Student Spotlight on BA (Hons) Digital Design & Advertising Student Olivia Bargewell-Narh, 21, from Middlesbrough and her social impact campaign Toxic Ads focusing on the vaping epidemic amongst young people. We caught up with Olivia to find out more about the project and give some insight in to what it’s like studying on this exciting degree programme:

Tell us about your project:

My project brief was to create a photography-based advertising campaign that responds to a social issue. For my project I choose to explore the vaping epidemic and specifically how it is affecting young people. I found it interesting how cigarettes are regulated in terms of branding, whereas vapes are allowed to be marketed with bright, sweet flavours and playful designs. All this going on wile youth vaping is at an all-time high. I think this contrast just shows how vape companies are allowed to appeal to a younger audience, and I wanted to bring awareness to this issue that is just basically a case of vape companies exploiting young people’s health for profit.

My outcome was a social media campaign named “Toxic Ads” which included imagery of popular vape products next to Lego and school equipment showing how similar in colour and shape. I used these images to create an Instagram brand identity and carousel posts. In the posts also including statistics and info on the issue paired with bold phrases like “how long will profits come first” to get people thinking and generate a conversation.

What do you hope the outcome for the project would be?

I hoped the outcome of this project would get people thinking about how the government allowed an addictive and harmful product to be easily accessible and appealing to young people, a vulnerable group of people. I want the campaign to raise awareness for standardising vape packaging like with cigarettes.

Let us know about any current projects or research you are doing?

I am currently working on an experimental publication based on the song broken biscuits by English teacher. I’m researching themes like heath inequality, mental health and mainly how deeply poverty and hardship can affect people’s lives and on a generational level.

You are studying on our digital design course, tell us about it:

I am really enjoying studying on the digital design course, coming from graphic design this course allows me to still use these skills while now learning how to think about my design from a more business and strategical perspective which is more challenging, but I find it more interesting because it involves more problem solving

What are your ambitions for the future?

I’m not sure yet but I’m considering perusing UX design and art direction but just anything where I’m able to use my design skills work on new and exciting projects!

Interested in studying a degree for a career in digital design, advertising or marketing?! Our BA (Hons) Design & Digital Marketing degree programme offers students the skills and opportunities needed to carve out exciting careers in this industry.  Find out more here.