UK (University of Wales Trinity St David) Industry-led employability workshops for Swansea College of Art second years

Students studying BA (Hons) Graphic Design and BA (Hons) Creative Advertising at University of Wales Trinity Saint David’s (UWTSD) Swansea College of Art took part in an afternoon of workshops and had an employability presentation from a successful industry speaker.

Guest speaker Rachael Wheatley from Waters Creative, a south Wales creative agency specialising in graphics, web design, brand identity and marketing strategy gave a presentation and workshops to 21 second year students.

Rachael outlined her journey from university to running her own creative agency and gave tips and advice before a lively Q&A session. The presentation was followed by a series of workshops run by Rachael and Swansea College of Art Lecturer Ian Simmons that aimed to develop creative, improvisational, problem solving and collaborative skills.

Students performed group tasks over short periods of time such as building landmarks out of paper straws, turning blank circles into creative designs and using post-it notes to create recognisable portraits of famous figures.

Ian Simmons says: “Lectures and workshops from industry speakers are a valuable part of the student experience at UWTSD which reinforce the skills we teach and develop in our students. Rachael is a regular visitor and always provides interesting and engaging workshops and presentations for our students.”

The event formed part of the ‘Changemakers: Building your Personal Brand for Sustainable Employment’ module and received extremely positive feedback from the attendees. Second year Graphic Design student Connie Foreman said: “It was a fun, interesting afternoon and it was great to work with Rachael and add her to my professional network.”

Creative advertising student Sophie Wyatt added: “I love visits from industry professionals, it’s great to hear from someone that has ‘been there and done it’, and the advice Rachael gave was amazing.”

Founded in 1853, Swansea College of Art at University of Wales Trinity Saint David is a leading provider of Arts-related courses, ranked 1st in Wales in four Arts subjects, 4th in the UK for Film and Photography, 8th in the UK for Product Design, and 10th in the UK for Graphic Design.