Two creative undergraduates from The Northern School of Art recently worked on an exciting project with the fashion model Mia Regan and international model and talent management agency Storm Management for the renowned fashion and contemporary culture publication POP Magazine.

BA (Hons) Animation degree student Adam Nevin and BA (Hons) Graphic Design degree student Sebastian Picken created artwork for a social media campaign focusing on Mia Reagan’s epic trek up Nepal’s famous 6,476m Mera Peak in November 2024.

The second year students were briefed to turn some collages of photos taken by Mia of her trek into animations to share with Mia’s 600,000 Instagram followers and on POP Magazine’s social media.

BA (Hons) Graphic Design student Sebastian Picken, from Newton Aycliffe, said that when she was asked to be involved in the project “it was a really overwhelming feeling at first which quickly turned into excitement about where the opportunity could lead me in the future.

“The biggest challenges were managing my time between my degree course project and this one as well as learning some new techniques,” she reflected, adding that after seeing that Mia had shared their work, “I felt incredibly proud to see both mine and Adam’s hard work being appreciated by people outside of our usual audiences. It was a really lovely experience seeing people’s comments praising the work.

“Being given the opportunity to work on something for a client like Mia Regan and POP Magazine was quite a surreal experience especially as my first work experience in the industry and I am incredibly grateful to have been chosen for such an exciting project.”

BA (Hons) Animation student Adam Nevin, from Consett, said: “Initially I was surprised as I had never anticipated being asked to participate in a project such as this, and then it was quite exciting to think about the prospects what was involved.

“The biggest challenge was time, as we had quite a short amount of time to get work done before hopping on a call with Mia to show some rough work and then to have the finished final animations done. We also only had a week before our own module deadline.”

He added: “Once the work was shared it was exciting and fun to finally see it on social media and it was nice to see our work being complimented by people outside of The Northern School of Art.

“I’m glad that opportunities like these are given as, whilst it was stressful with time constraints, it is a great thing to have in my portfolio. It is also a good chance to get myself into the groove of working to deadlines and seeking feedback in the creative job world and I am really grateful that this collaborative opportunity was presented to me.”

Speaking to the Evening Standard Mia said that summitting Mera Peak was “one of the hardest things I have done in my life, but so rewarding.”

Having co-sponsored the trek – alongside the On performance sportswear brand – POP Magazine has included Mia’s collages in its recent issue alongside a spread from a studio photoshoot with photographer Mel Bles and stylist Harry Lambert.