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A talented graphic design student from Hull has been announced as the winner of a creative competition run by Prospect Shopping Centre.
Sam Tasker, a first year BA (Hons) Graphic Design student at Hull College, beat off stiff competition from 13 other shortlisted entries to be crowned winner of the competition run by the popular city centre retail destination.
The 21-year-old student heard about the career-shaping opportunity through the Hull Daily Mail and attended a briefing day, before presenting his ideas as part of a formal pitching process hosted by the centre’s management team.
Now, he is busy working up his designs further after winning a week’s work placement with Prospect Shopping Centre’s award-winning design agency Mercury in order to develop the brand further, as well as being presented with a £500 Currys Digital voucher to spend within the centre.
Sam said: “I really enjoyed working on such an exciting project and I was so pleased when I found out I had been shortlisted to pitch my ideas to the judging panel.
“I was grateful of the opportunity to work on such a high-profile project and it has provided me with really valuable work experience on a live branding project. Whilst I still have two years left of my degree, I think the Prospect Shopping Centre rebranding project will really strengthen my portfolio.”
The judging panel for the competition was made up of Lee Appleton, Prospect Shopping Centre’s centre manager, along with representatives from Mercury Design & Marketing, facilities management company Workman Retail, and the centre’s owners NewRiver Retail.
Prospect Shopping Centre worked closely with the Extended Diploma in Graphic Design and Foundation in Art & Design course leaders at Hull College’s School of Creative Arts on its rebranding initiative and course tutor Kevin Cheung has praised the centre for giving students the opportunity to work on such a high profile project.
“Opportunities of this nature are few and far between for students,” said Mr Cheung. “Emphasis is placed on securing as much industry experience as possible for our Graphic Design students to help ensure they are as well prepared as they possibly can be when they go onto pursue careers.
“We were really grateful to Prospect Shopping Centre and the team at Mercury who invested so much time in briefing our students, supporting them while they worked on the project and also giving them the opportunity to take part in a formal pitching process – which was something completely unfamiliar to our students, but is a vital skill in the creative industries.”
The competition was launched on the back of the centre’s 40th anniversary, with the aim of completely refreshing the brand in time for Hull’s UK City of Culture year in 2017.
Lee Appleton, Prospect Shopping Centre Manager, said: “As a shopping centre with the community at its heart, we wanted to give Hull’s talented young creatives a chance to create a brand that would be seen by millions of shoppers in years to come.
“However, Sam’s thorough approach to the rebranding brief, as well as his polished creative skills, really stood out and we are now working with him to refine his ideas as we work towards finalising our new brand.“The standard of entries was excellent and it certainly wasn’t easy to shortlist them, let alone choose a winnner. All of the students who worked on this project did themselves proud.
“We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Hull School of Art and Design (HSAD) for working so closely with us on our student rebrand initiative.”
The competition’s runner up, Alex Dearing, who was highly commended, is also set to spend a week with Mercury, along with two other finalists, Francesca Medcalf and Daniel Atkinson, in order to gain valuable industry experience.
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