Graphic Design students win triple gold

28 September 2023

Three Graphic Design students at University of Wales Trinity Saint David’s (UWTSD) Swansea College of Art have won gold at the prestigious Creative Conscience Awards 2023.

A virtual reality billboard in a clean cityscape with glass skyscrapers in the background; the yellow billboard shows diverse stylized figures in black walking across a zebra crossing; instead of zebra stripes, text under the feet of the characters reads The Human Race.

The awards, which were announced on 19th September, were won by Jac Elsey, Summer Davies and Lydia Irving from BA (Hons) Graphic Design for their work which formed part of their third year university projects.

Creative Conscience is a global creative community and not-for-profit organisation that believes creative thinking and innovation can make positive change. They aim to embed purpose-driven creative thinking into institutions, brands and organisations across the world.

Swansea College of Art at UWTSD shares these values, and asks students to input topics which align with Creative Conscience’s mission into their projects and portfolios. This year’s winners each had work that explored key themes relating to positive change. The details are as follows:

Lydia Irving won a Gold Award in the Health, Wellbeing and Disability Category for her Human Race magazine, promoting a slower pace of life and moving away from the unhealthy ‘rat race’ of modern life.

Creative Conscience said: “What a great project, we all enjoyed the development of this idea. It’s visually powerful and explores how we use place and purpose. Lydia really understands the power of empathy in design and [her work] connected into a need for all of us to slow down and embrace our inner tortoise.”

Summer Davies won a Gold Award in the Mental Health Category for her POWER-US campaign, tackling rude and questionable player-to-player comments experienced by gamers.

Creative Conscience said: “This was a heartfelt project that captured an essential need within the gaming industry and online community. A brave project that shines a light on what could make a huge difference in supporting good mental health. Summer was able to capture a need within an online world where the power of damaging attacks needs to change.”

Summer Davies holds up a long banner called The Wall of Affirmations that includes fourteen graphics in a retro-pixellated style above titles such as Organised Mess and The Power of Music.

Jac Elsey won a Gold Award in the Social Justice Category for his work on the impacts of parental alcoholism on children and adolescents. He created a book called Ethanol Theory to provide guidance for struggling parents, affected children and raise awareness among the general public, focusing on statistics and factual information.

Creative Conscience said: “Jac created a personal project that combined research, interviews, and graphic design to create a publication which informs and illustrates the severe impact of parental alcoholism. We are so proud of the courage and creativity of students, especially when they push a personal idea forward. Beautifully developed and beautifully constructed.”

Donna Williams, Programme Manager for BA Graphic Design at UWTSD said: “We are incredibly proud and delighted to see our students receive gold awards from Creative Conscience, illustrating their hard work and commitment to making a difference with design. They have now graduated and are already working in the graphic design industry, taking these values out into the world. All the staff are sending their joyful congratulations.”

Caroline Thraves, Academic Director of Art and Media at UWTSD added: “This is such a wonderful success story. Our students have an incredible experience here at Swansea College of Art and are given a wide array of opportunities to use their skills with external organisations, including the prestigious Creative Conscience. Our BA Graphic Design programme was ranked 1st in Wales and 11th in the UK in the Guardian University League Tables for 2024, and this is just one of the many reasons why.”

For more information about BA Graphic Design at UWTSD, contact donna.williams@uwtsd.ac.uk