Mercedes Benz praise 'exceptional' student designs

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Students at The Manchester College have taken part in an exciting live design brief with Mercedes Benz. Students pitched designs for a Smart car to Mercedes Benz, who chose a winning design to be made up on a car. Mercedes Benz said the standard of the students' work was exceptional.

When tutor, Venessa Scott, went into her local Mercedes dealer to buy a Smart car, she also left with a live brief for her students. Students on the foundation degrees in Digital Graphic Design and Graphic Design and Advertising were briefed to create designs for a Smart car and pitch them to a team at Mercedes Benz.

Mercedes Benz had their favourite design, by Darren Harrison, made up on a Smart car. The car was unveiled at a celebration at the One Central Park Campus and given to The Manchester College for exclusive use next term.

When I started the course I was aware we would work on a live brief but this has more than exceeded my expectations.

Darren, 35, from Prestwich said: ‘I’ve never done anything like this before. Doing the pitch at the showroom was nerve-wracking but the project has certainly provided a great insight into how huge companies operate.’

Hannah Gilran and Lucy Evans were named joint second place. Hannah, 19, from Oswaldtwistle, said: ‘I’ve surprised myself. I’ve never done anything like this before and it has proved to be a very rewarding challenge.’

The standard was exceptional. When the quality manager saw the designs he thought they had been produced by a professional design company.

Lucy, 28, from Preston, said: ‘This has been a very rewarding experience. When I started the course I was aware we would work on a live brief but this has more than exceeded my expectations.’

Ian Digger, the general manager of Mercedes Benz Manchester Central, said: ‘The standard of entry was exceptional. When the quality manager saw the designs he thought they had been produced by a professional design company.’

I've never done anything like this before. The project has provided a great insight into how huge companies operate.

Venessa Scott, tutor in the Creative and Digital media department at The Manchester College, said: ‘This partnership is all about collaboration between future creatives and industry and gives students experience of live briefs and employer engagement. Students got to work not only with the Mercedes Benz creative team, but also with marketing and account managers.’

What next? Could you produce exceptional designs? Find out about the Foundation Degrees in Digital Graphic Design and Graphic Design and Advertising at The Manchester College.