A team of 34 Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Digital Animation and Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Graphic Design and Multimedia final year students successfully launched their CTRL T Virtual Exhibition on Behance on 15 December 2020.

With each student specialising in either branding, publishing, web development or film, and animation, the virtual exhibition aimed to showcase their final year projects, as well as a platform for them to prove their skills and talents. Each project also reflected the student’s hard work, passion and creativity.

When asked of the inspiration for the name of the exhibition, the team explained that it was inspired by the shortcut key, which activates the free transform command. “By that, we want to exhibit that we are constantly progressing as we experience changes. Along with this comes our spirit animal, which reflects parts of ourselves – the moth, which gravitates towards moonlight in darkness, leads us to a new direction; symbolising our process of transformation by hard work, and dedication,” said the team.

They added, “Organising this virtual exhibition not only enabled us to showcase our skills through the projects, but we also gained valuable experiences. For instance, we learnt tasks management and delegation of tasks; we improved our communication skills, especially having to liaise with the sponsors; and we learnt marketing as we needed to promote our virtual exhibition. All these were important lessons that we acquired and we are indeed grateful for this successful exhibition.”

In the area of branding, students designed various aspects of branding, including the company’s logo, menu, business cards, letters and envelopes, signage, product packaging, company attires, merchandises, and even the company’s website and social media platforms. These elements of design aimed to promote the company’s image through distinctive and unique designs, as well as to offer public awareness towards the respective brand, and to provide these brands with a competitive advantage in the market.

In the area of publishing, the students designed various genre of magazines, including floral, beauty and fashion, food, nature and environment, and home interior. Apart from using design elements of the magazine to appeal to the targeted readers, the layout designs and space arrangement aimed to improve reader experience, while effectively conveying the information within. The design elements also reflected the magazine’s identity and personality, which made it different from other magazines in the market.

Web designing also showcased students’ design skills in promoting the company’s identity and brand. These website designs aimed to attract consumers, provide friendly user experience, and increase the company’s publicity, while conveying the company’s information, such as products and services offered.

Animation, on the other hand, were animated stories told from the designer’s perspective. These stories were inspired by their cultures, traditions, beliefs, and normal-day practices. Each animation was specially designed to intrigue viewers while conveying various insightful information.