Design Students Help Wyre Forest Cycle Forum Develop New Family Cycle Network

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Second year students on the Graphic Information Design module of the University's Graphic Design course were commissioned by the Wyre Forest Cycle Forum.

Students worked on the project over a semester, alongside their academic learning, with guidance from tutor and Senior Lecturer in Graphic Design and Multimedia, Andy Stevenson.

The Cycle Forum, whose members include local cyclists, Wyre Forest District Council and other organisations, encourages safe cycling in the Wyre Forest district area. The project ensures student's design skills are used on meaningful "live" projects that assist organisations and charities both locally and nationally, while helping students learn.

Dr Clive Prince, Chair of the Forum, said: "We have been really impressed by the way that the students have taken up this challenge and with the quality of the designs they have produced. The students have skilfully applied their knowledge and ideas to a real-life brief, which shows their great potential for when they enter the world of work. We now face the difficult task of deciding which of the fantastic selection of designs to use in developing the cycle network's resources.

Ross Morgan, a second year Graphic Design student, said: "I thoroughly enjoyed this brief. Not only did it allow for a wide creative scope, but it was also an area of design that I had a personal link with too as I'm an off-road cyclist. I couldn't have produced what I did though without the regular meetings with clients laid on in this module across the semester. Feedback from both the client and peers remained frequent and this really helped with the speed of idea development."

Mr Stevenson, added: "The students and I have loved working on this live design brief for our clients. It takes our existing successful "live brief" experiences designing for Malvern Hills District Council's Teme Valley Trail system and builds on them further. On this occasion we've also developed design concepts around additional new media considerations too."