Media Release

Arts Festival design project a classic win-win

2 November , 2006

When glorious classical music from performers like soprano Yvonne Kenny and guitarist Slava Grigoryan rings out over Kangaroo Valley next April, chances are their audiences will have been attracted by a marketing campaign designed by University of Wollongong students.

Final year Graphic Design students at UOW’s School of Art and Design devised an integrated print campaign for the inaugural Arts in the Valley Festival that includes posters, banners, brochures, tickets, programs and a festival booklet.

It is an example of a program the School runs every year which contributes tens of thousands of dollars of high-quality design work to community organisations at no cost, while providing the students with invaluable hands-on experience of managing major projects.

The School actively seeks major graphic design projects for non-for-profit organisations and community groups, and the Kangaroo Valley project is one of 13 that student groups have worked on this year, said Graphic Design New Media Program Co-ordinator Marius Foley.

“This program is a great opportunity for students, because it gives them the experience of developing the kind of professional behaviour they will need in the workplace - working with clients, liaising with them and drawing on their knowledge, understanding their market, dealing with deadlines and so on, then challenging themselves to create a really high quality result,” Mr Foley said.

“The students work in teams, just as they would do in a design studio, and learn that good design is only one of a number of factors that goes towards a good result. You also need team members who are good with the clients, or who can look after the logistics of getting the job done on time.

“The program also provides community and non-profit organisations with a really high quality result which they simply wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise. This is a very positive example of students connecting with the community, and on the whole they are fantastic ambassadors.”

Arts in the Valley Artistic Director Belinda Webster couldn’t agree more.

“This is a classic win-win situation,” she said. “The students get the experience and something in their portfolio that is real, while we get really innovative and excellent graphic design. It makes such a difference for us to have professional promotional material to match the quality of our performers.”

Graphic Design lecturer Myriam Kin-Yee, who coordinated the Arts in the Valley team, said it had immeasurable value for the students.. “They have to deal with all the issues that occur in real-world projects, such as changing ideas, and having to satisfy a committee where there may be different opinions. They also discover that they need to develop presentation skills,” she said.

Ms Kin-Yee, who previously ran one of Sydney’s premier design companies, estimated the commercial value of the work her students had done on the Arts in the Valley project at close to $30,000 – a sum the committee of volunteers couldn’t possibly have raised.

However, Mr Foley stressed that the program did not take work from commercial designers, rather assisting organisations that would not otherwise be able to afford professional graphic design services. Organisations interested in submitting proposals for 2007 graphic design projects can contact Mr Foley for application details on marius_foley@uow.edu.au

For more information on the Arts in the Valley Festival, to be held on April 20-22 2007, visit www.artsinthevalley.net.au