Grace Oatway

Year: 2nd Year 
Project: Agency Set Brief

Brandon Consultants recently partnered with UCEN Manchester to challenge second-year Graphic Design and Branding students with an imaginative project titled “Brand the Boring.” The brief encouraged students to take an everyday, unremarkable object and transform it into an innovative brand within an established industry. Developed in collaboration with course leader Alex Komlosy, the project aimed to inspire creative thinking, strengthen branding skills, and provide students with valuable industry experience.

Throughout the project, students received feedback and guidance from the Brandon team before presenting their final concepts at the agency’s Manchester studio. The quality of work impressed the judges, with Grace Oatway being selected as the overall winner for her concept,“Sticky.” Her idea cleverly reimagined a simple glue stick as a beauty product, drawing inspiration from similarities in packaging and application methods found within the cosmetics industry.

Grace explained that the brief immediately sparked her creativity and allowed her to combine her passion for branding with her interest in the beauty sector. Her research process included visits to retail stores, competitor analysis, surveys, and the development of multiple brand concepts before refining her chosen direction through feedback. She also created photography plans, packaging designs, and advertising concepts to bring the brand to life.

As part of her prize, Grace spent a day immersed in the Brandon studio, working alongside designer and mentor Bryony. The experience gave her valuable insight into professional branding, client collaboration, idea development, and the strategic decision-making required to create successful brands.

The partnership highlights Brandon’s commitment to supporting emerging creative talent. By giving students real-world challenges and access to industry professionals, initiatives like “Brand the Boring” help bridge the gap between education and employment while encouraging the next generation of designers to think differently and push creative boundaries.

“My favourite part of the project was both the copywriting and the hands-on photography. I love copywriting in general, and being able to go in any direction I wanted really helped me play to my strengths.”

Grace Oatway

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Post generated from Brandon Consultant’s blog article ‘Brand the Boring! Brandon x UCEN Manchester’. No copyright claims.

See: Brand the Boring! Brandon x UCEN Manchester

Contextual Practice – D&AD New Blood Awards

Year: 3rd Year 
Project: Contextual Practice (D&AD New Blood Awards)

The Graphic Design & Branding course is undertaking an internal review into the use of artificial intelligence (AI) across the creative industries. The review forms part of its commitment to ensuring students develop the skills and knowledge required for successful careers in an evolving workplace.

The review examines how AI is being used within industry and how it can be meaningfully incorporated into teaching and learning. By exploring both the opportunities and limitations of AI, UCEN Manchester aims to help students engage with emerging technologies in a critical, informed and professionally relevant way.

The work is supported by external organisations and professionals already using AI in real-world creative contexts. Contributing partners include Brandon Consultancy, Studio Drama, Design Bridge and Cantarus, alongside UCEN Manchester alumni working as freelance creatives. Their involvement ensures the review reflects current industry practice and graduate expectations.

Within the course, third-year Jordan Keeble has been exploring AI through his own academic practice. For his contextual practice module, Jordan used a D&AD New Blood Awards brief to compare outcomes produced using his own design skills with those generated by an AI platform.

Jordan gave the AI tool the same information he had access to, setting basic ground rules and asking it to research before generating an advertising concept. His project was motivated by concerns among students that AI could reduce opportunities within the creative industries.

Jordan said: “A lot of students are worried that AI might replace jobs before we’ve even had the chance to enter the industry. I wanted to test that idea properly by seeing what AI could produce when it was given the same brief and constraints I was working with.”

His research found that while AI excelled at rapid idea generation and could produce work at an entry-level standard, his own work demonstrated greater creativity and a stronger emotional connection with the intended audience. The findings also highlighted the potential for designers and AI tools to work together successfully.

“AI can be a powerful support tool, but it still relies on human creativity, judgement and understanding. Rather than replacing designers, I think it’s more likely to change how we work.”

Jordan Keeble

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Sasha Hawkes & Sophie Sergeant

Year: 2nd Year 
Project: Contextual Practice (Placements)

Two UCEN Manchester Students Impress at Studio North Design Placement

Manchester, UK — Two graphic design students from UCEN Mcr have recently completed a successful placement at the renowned design agency Studio North, earning high praise from their mentor Holly.

Sophie and Sasha, currently progressing onto their final year of the BA (Hons) Graphic Design & Branding course, were tasked with a creative rebranding project for Podback, a coffee pod recycling service. Unlike typical live briefs, Studio North encouraged the students to explore ideas freely without the pressure of client deadlines.

Holly, their mentor at Studio North, shared her feedback with one of their tutors, saying:

“We were all really impressed with their positive attitudes during the placement, as well as the quality of the ideas and work they produced from the brief we set. Both Sophie and Sasha showed a really good commercial outlook on design, coming up with creative ideas that not only looked great but also felt relevant to the brand’s DNA and audience. They demonstrated strong technical skills and a great eye for design, always backing their creative choices with clear, thoughtful reasoning.”

She added, “They made a brilliant impression during their time with us, and I’m looking forward to seeing how they get on in their final year and future careers.”

During their first two years at Ucen Manchester, Sophie and Sasha gained valuable experience working on live projects with companies such as Unison, Valtech, and Arden School of Theatre. Initially, both students were apprehensive about working in agency settings, expressing a preference for in-house graphic design roles. However, their experience at Studio North has shifted their perspective, and they now embrace the dynamic and creative environment that agency work offers.

The BA (Hons) Graphic Design & Branding course has played a crucial role in preparing Sophie and Sasha for professional opportunities. The course offers a blend of practical live projects, industry engagement, and creative exploration, helping students develop strong technical skills, a professional mindset, and confidence in their design choices. The support from experienced tutors and real-world client work has enabled them to grow from tentative beginners to capable, commercially aware designers ready to take on the final year of their studies and beyond.

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Aimee Ocian

Year: 3rd Year 
Project: Industry Engagement

A student from UCEN Manchester’s School of Art, Media and Make-Up has proved she’s ready to start a successful career after winning the prestigious Two+Two competition.

With support from her teammates, Aimee Ocian, who is studying for a BA (Hons) in Graphic Design & Branding with the higher education provider, competed against students from across the UK, and through her hard work and creativity, she came out on top.

The challenge on the day, set by Stockport Council through creative agency APS Group Services, was for the students to work as a team and create a campaign that would educate people about the true lifespan of food and how we can help reduce food waste.

The prize was an eight-week placement with Emperor, a creative agency, where the winner will help bring the project to life. Two+Two is organised by Creative Resource, a well-known recruiter in the industry, and requires competitors to work as part of a small team alongside students from other higher education providers.

The 2025 event, held at Stockport Exchange, marked the eighth annual edition of the competition. Throughout the day, students were supported by professionals from leading design and marketing agencies as they tackled an exciting brief set by experts within the creative sector.

Aimee was delighted with her win, saying: “I’ve always been quite competitive, so this was an amazing competition to win. The best part of the event was the people I got to work with, which made it really fun.”

Aimee, who is graduating this year, is incredibly grateful for all the support her Lecturers have provided throughout her course.

Aimee was joined at Two+Two by her course and fellow student Ella Richards, who finished a commendable fifth and also gained valuable experience through speaking with industry experts

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Jez Reid

Year: 3rd Year 
Project: Final Major Project

For Jez’s final major project, he brought to life a long-held passion project of his – a magazine all about the story of t-shirts! Jez is now Production Designer at Mondiale Media. We asked Jez about the inspiration behind the magazine, how it feels to see his creation on sale and his highlights of the course.

Can you explain what Teese Magazine is about for people who are unaware?

Teese is a passion project of mine that I have had the idea of years. This is taken from the website which should give some more context: Teese is a brand that champions the humble t-shirt as a staple of modern fashion. It explores the choice behind the preferred garments of interesting people, creatives and non-creatives alike, revealing the emotive response that a cut of fabric and some colours can establish and recall in ones mind, and heart. 

Where did the idea for Teese Magazine come from?

I personally have a large collection of t-shirts (over 50 the last time I counted) and I just love their simplicity. For something so benign and seemingly ordinary, they hold a lot of weight in terms of memories they spark in our minds; a person, a place, a time. All of these things find themselves woven into the fabric of our t-shirts.

I’m also very fond of magazines, I collect them and have always wanted my own, so getting an opportunity to explore all the elements that go into a magazine (photography, writing, layout, interviewing, illustration) was a dream come true for me. 

How did it feel to see the magazine on shop shelves around Manchester and what are your plans for the magazine moving forward?

It was of course incredibly rewarding and satisfying; it felt like all my hard work had paid off and the whole experience was worth it. The plan now is to start working a full time job as a junior designer, or marketer and use the money I earn to fund the next issue of the magazine. I have lots of ideas at the minute but of course money is a catalyst to get the ball rolling on said ideas! 

Why did you choose to study at UCEN Manchester?

I applied for a few institutions in Manchester, all of which I got accepted on, however UCEN Manchester felt like it would be more personal. The class sizes were small, which was great as it meant the tutors could spend more time with us and our projects as individuals. There were also a lot of opportunities to work with agencies such as Kin+Carta and even the government, which I don’t think I would have received at another institution. 

How do you feel now you have achieved your qualification?

I feel incredibly grateful for the people around me that helped with my final project (Teese), and also very relieved that all my hard work resulted in a good grade that will hopefully land me a decent job sometime in the near future. 

What was the best thing about studying with UCEN Manchester?

Probably the relationship between the students and the tutors. Because of the small class size, the tutors were readily available to help myself and my peers more or less whenever we needed them, which I think is a large part of why our group worked so well individually and as a team. 

Teese magazine is available to buy in several outlets across Manchester or online at Rare Mags and UNITOM.

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Live Team Project

Year: 3rd Year 
Project: Say No To Illegal Counterfeit Goods

Students from UCEN Manchester have delivered an impassioned plea to the public to say no to illegal counterfeit goods, offered for sale elsewhere in the city and online.  

The final year BA (Hons) Creative Media and Visual Communication students have highlighted how the illegal trade in fakes puts legitimate traders’ livelihoods – and the students’ future prospects – at risk, as they highlighted to shoppers the ‘real cost’ of fakes and appealed to them to help support Manchester’s world class design industry. 

The students created copy for content and a call to action, organised their own photoshoot using garments that were seized during recent raids, and put together a series of design proposals to work across both print and digital platforms.

Using eye-catching displays and materials such as repurposed fake goods and video content, the students created a public-facing, guerrilla campaign and stand to display at Manchester’s Arndale shopping centre. They were accompanied by representatives of Greater Manchester Police, Manchester City Council and the UK Intellectual Property Office, who have joined forces with the students on a mission to help educate consumers about the real harms fake goods cause and empower them to make informed choices. 

Alexandra Jackson, Lead Tutor, said:

“This project is community-focused, giving our learners the opportunity to work alongside real people and to tackle real-world problems and local issues by developing thought-provoking campaigns that create awareness and change perceptions in order to enhance every day social living.”

Thanks to the unique partnership with the UK Intellectual Property Office, our students have been given the chance to work on a high-profile awareness campaign that could have a huge impact on the counterfeit goods market in Manchester. 

Their project highlights the impact this trade has on society and all those that that suffer as a result, while celebrating Manchester’s vast array of fashion, high street and independent stores. 

The students shared their creative ideas and explained how their research has highlighted many misconceptions about the counterfeit goods trade in Manchester – notably, that it’s a victimless crime.

By shining a spotlight on the real cost of fakes, the aspiring designers appealed to the public to ‘wear real’ and say a resounding ‘no’ to this harmful trade. 

Michael Walsh, Dean UCEN Manchester, commented:

“Opportunities to work hand-in-hand with organisations on professional briefs are a key part of what makes UCEN Manchester different and provide our students with the chance to develop their portfolios alongside their studies so that they are ready to hit the ground running when they start their careers. 

We are proud that our students have developed a compelling and professional campaign in partnership with the IPO which will help raise awareness of this important issue and start to change people’s attitudes to counterfeit goods, making a positive impact to the Greater Manchester community.” 

Catherine Davies, Senior Campaigns Manager at the UK Intellectual Property Office said: “The Intellectual Property Office has been delighted to partner with UCEN Manchester and their talented students to help raise consumer awareness about the harms of counterfeit goods. The campaign has given the students a golden opportunity to work on a live brief, as part of the collaborative work between The Manchester College, UCEN Manchester and other partners to help tackle this issue in the Manchester area and support the city’s innovative and creative industries. 

“As these aspiring designers enter the job market, this opportunity will give them an invaluable lifelong understanding of how to protect and make the most of the IP – the collective term for patents, trade marks, copyright and designs – in their creations, and how to use the IP of others legitimately.”

The illegal trade in counterfeits, alongside piracy, costs the UK economy billions of pounds and has been estimated to be responsible for over 80,000 job losses each year. Such goods are often dangerous and defective, produced with minimal regard for those purchasing them, or those workers exploited in their production. 

Cllr Luthfur Rahman, Deputy Leader of Manchester City Council, said: “Counterfeiting isn’t a victimless crime. Apart from fuelling wider criminal enterprises that wreak havoc in our communities, the products that are being offered to our residents by unscrupulous counterfeit shops are more often than not very poor quality and, in many cases, they do not meet the safety standards of the legitimate products.  

“However attractive an offer might be, we urge you to not put yourself and loved ones at risk – say no to fakes.”

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Taija Bailey-Roach

Achievements: Bronze Award at Two+Two Event

12 students on the BA (Hons) Graphic Design and Branding course at UCEN Manchester’s School of Art, Media and Make-Up took part in a unique one-day event together with 200 creative and marketing students from universities across the North of England.

12 students on the BA (Hons) Graphic Design and Branding course at UCEN Manchester’s School of Art, Media and Make-Up took part in a unique one-day event together with 200 creative and marketing students from universities across the North of England.

The 2023 event, which took place at Stok in Stockport, Greater Manchester, marked the sixth annual edition of Two+Two and throughout the day students were supported by professionals from leading design and marketing agencies to tackle an exciting brief set by representatives of Stockport Council.

The brief required each team to come up with creative concepts for an upcoming recycling campaign the council is working on.  To support them through the process the students were allocated mentors from agencies including APS Group, BDB, Havas Lynx, Holdens, Mccann and Zeal Creative.

Each team was named after a colour and one of UCEN Manchester’s first year students, Taija Bailey-Roach, was part of the Blue Team, which came third overall.

“Two+Two was a great opportunity to learn how to creatively collaborate with other people in a short period of time. As a first year student, this isn’t something that I’ve done before and I really learnt a lot – it was an enjoyable experience.”

Taija Bailey-Roach

UCEN Manchester Tutor, Alex Komlosy, is a big advocate of Two+Two and has seen first-hand over a number of years how the event can help the school’s students.  Alex said: “Two+Two is one of the highlights of the academic year and an event that we’ve enjoyed success at before.

“Our students get the chance to experience what it’s like to tackle a high-profile live brief and they don’t have much time to come up with ideas, which creates a sense of pressure.

The one-day event concluded with a networking session, which provided students with the chance to build relationships and exchange details with the professionals in attendance. 

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Andrew McAlinney

Achievements: 1^st Class BA Honours, placement at Kin + Carta Connect & Freelance with Bearded Fellows
Progression to: Employment @ MAC Clinical Research

In joining our course Andrew had his sights set pretty high. He jumped onto our top BA (hons) with an impressive portfolio (and qualifications to match), but as a self-supporting mature student, recently settled in Manchester from Belfast, he desperately needed a job to quickly follow his graduation.

Andrew’s fist unit was Professional Practice, an industry-supported unit, centred around motion graphics. The unit is designed to be challenging and demanding conceived through consultation with international digital design experts Kin + Carta, the project being run my alumni Lisa Dale. Students benefit from visiting their premises for a briefing, campus visits from Kin + Carta for lectures and skills sessions. The unit concludes in final pitches at their board room in competition for placement opportunities.

During these sessions’ students get a chance to make an impression on Lisa’s team, which Andrew did – thoroughly answering the brief and taking it further than Kin + Carta had expected… he went on to pick up a month’s placement with them before the national Lockdown in April 2020. During Lockdown Andrew secured himself several interviews, collaborated with Bearded Fellow’s on two freelance projects (with one of his graduating peers) and was afforded the unusual position of weighing up two job offers, before achieve his goal of working and living in Manchester as a graphic designer with MAC Clinical Research.

“Honestly I’m gutted I haven’t been on the course since YR 1. The working environment’s been so much more personal, I’ve felt so much more encouragement here to do my best than I ever did on my previous course. You can really tell the difference going from being a number on a screen to a person.”

Andrew McAlinney

Kin + Carta Connect Project Below:

Aleksandra Wantuch

Achievements: 1st Class BA Honours, placement at Kin + Carta Connect & LTE Group placement
Progression to: Employment @ thegeniusgroup.com

Alekandra studied Photography at The Manchester College before coming to UCEN Manchester to study Graphic Design & Advertising with us, in which she graduated with a 1^st Class BA Honours. As a Polish student she wanted to study and work in the UK and had one of the most focused work ethics the course has seen in a student.

“I really appreciate the effort and dedication from the tutors on this course. I thoroughly enjoyed all hours spent in sessions and tutors always motivating me to push harder in my projects. Studying on this course has made me confident and ready to work in the industry. This course gets my recommendation!”

Aleksandra Wantuch

Managing the transition from photography to Graphic Design & Advertising Alekandra achieved everything she set out too, gaining high 60’s throughout the first year and going on the maintain 70+ in all units but one throughout the next two years. Holding down a graphics job with The Claims Guys for most of her study, Alek moved on to win placements at Kin + Carta Connect and the LTE Group due to her interview skills and strong portfolio; demonstrating confidence in strategy and her mastery of application skills across print and screen design.

Michael Hawkins

Achievements: Placements at SuperUnion, Brand Union & LTE Group
Progression to: Job @ LTG Group

Alumni Michael Hawkins applied to UCEN Manchester to study a Creative Media and Visual Communication BA (Hons) Top-up and pursue a design career. After gaining the latest industry skills in demand for the design world, Michael didn’t have to wait long to see his ambitions realised. Michael secured work placement with education and training provider LTE Group, which led to a full time lead designer position with MTC Works. He now works on key design briefs for the leading probation and custody provider.

“When I came to UCEN Manchester, the tutors were really interested in my work and why I wanted to come here, and spoke to me as an equal. That made me feel really comfortable and I knew it was going to be a really interactive, engaging course.
“My tutors have been 100 per cent supportive and welcoming. I knew the smaller class sizes would benefit me more than learning in large lecture theatres. It gives you a better understanding of your studies and almost feels like one-to-one tuition.

Michael Hawkins

“The course structure itself has a real focus on networking and establishing your career once you leave. Your work improves to industry standard, and there is a real focus on establishing industry contacts and getting yourself and your work out there. In addition, there are lots of professional designers who come to speak to us, which is great.
“The course really pushes you to do your best, which in turn means you’re more equipped to go into a full time job. In my third year, I felt ready to produce industry standard work and that really propelled me to get job alongside my studies.”

Michael Hawkins