Gray’s student picks up top award at Graphic Design Festival

Monday 16 December 2019

Natalia Zajdel
A group of Communication Design Students from Gray’s School of Art have excelled at the annual Graphic Design Festival Scotland (GDFS), with one picking up the Overall Design Award.

The festival is recognised for placing an emphasis on collaboration, allowing participants the opportunity to work alongside established agencies, studios and designers to help develop their skills and graduate attributes.

Gray’s students had the opportunity to work with 11 creative industry mentors and students from other institutions from across Scotland. 

The top two performing students from each mentor group were awarded a placement with a leading creative design agency. In total, nine of the available twenty-two placement awards went to Gray’s Communication Design students.

Communication Design student, Natalia Zajdel, who picked up the Overall Design Award, commented: “The overall experience of GDFS was amazing, I loved the sense of working in a team with mentors, bouncing ideas off each other and working to a deadline together.

“I have won an internship with O Street, which I am very grateful for as they are truly the nicest people. Very kind, fun and humble. It was a pleasure being mentored by them.”

Iain Morrison, Stage Four Coordinator for Communication Design, added: “We have been participating in GDFS for a number of years now and it’s fantastic to see our students continued success at a national level having competed with the other Art and Design Schools across Scotland. 

“Our students have demonstrated their abilities and applied their skills within a fast paced team dynamic, which also bodes well for future employment and potential careers across a range of industries. We look forward to seeing their studio work develop and feature in the annual Gray’s Degree Show 2020.”

GDFS takes place in Glasgow and involves a wide range of leading design agencies and creative industry speakers and was this year headlined by Stefan Sagmeister and Pentagram’s Angus Hyland.

Activities are centred on creativity, innovation and challenging ways of thinking through a programme of workshops, talks, discussions, competitions and exhibitions that also include music and public artwork.

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