#NTUDEGREESHOW Spotlight: Hollie Edward

Our latest Spotlight piece features BA (Hons) Graphic Design student Hollie Edward

From Fight 4 Creativity, Hollie Edward, BA (Hons) Graphic Design 2019.

In the run-up to the Art and Design Degree Show, we will be sharing a series of student projects from across the 26 participating courses through #NTUDEGREESHOW Spotlights.

Fight 4 Creativity

In recent years, more and more creative subjects are being pushed out of schools. With 40% of schools admitting to cutting back on creative subjects in favour of more academic subjects, creativity is being squeezed out.

Creative industries are responsible for 5.6% of jobs and worth £76.9bn to the UK economy. Confining students to more academic subjects can have consequences for the creative industries in years to come. A common stigma faced by those choosing to pursue a creative passion, either as a subject or career, is that it is not seen as valuable or practical. This stigma is felt with the recent cutbacks on funding for creative subjects; driving students to choose academic subjects.

From Fight 4 Creativity, Hollie Edward, BA (Hons) Graphic Design 2019.

In response I created a campaign called ‘Fight 4 Creativity’. This concept was a protest piece to spread a message about the need for creativity. The first part of the campaign aims to reach out to students and creative agencies, asking them to unleash their creativity on posters. then using these posters to decorate our streets and schools. I wanted the campaign to have a sense of pride for the creatives who have continued with their passion even after facing some resistance or judgment. I chose to create my own type which is hand painted with acrylic to give it a texture characterising ‘loud and proud’.

For this project I created various posters with statements such as: ‘We need art’; ‘Art reflects identity’; and ‘Loud Proud Creative’. But the main poster of this project is ‘God Forbid, I do something creative’. This phrase I think sums up the frustration many creative people have felt at times. Whether it is students picking their GCSEs or someone who’s career is built on art and design. Finding that someone will tell them, ‘oh that’s not a real subject’ or ‘that’s not a real job’. These cutbacks in schools are perpetuating the idea that creative subjects are not important, and with a lack of creative outlets in schools, we are damaging our creative sector in years to come.

Hollie Edward

Find out more about the BA (Hons) Graphic Design Degree Show here.

Published on 29 May 2019