Thursday, 01 July, 2010
A visual communication student from Ellon has been highly commended in the BP Design Award at Robert Gordon University's Gray's School of Art Degree Show, sponsored by BP.
Jill Patterson (23) was presented with a certificate and cheque for £250 by Tim Smith, Vice President Communication and External Affairs for BP Scotland, at the opening night of the Degree Show on Friday 18 June.
For her final-year project, entitled ‘An Illustrated A-Z of British Fears', Jill has explored the negative power of newspaper headlines in the UK and the way they influence people's opinions, creating a visual alphabet with each letter representing an issue high on the social agenda, for example A - alcohol, D - drugs etc.
Using a combination of print techniques and digital technology, Jill experimented by hand-printing various texts and colours, including black and white newsprint, and then scanning them into a computer to make the final illustrations, creating ‘hand-made' graphic designs.
Jill drew inspiration from broadsheets and magazines such as the New Scientist, echoing the designs often used in editorial and opinion articles to represent a certain issue.
Jill explains, "People are often afraid of things simply because of the media. I wanted to use the visual alphabet to represent both real and irrational fears of UK citizens. Editorial features in broadsheets such as the Guardian often use various illustrated images in place of photographs to highlight a social issue in Britain in the same style as my alphabet."
Jill is set to graduate in July with a BA (Hons) in Visual Communication.
