A pilot competition between TSSG and WIT, to give final year students from the BA (Honours) in Design (Visual communications) the opportunity to design a logo for European project proposals, began last year.
A pilot competition between TSSG and WIT, to give final year students from the BA (Honours) in Design (Visual communications) the opportunity to design a logo for European project proposals, began last year.
TSSG entered the first round of the H2020 funding process in January, 2014, and a number of their proposals used the logos/branding from the WIT students. Kevin Doolin, COO at TSSG felt that “the impact of strong brands/logos along with the high quality of research propositions could aid proposals in standing out amongst heavy competition from throughout Europe - (i.e. getting a good logo might just give us an edge or might just stick in a reviewer's mind) - with such high competition in the European Funding Rounds every little bit helps”.
He went on to say, “Last year, while we had one winner we selected some additonal logos to include with our H2020 proposals. Two of the logos were used on proposals which resulted in significant research funding for TSSG while also giving the students the exposure required to stand out from the crowd going forward”
Driven by Dr. Ethel Claffey, Marketing Lecturer, School of Business, WIT, the objective of the project was to place students in a realistic business setting in order to measure their business skills relevant to the design industry.
This gave students a taste of real world company engagement and the opportunity to engage with TSSG research in a professional manner, with outcomes that could see their final designs placed on European projects.
The competition involved interpreting a research brief, developing a design and pitching a brand/logo for a specific market and technology.
Their final projects were reviewed by members of TSSGs Creative Development Unit and Management Team. The competition ran again in 2015, and while there has been one overall winner selected, a number of the logos have been selected to represent EU Project proposals submitted in the April 2015 period.
Dr Ethel Claffey said “The competition has given the students the opportunity to deal with real customers, enabling them to gain professional experience. This is an experience which they can take with them into the work place”.
This year’s WIT winning team was Tom Cronin, Sara Cosgrave, Kelly O' Dwyer and Gavin Hogan. Sara Cosgrave, WIT Student said “We were delighted to get the opportunity to learn and gain experience working with a real company over a set period of time. While Tom Cronin went on to say, “The experience we gained from this live project enabled us to learn and develop practical, commercially applicable skills. We found the tasks challenging, exciting and enjoyable”.
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