November 08, 2019

Creative Careers Day at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art

Design workshop with young people at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, creating an equality focused fashion brand by Altogether Creative.

We were thrilled when Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art asked us to facilitate an afternoon of workshops for their Creative Careers Day.

Every year they hold a full day of talks and hands on, practical workshops for schools across the region. Budding creatives from each school have the opportunity to meet with people in the creative industries and take part in creative sessions.

We held three 45 minute workshops, with 25 students in each workshop it was a full on afternoon as we aimed to give the students a whistle stop introduction to branding and lead them through a group project. We are used to a challenge and love a deadline, so we seized the 45 minutes – on a mission to inspire the next generation of designers.

Every workshop we hold is unique and created bespoke for different projects so prior to the day we worked together to develop a session plan we hoped would engage and inspire. We named our sessions Brandathon – aptly named as the session was broken into four 10 minute sprints – working on a brief, brainstorming names, making moodboards and creating concepts, no mean feat even for the most experienced creatives. Oh my, they rose to the challenge!

 

Design workshop with young people at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art workshop by Altogether Creative.
Design workshop with young people at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art by Altogether Creative.

In groups of five we gave each group a card with a different theme – music festival, fashion brand, restaurant / cafe brand or sports brand. We then worked through a project with the groups to develop an idea, a name and a visual identity for their brand. We stuck to genres that young people would relate to and we were overwhelmed by their ideas and thought processes as well as creative talent.

 

Design workshop with young people at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, creating an equality focused fashion brand by Altogether Creative.
Design workshop with young people at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, hand drawn typography by Altogether Creative.

It was clear that the next generation of creatives have a strong social conscience and want their ideas to make a difference. Most groups developed concepts driven by ethical values and social impact, from body confident sports brands to gender neutral fashion and sustainable, upcycling ideas. It was a privilege to hear their ideas and passions shared in the workshop space, a memorable afternoon!

 

Design workshop at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art - the Altogether Creative team.
Design workshop with young people at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art by Altogether Creative.

We are buzzing from it all, the whole team took part to help coach the groups through the sessions, so we’re a little exhausted now and we have even more respect for teachers who do this every day.

Feedback has been brilliant, with follow up emails already coming through from students who want to come in and visit the studio. A great experience and we hope to be part of it next year!