Many young people studying at university have an idea of what they want to do as a future career, but some have no real hands on experience in the workplace. Industry experience within any profession could be a crucial stepping stone; it helps students make informed choices about their future, it gives them valuable practical experience, it allows them to network with people inside the industry and, of course, it prepares them for the workplace once they have completed their degree.
Deakin University is one institution that excels in providing students with real industry experience in a number of their courses, and one new to the list includes Deakin’s Bachelor of Design (Visual Communication).
The design industry is changing rapidly, as is the profession of Communication Design, and this course addresses this shift through a fresh and exciting course focusing on all facets of communication design. From day one, students are introduced to the professional design world, learning and creating in an array of state-of-the-art facilities with industry leaders and becoming connected to industry throughout the course, with the opportunity to take part in regular exhibitions and showcases, including a final year exhibition.
This year Deakin University is presenting ‘Collab 18’, an exhibition that will see these third-year design students showcase their impressive final projects in a public environment.
As part of the degree, the students have taken part in a collaborative industry project, exploring the practices and processes for multidisciplinary design collaboration. This saw students being divided into teams and work on real-world projects with real industry and commercial clients (including the likes of Humans of Geelong, Creative Geelong, Geelong Irish Society and Anglesea Art House) to resolve complex creative projects from conception to completion, ensuring graduates finish with the knowledge and skills for a successful creative career.
“It’s absolutely fantastic, and it’s one of the only degrees at third year that provides students with clients at that point – most of them have to go through to Honours or into industry until they can actually meet with clients,” explains Tonya Meyrick, Lecturer in Visual Communication Design.
“We prep the students and guiding them throughout the degree to get ready for work; to become industry-ready. The real briefs, which have come to us in a variety of ways, are just fantastic opportunities for the students to get their teeth stuck into something that’s meaningful, make links to industry, and gain that real industry experience.”
With the students working hard over the past 11 weeks to produce a range of visual communication solutions for these businesses, they now get to celebrate their success with the exhibition opening on Friday October 5 at Deakin’s Project Space which will serve as their final requirement for their degree.
“This will show the projects they’ve been working on; both the brief from the clients, and the works that the students designed for them, will be on show which takes many different forms. Some are publishing, some are infographics, there’s components of re-branding, promotions items, websites; really the raft of visual communication solutions.”
Not only will the exhibition showcase work from the final year design students from both the Geelong and Burwood cohort, but it will also see designs from aspiring VCE design students, who have been selected to exhibit their work alongside the Deakin graduates.
“So many things have changed in Geelong over the last 10 years that people are looking for new ways to consider their futures and new ways to consider what they can do that they like and it’s sometimes hard to think past year 12 – hence this VCE opportunity,” Meyrick explains. “It’s also come along at a good time for the students in Geelong; many of them are interested, they’re already on Instagram, they’re already playing with social media, they’re already taking photos – this is just a really good way to consider how to prepare them for something they might enjoy doing in the future.”
The exhibition opening will run from 4pm to 6pm, and Meyrick encourages anyone with an interest in design to come along, whether you’re an adept illustrator or an amateur photographer.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity just to come down, meet the students, meet the staff, meet some industry practitioners who are working with us and just get amongst us,” she smiles. “We just want to celebrate the contribution that the students have made to industry and the collaborative links between industry and academic or tertiary institution. We want to acknowledge, and reflect, and to celebrate what they’ve achieved.”
Be inspired by design at The Project Space at Deakin Waterfront (Geelong) on October 5 from 4pm.
If you’re interested in studying design visit the Deakin.