Sunlight breaking through the trees in the New Forest
Farnborough International and the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) Farnham have joined forces to produce a range of ‘Selfie Boards’ for the upcoming Farnborough International Airshow (FIA). 32 first year students of the Graphic Communications course at UCA were commissioned by Airshow organisers Farnborough International to create original designs with the aim of driving social media engagement during the event.
To make the project as true to industry as possible, the students played the part of the ‘agency’ and were briefed by the ‘client’ Farnborough International. Students then developed and presented a selection of designs from this brief, and were provided feedback by the ‘client’, giving the students a chance to experience the process as true-to-industry as possible.
Lisa Gellender, Senior Lecturer of Graphic Communication at UCA Farnham emphasised the importance of this; ‘the opportunity to work with FIA provided our Year01 Graphic Communication students with the chance to gain valuable experience working on a live project to tight deadlines. The FIA team worked closely with our team, offering feedback throughout the project thereby helping our students develop their problem solving and presentation skills within a professional context. As Year 01 unit leader I am thrilled with the outcomes that our first years have produced over this 5 week project. Everyone is excited to see how the public will interact with the social media campaign which is both visually engaging and informative.’
Inspired by the traditional ‘head-in-hole’ boards commonly found at seasides and school fêtes, the idea was to give them a fresh reinvention for the digital age. Selfie boards have seen growing popularity in an era of mobile phone photography. These boards will feature at the Farnborough International Airshow this summer, allowing visitors to engage and interact in a fun way.
Andrew Pearcey, Marketing & Communications Director of Farnborough International noted that FIA were extremely impressed with the concepts the students came up with. ‘The students did a fantastic job of creating some strong, imaginative designs which we can’t wait to see the public interact with and enjoy. The combination of their design skills coupled with their in-depth understanding of digital channels is what really made this project’.
He went on to stress the importance of projects like these to the Airshow; ‘despite being such a huge event on an international scale, this year we’ve put local community engagement at the heart of what we do, particularly with regards to the public show. It’s really important that our local community are aware of who we are and what we do – we want them to be proud of the Airshow!’
