Award winning BA (Hons) Graphic Design alumni and current MA Design Practice student Jennifer Lloyd, 21, won a silver award in the graphic design human rights category of the Creative Conscience Awards 2024! Creative Conscience are “a creative community and global not-for-profit organisation who believe that creative thinking and innovation can make positive change.” Their mission “is to embed purpose-driven creative thinking into every institution, brand and organisation across the world.” They do this through training, events and the annual awards.

Jenni said she found out about the awards from the Graphic Design lecturers who encouraged all student to enter their Final Projects, which is how Jenni ended up being shortlisted. She said that “The application process was fairly simple having already prepared a pitch and summary for the Degree Show, so I was able to submit three images that I thought best summed up the project, it’s purpose and it’s outcomes. My project, titled OutRage! was the recipient of a Silver Award for the Human Rights category.”

She continued “I feel incredibly honoured to have won an award, especially having recieved Silver alongside two of my friends on the Graphic Design course who received awards under Equality + Justice, and Education + Learning.”

Jenni’s work OutRage! “was driven by a want to use my design to fight for awareness of social, political and environmental issues. Focusing on increasing awareness of the importance of activism, this project looked into key LGBTQ+ and Women’s rights movements throughout history – dating between 1912 and 2020. Looking at activist groups like Act Up, the Suffragettes, Gay Liberation Movement, Riot Grrrl, and many more, my project aimed to help individuals understand the origins of movements and how they have shaped our society into what it is today because an increased education contributes to a more informed and empowered society.”

She wanted to make her work both physical and digital she explains “by breaking the project down into three elements – public installations, website and publication – I am able to target both the online and in person protest scene. Beginning with the public installations which are installed in 6 prominent protest locations discussed throughout the project, individuals would then be able to scan a QR code within the poster to access the OutRage! website.

“With 6 location screens available so far on the website, each aligns with the public installations to offer a brief explanation of the events and protests that occurred there throughout history. Available for both phones and desktop, the OutRage! website, also offers the option to purchase a limited copy of the publication. The OutRage! publication then offers a more in depth look at protests that fought for Women’s and LGBTQ+ rights protests through its 80 pages. Taking a look into influential figures, and activist groups, it dives into the events that transformed our society into what is today.”

Jenni said that she enjoyed the research aspect of the work but that equally it was a challenge; “this project allowed to me learn so much about the history of protests surrounding women’s and lgbtq+ rights, the significance of them and how they have paved the way for our current society. Saying this, one of the biggest challenges I faced was collecting the research for each movement and protest to make sure that I was actively portraying the events through my writing, with around 20,000 words making it into the publication by the end. This research that I conducted has now been able to influence my approach to projects into the MA Design Practice course where I am exploring the connection being queer identity and nature.”

Since graduating Jenni has enrolled onto our MA Design Practice course “progressing onto this course has allowed me to further explore socially conscious design through editorial, and layout with outcomes focusing on zine’s or publications. This is an area and medium of design that I would love to continue working in, focusing on projects that increase education and awareness or fight for change. I find myself the most driven when I am approaching design work that tackles social, political, and environmental issues, like the project submitted for the Creative Conscious Awards.”

Reflecting on how her course has prepared her for her industry she said “I would say that the course was great in preparing us for the next steps and pursuing a design career. It gave us the freedom to experiment and explore who we each are as designers, while also providing support and guidance along the way.”

When asked if she had any advice for future Northern Art students she replied; “I would encourage them to take advantage of the support system, studios and experiences that are on offer at the Northern School of Art. Putting yourself out there and making connections with other students on the course makes such a difference to your experience, wether its discussing your ideas, or just chatting with each other”

If you are interested in studying graphics at degree level make sure you check out our BA (Hons) Graphic Design course today! We also offer a postgraduate degree course MA Design Practice for students and practitioners that are looking to take their studies to the next level find out more here.