Scholarship – 2008
Design
Examples of Candidate Work
1
Scholarship
This candidate set themselves a sound brief that was able to be used extensively to
explore a large number of engaging and resourceful avenues of inquiry. The
situation is Proplanet, a NZ-based organisation whose aim is to raise awareness of
our precious greenery, of native and endangered plants. The briefs include logo
design, a set of posters, banners, a stationery set, and a booklet for a promotional
campaign. The candidate employs throughout their submission a huge range of
type. The strength lies in the way that type becomes motif, a spatial device, and
operates as pictorial, associative and metaphorical element/s, eg. the typographical
play with trees. This is a rich investigation that is driven through image making.
There is a real sense of control on the part of the candidate in the management of
formal qualities and use of line, all of which are treated with an elegance and
simplicity. The integration of font and image is well considered, with the
production of logos that are able to operate in a number of contexts. Introduced
images reflect the action of formal qualities and vice versa. The candidate has
utilised some stock photos, taking ownership of them by manipulating and altering
aspects, such as colour, positive/ negative space, etc. Design language drives this
board by interpreting both image and text equivalently. The workbook presents
thorough analysis and establishes links to contemporary practice that are well
understood. The workbook is used to successfully unpick the brief/s and define
subsequent terrain for concept development and exploration. The candidate makes
strong connections to artistic reference, but always looks to how they can use them
intelligently and beyond the known understandings of the model. This is an honest
submission that is both sensitive and bold, and which is always in command of its
territory.
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Outstanding Scholarship
This is a confident submission that explores an open-ended and well-structured
brief; it is an emotive, sensitive and intelligent response to the topic. The situation
is ‘Confide’, a new health organisation – target audience are mid teens to mid-20s
– focusing on mental health issues; the brief involves developing a range of
promotional graphics. Right from the outset the candidate is purposeful in their
choices; the first being to draw by hand as the main aesthetic, and as a way of
reaching target audience. This strategy is employed through a series of complex
and intelligent images; and moves from hand drawing into contemporary graphics
without losing the autographic. Illustration is used to animate ideas, ie the
television is animated with the hand coming out of it, the phone reaches out, etc –
this is all treated in a playful yet meaningful manner. The candidate moves past
literalism through an illustration modality. There is a real sensitivity to the topic,
which is captured in the continual attention to detail, restraint and control, and
appropriate media to concept relationships. It is clear that the candidate
understands formal qualities of design – he or she has such a voice because of the
way that they employ specific conventions; limited colour palette, framing of
formal qualities coupled with informal, playful composition, type as image. There
is intelligent play with figure ground relationships, consideration of spatial ins and
outs, foreground background relationships. The layout is strong and enables the
viewer to move across the three boards freely. The same type of aptitude follows
through into the workbook, which also contains an open-ended tone. This is a real
asset in the unfolding of this investigation – the key aspect being that the candidate
chose an aesthetic, unpicked it in order to transport their thinking, and did so with
both originality and a high level of reinvention.
9
10
11
12
13
14
15