Abstract

Academics from BA Graphic Design at Camberwell have developed a new framework for supporting students to engage with interdisciplinary knowledge exchange networks. The initiative invites our multiple partner organisations across the non-profit community — including The King’s Fund, V&A, The Remakery, Community Tech Aid, The Wellcome Trust, Behaviour Change, London Living Wage Campaign (Citizens UK) — to join us in the co-creation of research-led projects that students can respond to through their design practice.

Session and activities

The academic team, led by Course Leader Emily Wood and Senior Lecturer Charlie Abbott, on BA Graphic Design at Camberwell College have developed partnerships with external organisations and worked to co-create research-led project briefs which invite students to generate graphic design responses. These projects, taught in the second and third year curriculum, support students to develop skills, knowledge and experience within their graphic design practice, alongside employability skills, entrepreneurial skills, professional inter-personal skills, and practical, technical, and research skills (SQW report for OfS and RE, 2023; p. 6)

Working with external partners gives students valuable experiences of hearing voices of people from outside the academic environment, while being supported by their tutors and peers. Following project briefings given by the partner organisations, students developed projects and visited external settings to  deliver presentations and receive feedback from participating partner organisations. Both the students and professional organisations benefitted from the opportunity to share in genuine critical exchanges, informed by diverse working practices and lived experiences.

For example, the project with Citizens UK’s London Living Wage Campaign (LLWC), the students were trained by a facilitator in their method of listening, and recorded conversations with their participants about their experiences of work and pay. These findings have been shared with LLWC as part of their collected database about work and pay. The students, with technical support, edited their recordings, with other sound recordings to add texture to create short podcasts which are all shared on the website: https://pay-talk.netlify.app/

These projects expose the whole cohort of students to the experience of a live project with external partners, but ensure that the project can be taught within the curriculum, rather than outside as often live briefs are positioned. This is important as students from underrepresented backgrounds frequently opt out of optional extra-curricula or live brief experiences.

Outcomes:

• Students gain an understanding of the positive impact graphic design can have to communicate complex messages, in line with the UAL social justice principles.
• Students are given confidence in their abilities to work in a range of organisations, beyond the expected design agency route, once they graduate.
• Students have enhanced knowledge and experience of available career pathways.

Future plans: we would like to develop these existing relationships and build more, so that the collaborations become tighter, and more opportunities are created. Behaviour Change is interested in exploring possibilities for a potential partnership to bid for UKRI funding.