Features

Students on the HND Graphics Multimedia course at Gloucestershire College have been learning how to make a band look good, no matter how they sound.

A selection of unsigned bands from Gloucestershire volunteered to work with the students who were set the task of producing some artwork for a CD cover and an animation to accompany one of their songs.

"The quality of what they've produced has excelled our expectations" says Jess Davis, course leader for Graphic Design at Gloucestershire College.

"I think their craft skills are brilliant, they've produced some really good mock-ups for the band to see but all along they've kept in mind that whatever they produce has got to be easy for the band to recreate and reproduce on a budget...so they've done really well."

For every CD bought or .mp3 sold, there are numerous people working on every little aspect of design.

Has this given the students a taste of what that's like? Jess thinks so:

"It's taught the students how to manage the whole process of communicating with the band.

"The band aren't always going to want what the designers are going to produce and they really have to work together.

"They've worked through some difficult issues but I think it has been a success overall and the end pieces have shown that our students have been able to work through whatever issues they've had and produce some really nice work."