Vega Schools in semi-finals of 2016 Adobe Design Achievement Awards

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National marketing manager, Nicky Stanley of Vega School, an educational brand of The Independent Institute of Education (The IIE), believes that the success of these Vega students is an enormous accomplishment. “The ADAA receives on average 5,000 submissions from more than 70 countries. The student entries are judged for originality, effectiveness in meeting the communication objective and skill in applying Adobe products.”

“We are therefore once again delighted that teams from our Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban campuses have joined aspiring designers from all over the world to enter this competition. Given the level of stiff international competition, it is no small achievement that so many Vega under-graduates have made it to the semi-finalist stage.”

The students all agree that although the ADAA competition was a challenge, the experience has been rewarding. They were allowed to express their creativity in a unique way, while highlighting a social issue or communicating an important message to the audience.

Johannesburg team

Three Johannesburg teams go to the finals.

Johannesburg entries: Once In a Lifetime | Declare War on Winter | Split It Refuse Bags

Stacy Barlow and Peyton Butler entered their ‘Once in a Lifetime’ concept in the category of Commercial – Print/Graphic/Illustration. “Through the use of our campaign’s vacation theme, while collaborating with the World Wildlife Fund and Contiki, we will show that volunteering can be fun through these once in a lifetime experience. People want to know where their funding goes and want something in return. The main issue from our research was that people want to help, but do not know how to get involved,” says Barlow.

Butler also entered a submission with Keegan Harbour, titled ‘Split It refuse bag’ in the Social Impact – Photography/Print/Illustration/Graphic category. The pair explains: “People believe recycling takes up too much time, money and space in the home and most do not feel inclined to recycle their refuse. My concept is to create a product that will help streamline the recycling process without compromising the consumers’ lifestyles, while educating them on the importance of recycling and their environmental impact. The bag is made of recyclable materials and divided into five segments that the consumer can use to pre-sort their recyclable materials.”

Meera Karsan, Ryan Goutier and Connor Smith entered ‘Declare War on Winter’ in the category of Social Impact – Photography/Print/Illustration/Graphic. “On behalf of SIR Fruit, the communication takes the form of a full integrated campaign, consisting of a series of posters, a packaging design and an app. The subject of the communication is the ‘Winter Warpack’, a new packaging design containing four flavours of SIR Fruit: mango, granadillas, pomegranate and sweet C mandarin, promoting the specific health benefits of each,” they explain.

Durban teams

Two teams entered from Durban.

Durban entries: Grubs Up | Deconstruction of Reality

Zainab Mitha and Kirsten Lee entered their ‘Grub’s Up’ concept into the category: ‘Commercial – Print/Graphic/Illustration’. “The concept was to create a set of recipe books targeted at specific groups of people that answer the eating demands of each market – specially looking into their lifestyles – without being a generalised and generic cookbook,” explain Mitha and Lee.

Mario Nobrega, also known as Lincoln Inc., entered ‘the Deconstruction of Reality’ in the category of Fine Art – Illustration. He explains the concept, “The Deconstruction of Reality is a project that explores the use of mind-altering substances and how they affect the artist and artwork. The magazine uses 3D Anaglyphs to create a drug-like effect but can be viewed with or without the use of 3D Anaglyph glasses. However, it by no means promotes the use of drugs.”

Cape Town teams

Three teams entered from Vega School Cape Town.

Cape Town entries: Stick It To The Vans | Ancient Ache | Soet Karoo

Ali Bester, Jenna Emilie Busse and Anthony Browne entered the ‘Commercial –Print/Graphic/Illustration’ category with their concept, ‘Stick it to the Vans’. “The target audience was established as one that stands for anti-establishment, non-conformism and who fight for nonsensical behaviour. Through illustration and quirky acronym stories a great sense of liberation has been achieved,” they say.

James Strauss entered the concept ‘Ancient Ache’, into the category of Fine Art – Illustration. Strauss explains, “‘Ancient Ache’ is a series of digital paintings that explore the mystical and esoteric concept, known as the third eye or inner eye, which refers to a speculative invisible eye which provides perception beyond ordinary sight. The series explores this concept by merging it with an iconic Nina Simone song called ‘Four Women’. The result is a collection of digital paintings that comment on what it means to be a person of colour, especially a woman of colour, in a world that insists on erasing your identity.”

Saskia Sevenster and Bianka Wessels entered their theme ‘SoetKaroo’ into the category Commercial – Packaging Design. “The purpose of this communication piece is to revamp SoetKaroo’s brand identity with the aim to develop a greater awareness within the dessert wine category,” they explain.

“Their progress in this competition speaks volumes of the level of creative talent in this country, and we anxiously await the results of the ADAA competition in September 2016,” concludes Stanley.