In the first of our Parallel Thinking series, we want to showcase our partnership with The London College of Communication.
The future of design
Every year we welcome a new team of design students at LCC to give them a taste of industry and agency life. Full disclosure: we love doing this.
Guiding the next wave of designers is integral to the studio. On a personal level, it’s a lovely thing to do and really rewarding.
We choose a concept, eg ‘Sustainability’
Work up a brief
Present it to the group.
The presentation
We take the students through what we do - essentially as we would do with any client - walking them through recent examples of work.
2022’s brief included our work for Or, Tate, and Ethnic for example.
The students get a live brief, they do the work as a project, and learn to present so it’s just like they’re working for us in an agency environment. This is something we feel is invaluable to their development as a designer starting their career.
The Parallel process
If you’re new to Parallel and our work, the key to all our big ideas is simplicity. Not simple work, but finding the beauty in simplicity. It’s our way of clearing through the clutter to land the message and let the design stand out.
The nuts and bolts
Next, we go through our actual process: the nuts and bolts of any design brief. From the first steps of costing, research and delving into a competitor’s landscape, to the real work behind verbal identity, visual development, and concepting through to final delivery.
The 2022 student brief
We asked for a brand identity, brand toolkit, packaging, and sales platform (website or app) for a rental subscription service for a clothing retailer. Students were asked to:
Choose a retailer
Decide the use - is it for formalwear, officewear, kids, or outdoor?
Name the initiative
Create a new identity that works alongside the retailer’s existing logo.
Ensure it’s distinct in style to the retailer’s existing brand.
Our links with industry are very important to us on GB&I (Graphic Branding and Identity BA (Hons)). Studio Parallel set an exciting project, our students were given the opportunity to experience the atmosphere of a busy creative studio and got some really great feedback and support from the creative team