Floodgates pose no barrier for Graphic & Communication Design degree students' creative talent

The project was part of the 16th annual York Cares Big Community Challenge in a collaboration that also involved York BID (Business Improvement District) and the City of York Council Eco Team.

Our students’ stunning final designs, which have transformed the previously graffitied and neglected North Street Gardens flood defence barriers, will now form part of the growing York Mural Trail – a York BID initiative aimed at enhancing visitor experience to the city by making its public spaces more engaging and beautiful.  

The work was incorporated into a five-week module for students on the York School of Art and Institute of Technology-supported course, culminating in two days of bringing their designs to life on the riverside.

Second-year student Sally Slawson admitted that she found the project rewarding in terms of making a meaningful contribution to benefit her own community and also of great value as a means of experiencing work as a commissioned designer.

She said: “The opportunity to work on a live brief has been fantastic. We went through the whole process of interpreting York BID’s perspective of what they wanted to achieve and, after coming up with some initial designs, we then had that back-and-forth which you have with real-life clients before we got to the point where we were delivering something that everybody was happy with and was on schedule over a five-week project.

“Working collaboratively as a group and with York BID, York Cares and everybody else has given us real-life experience of being working designers, which we’re all aiming to do. It’s also nice to have done something meaningful for the community and to make your mark on the city that you’re from.” 

York College University Centre BA (Hons) Graphic and Communication Design programme leader Monica Gabb assumed supervisor duties on the river bank with the project forming part of the course’s branding module as students worked to a specific colour palette scheme for the city.

Monica explained how the designs were inspired by the riverside railings and flowers planted by the York Cares team for the Big Community Challenge.

Preparatory work included a site visit, and the process of how the students delivered the project will now be detailed on the reverse side of the floodgates, which will be on view to passers-by when they are closed.  

Commenting on the students’ approach to and delivery of the brief they were given, Monica said: “The deadline is all the more important with a live project because, if you don’t meet it, the work is not viewable by the public. We had a window and were also working around the weather, which the students hadn’t done before.

“Everything was designed digitally on a small screen first and then that had to be scaled up, so they worked with different media and by hand. We also liaised directly with the clients, who are people working in the industry, which is important in terms of developing communication skills.

“We had a brief and a site visit before sending off initial thumbnail sketches and then a further mock-up of how the designs would look on the gates with the colours attached. It’s as you would work in real life, with the aim of the students being good to go when they leave College really.

“York BID are a very professional body to work with. They are very organised and pro-student, which is fantastic.

“They have been positive throughout and, while they gave us guidelines, they left the creativity to the students and didn’t choose a design. They just encouraged certain elements to come through, as we as staff would do.

“The students weren’t dictated to and every design is unique to each one of them, as well as bring part of the overall collaborative project.” 

Rachel Bean, Project Manager at York BID, expressed her delight at the finished project, having delivered the original brief to the students.

She enthused: “We were really excited to offer the students this opportunity. They are so incredibly talented and we’re delighted with the beautiful murals they have produced.

“The flood defence barriers had become an eyesore – they were heavily graffitied and the paint had worn away to the metal and we want people to come to the gardens and leave with a positive feeling. We also feel that public art is a great way of telling stories about York and its community through collaboration.

“I love how bright and colourful the designs are. They really do bring a smile to your face and all the tiles are tied together through the colour palette with links to the gardens.”

Rachel added that the high standards set by York BID were fully met by the students and that the not-for-profit independent organisation would welcome further opportunities to partner up with College for future ventures.  

“The brief was a complex one for the students because they had to think of York BID, York Cares and the Council,” she pointed out. “The gardens were also a gift from Rowntree’s, so there were a lot of voices that needed to be represented in the designs.

“It was a professional brief that a professional would have struggled to respond to, so they did such a good job of capturing what the Big Community Challenge is all about – bringing people together, creating connections and improving mental health. We have seen the kind of work York College students can produce now, so we hope this will lead to more collaborative projects in the future.”

To learn more about our BA (Hons) Graphic and Communication Design course, please click here

Details on all of our York School of Art courses can be found here

Information on York Cares Big Community Challenge 2024 is available here

To find out more about York BID, visit here

Our next Open Event is on Thursday 7th November when tutors will be on hand to discuss all our courses. You can reserve a place here