We created a fresh new platform to showcase the talents and final major projects of Art, Design & Media degree students graduating from the University Centre South Essex in 2020.
The pandemic has robbed many graduating degree students of the valuable and much-deserved opportunity to showcase their work. Traditional end-of-year shows represent the culmination of years of hard work and give students the chance to put themselves in the shop window for potential employers in the creative industries. With Covid restrictions in place, the University Centre South Essex and the University of the Arts were looking to embrace a digital alternative and give their students as much exposure as possible under the circumstances.
The brief was to create a modern and innovative online portal that showcased the creative work of the art, design and media students. It had to be an engaging experience for users that made an impression, worked seamlessly on mobile devices and provided every student with a platform to promote their final major projects. The 6rs team worked with students to develop the look and feel of the Voyage brand, creating bespoke graphics for each individual course that were derived from their initial ideas.
We wanted to create a really fluid user experience and React, an open source Javascript library, was used for building the UI components. The site features lots of custom animations and transitions to give it a slick, modern feel, which were put together using JQuery and CSS. The team helped to collate the student work and develop a uniform portfolio that showcased all of the work from a variety of different creative disciplines. It was important for the work to be easily navigated, particularly for industry professionals keen to see what the young talent had to offer.
Abi Thompson, Head of Art & Design at South Essex College, said:
We are so grateful to 6rs for designing our degree show website. The team did an incredible job of helping us collate student work and build a site to promote their achievements. We are really proud of the results.
To date the website has won a number of awards:
- CSS Winner Site of the Day
- CSSDA UX Award
- CSSDA UI Award
- CSSDA Special Kudos Award
- CSSDA Innovation Award
- Awwwards Honorable Mention
- Awwwards Mobile Excellence
Take a look at the site and check out the fantastic student work at www.ucsedegreeshow.com
