Student Designs eActivity Book for Children's Bush-craft Activities
Wednesday, 31 August 2016
A Graphic Design student's work has been chosen to feature in an eActivity book for children learning bush-craft.
Rob Delahay, Manager at the University of Worcester's Lakeside Campus, commissioned a group of students, studying on the Children's Book Design module at the University.
The Lakeside Campus, formerly Top Barn Activity Centre, has seen a number of improvements to inspire people of all ages to explore, learn and have fun. Part of the vision was to develop facilities to support children's bush-craft projects.
Students from the University's Children's Book Design module have been researching and developing concepts for an eActivity book since February.
Following an exhibition of their final concept work, the students" work was shortlisted to a top five. From those, Anna Solcova came top and her designs will now be trialled with school groups at Lakeside.
Rob said: "The students, in very different ways, completely captured the essence of the design brief. In my mind I had an idea of what I wanted these resources to look like, but all these design concepts surpassed my expectations.
"Impressively, students clearly went to a lot of effort during the research stage too and included "real life" information, games and activities that could be used. The designs look current and modern, but also in keeping with the ethos of the Lakeside Campus facility."
Anna's work will be used to support the teaching of bush-craft to school children at the University Lakeside Campus. If it proves successful, her work could become a permanent feature aiding the learning of children in the future.
"I don't think I can express in words what it means for my work to be selected for further development," she said. "But it means a lot, because it is a proof that if you love what you are doing, you do it right. Even if I wasn't chosen by Rob, it would be a valuable experience for me anyway as I have learned a lot from this module and from my lecturer, Andy Stevenson, which I think I will use for my designs in my future career."
Senior Lecturer in Design, Andrew Stevenson, added: "This has been another successful 'live' project for Graphic Design and Illustration students to work on in the genre of children's book design. Working with 'live' clients and realistic commercial wants is such a key experience for undergraduate students in these areas.
"Alongside their academic learning, it can help them develop both their practical skills and confidence in designing for this genre as well as learning how to effectively liaise with clients. Rob was a great client for the guys and I'd like to thank him for his time and the support he gave the students while they were developing work for this project."
To take a look at the concepts that were developed by the University of Worcester students, you can visit the online exhibition of their work. http://gdes2014-tutor.blogspot.co.uk/.