Creative Practice students gain valuable work experience with Curtis Packaging

Date: 01 February 2023

Our Creative Practice Level 3, Year 1 students are currently working on an exciting live work experience project, designing to industry briefs set by local company Curtis Packaging – specialists in high quality, sustainable packaging for the retail, beauty and luxury sectors.

Curtis Packaging created this special project for students as they were very keen to help designers of the future get into the industry.

Sales Director Steve Mallet visited the College during the autumn term to talk about the project, then at the start of January, students were given a choice of two briefs to design:

Brief One: “Hero” - design packaging for the launch of a new “Hero” product for either a Male or Female Skincare or Beauty range.

Brief Two: “Duo” - design packaging for a duo Christmas gift set that will hold two of your favourite products from your chosen Beauty brand.

Students have until February 17 to complete their work. The best three submissions will be awarded a cash prize of up to £350 plus the chance to go behind the scenes with a tour of Curtis’s manufacturing facilities.

Student working on clients brief

Students discussing their ideas for the brief student receiving feedback from client on design work
A selection of students working on their briefs

This week, Steve Mallett, accompanied by Joanne Williams, 3D Creative, held workshops with the students to view their interim designs and see how they were getting on.

Steve was very impressed with the quality of work, commenting: "Students have really embraced the concept and provided some excellent solutions."

Student feedback included:

Wren said: “I like that I have the creative freedom to use whichever techniques I want, keeping in mind the eco focus, to meet the brief.”

Lucy: “I haven’t done anything like this before. I’ve enjoyed the process of starting off with ideas then coming up with designs.

Jessica: "It's a great opportunity to work with an industry on a live project. The time pressure makes sure you do the best you can - it's fun to have that goal."

Tutor Lucia said: “This experience has been so valuable. In the first year of the course, we build up art and design skills and experience with different specialisms within the creative industries. This project allows students to experience this with an actual client, working to live briefs.”

Visit our dedicated course area to find out more about our Art, Design & Media courses.

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