What happens when you combine Level 3 Art and Design Students with one of the North West’s biggest manufacturers and a leading Lancashire design agency? You get project-based learning in action.

Coming up with creative yet practical ideas and then presenting to a client is a skill that students need to perfect, and they welcome opportunities to hone these skills.  You can imagine how pleased Preston’s College were to be invited by Crown Paints to work on their heritage project.

The brief from Crown Paints:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JthHpNG-8E0&w=560&h=315]

Crown Paints has been in paper and paint manufacturing for over 200 years. They have a rich history and a people-focussed story to tell so they invited the students to help them showcase this story in their Learning Centre in Darwen.

To help the students get started, our Creative Director Bev Wood was invited by Preston’s College to get involved in the project to advise the students. Bev is helping them to interpret the client’s brief and is guiding them on implementation aspects.

Bringing history up to date?

Bringing life to such a fantastic history sounds quite a simple task? Well don’t be fooled. Telling the story that clearly and effectively communicates the Crown Paints brand values as well as it’s rich heritage has been quite a task for students.

The Art and Design students have presented their concepts now and we have to say have really risen to the challenge and put forward some really creative and workable ideas. We were impressed to see such passion, creativity  and understanding of the spatial needs of the building, from such young designers.

Bev said, “It is a pleasure to be working on this project with the students and I have really enjoyed offering my design expertise”.  We are still at the early project stages however, we will keep you informed our the progress and update you all soon.