“In class, I found the learning to be very helpful and engaging. I appreciated the opportunity to receive feedback from my tutor Andy, the client Lyndon, and my classmates. I also found it helpful to do additional research and visit museums and galleries outside of class to gain inspiration and refine my design skills. …Overall, I feel that I learned a lot during this project and developed new skills in information design and layout. I look forward to applying these skills to future projects”.

Rail Trails project instigator and steering team member, Lyndon Bracewell, said: “I was impressed by the students’ skills and enthusiasm. It was very much a two-way process. I learnt a lot about how younger people access and use information through various digital means. Hopefully the way we have presented the Rail Trails in an entirely web-based and smart phone friendly format will help to broaden the Trails’ appeal to a younger audience too”.

Senior Lecturer in Graphic Design Andy Stevenson added: “There’s nothing quite like working on a real-life design project for our students and on this module they were able to apply their new-found skills in developing information graphics and mapping.

While we run student briefs in other modules in lots of areas of the design genre: such as web design, branding and packaging, this module brief also helped students equip themselves for studio working experiences that require wider visual communication skills: diagram design, wayfinding design considerations, pictogram design and how to create linked maps – a form of information diagram. It’s also been great to work alongside a community organisation and know that the new learning and outputs from students have helped give much-needed visual
design input into this project.”