etc. The departmentand students involved are sincerely grateful tothe members for their involvement and thetime given to facilitate this initiative.Congratulations to the winning team;Brian McSweeney, Julie Scriven, Sally Ngaiand Martin Rotte.University of Ulster,School of Creative ArtsRecently the Design presence at UU MageeCampus left the School of Art & Design, whichwas predominately a UU Belfast based School,to form a new School of Creative Arts. ThisSchool is a new venture within UU combiningexpertise and Courses from Dance, Design,Drama & Music.Students can study Design on severalprogrammes at the Magee campus. Theseinclude the BDes Design and Communicationand MDes Design Communication which aredesign specific, or on shared programmes withthe Faculty of Engineering including the BScMultimedia Computing and Design and theMSc in Computing and Design. All coursescombine creativity and technology, fosteringexpertise in animation, characterdevelopment, film, games, graphics, imagemaking, illustration, interactive design,mobile devices, product, automotive andvirtual 3D. Student projects often overlap withthe other disciplines unique to the School ofCreative Arts and often with industry. The staffare currently research active under the Art andDesign category of the RAE, gaining a grade 5in 2001, which was joint first in the UK. Theyare working towards the RAE2008 presently.Several staff also provide commercialconsultancy as design professionals to a rangeof SME's, large international companies andon governmental programmes (NORIBIC WIN,NORIBIC TSP, Invest NI DDP). The CreativeArts will be formally launched at the endof March.Justin Magee, a senior lecturer in Productdesign from the School of Creative Arts atMagee, has recently secured funding of£250,000 in RCUK Academic FellowshipAwards, to develop his research in the areaof Digital Human Exploration. The projectbrings together thinking from Art and Designand Health Sciences in the area ofVirtual Biomechanics.Letterkenny Institute ofTechnologyWe currently have three programmes on offer;BA Graphic Design – level 7BA Industrial Design – level 7BA (Hons) Digital Media – level 8These programmes have proven to be sopopular that we are expanding to include thefollowing;BA Digital Media – level 7BA (Hons) Graphic Design – level 8MA Motion Graphics – level 9It is hoped that these programmes will beon offer from September next.This month the department received acommendation from the Digital Media Awardsfor the outstanding submissions made by ourstudents.Griffith College DublinThe Faculty of Design is an established facultyin Ireland’s largest private college, runs arange of successful and well-recognisedprogrammes in interior design and interiorarchitecture. Shiow Yee winning the IDIInterior Design graduate of the Year 2006.They are continuing to make links withprofessionals in Design and Architecture.The Faculty of Design is proposing two newcourses in fashion design commencingSeptember 2007.The first programme will be a level 7 BA inFashion Design. The second programme willbe a level 8 BA(Hons) in Fashion Design.The degree courses in fashion design offer acomplete university level training tocontemporary fashion industry standardsthrough the development of technical designskills and artistic cultural sensitivity. Theprogramme deals with all aspects of the textile- clothing ‘system’ from a comprehensiveknowledge of materials through to appliedcreativity. The course covers all areas ofmodern fashion design from idea generationand design development through to patterncutting, garment construction andcontemporary production techniques,including CAD and CAM modules.This programme has been developed withand is run in conjunction with the acclaimedNABA institute in Milan, who also work inpartnership with renowned industry educatorssuch as Central St. Martins in London.