The BA (Hons) Graphic Design course were delighted to be selected to take part in the Dyson Creative Challenge, being one of just four universities in the country.

The project, a partnership between the Dyson Creative team and SafetyNet Technologies (SNTech), a previous global winner of the James Dyson Award, is helping to pioneer and drive the adoption of a new, more efficient fishing technique, called Precision Fishing, which uses advanced analytics and technology to observe, measure and respond to the natural variability of the world’s oceans. Using the data available empowers fishermen to work in more ethical and sustainable ways.

The brief tasked third-year Graphic Design students to respond to a range of challenges, and design an SNTech identity system for their product range as well as raise awareness of the bycatch problem or create an identity and marketing materials for Pisces, SNTech’s flagship product. The project was initially brought about by Charlotte Causer, a mid-weight designer at Dyson, and previous BA (Hons) Graphic Design graduate. The Dyson team included: Chris Roberts, Steve Key, Charlotte Causer, Nick Satchell.

Steve Key from Dyson said: "2021 is our third year running this project with key Universities for Dyson, ones that have previously supplied us with top-class creative graduates.

I must congratulate the collective effort of every student involved in this project from AUB for managing to deliver to the required brief. The level of collaboration, despite multiple locations and the occasional dodgy internet connection, was just incredible. But to then add on top of that a standard of work that simply blew us all away, each and every one of you should be incredibly proud of what you achieved.

The diligence and attention to detail that the students showed was perhaps the most impressive part for me. Research, analysis, development and more research – but then being able to show us this during the project and help us to understand why and how you took specific decisions was fantastic. Then you all casually layered on some brilliant creative work too, no big deal, to fully illustrate the ideas you put forward. An inspiring two-week initiative. Thank you all, and a huge thank you to Alice and Marion for helping to put this on. Here’s to 2022 and the ‘live’ version!"

A variety of graphics with different blocks of text and logos on each, viewed diagonally and set against a dark background

A poster showing two open laptops on the right-hand side with differing screens. The left-hand side shows four blocks of text with different coloured symbols next to each of them. The blocks of text are blocked 'Pisces', 'Light Lines', 'Enki' and 'Helios'.

Alice Stevens, AUB Human founder and Senior Lecturer said: "This has been a fascinating project where we have all learned about the issues of bycatch and the severe implications for the sustainability of our oceans. We are delighted that Dyson selected the course and provided us an opportunity to show what our students can achieve in creating effective, relevant and compelling outcomes to a challenging and worthwhile brief. We are grateful to Dyson and SNTech for providing an excellent learning experience for our students, opening up other employability possibilities and providing insightful feedback throughout."

Due to being in lockdown with the Covid pandemic, the project was run entirely remotely, with students working from as far away as Switzerland and Bulgaria. We caught up with some of the students to see what they learned from the project.

Dominikus Kronwitter, third-year student said: "The project taught me to think creatively and laterally in the context of a commercial industry brief. I was again reminded that solid research is an important foundation for explorative creative work. I also learned more about companies that have in-house design teams, and how to make short feedback time slots with the client, really count."

Student, Oli Beddall added: "It has been great to work on a project that focuses on sustainability, specifically in the context of the ocean, which is a topic that I am particularly passionate about, this project will undoubtedly help build my portfolio."

Student Cynthia Porta Fernandez said: "It has been very inspiring to work on this project with Dyson and SNTech, it has been a shorter project than we are used to, so I have learned to make faster design decisions with my team, whilst working at a faster pace, in order to create a comprehensive presentation that we are all very proud of."

Dan Watson, Founder of SNTech added: "Extremely impressive work, that really captured the purpose of SNTech, and has taught us a lot about different ways of seeing our brand."

Marion Morrison, Course leader said: "We are very much in favour of forging strong links with industry. The Dyson and SNTech project provided an excellent creative challenge for final year Graphic Design students, and we would like to acknowledge the positive commitment to design education Dyson and SNTech demonstrated by providing timely feedback and insights into professional perspectives. This experience has opened up opportunities for our students to learn through active collaboration, to explore a complex global problem and also consider the roles designers undertake. We look forward to nurturing dialogue, understanding and future collaborations."