Regular readers will know that earlier in the year, 2nd year graphic design student Sam Mallard's beer can designs (below) were selected for production by our friends, Eden River Brew Co. a continuing partnership that's brought several can designs to the craft beer market. Recently, we were delighted to learn that Sam's designs were placed second in the standard label category by The Labologists Society - The International Society of Label Collectors. 2nd place!!! ... to use footballers parlance, "we was robbed!"  Since Eden River Brew Co. introduced the beers in June ..read more

Illustration supremo, Dwayne Bell (33), has a second job - stunt double for Liam Gallagher. He was out gigging with Liam last night and inadvertently came in today with Liam's tamborine ..read more

We're often asked: "what's the Graphic Design & Illustration studio at The University of Cumbria like?" Well, it's like this ..read more

After the Keswick field trip we asked the students to produce a digital magazine that attempted to capture something of their experiences on the day and the essence of the location. The idea here is to point out from the start that design and illustration are not impersonal, neutral activities. Having passion and something to say are central to the production of memorable, communicative work. Here's some of what they produced ..read more

We thought we would welcome our new students by taking them on a one day field trip to Keswick in the heart of the Lake District. It's a stunning location and a good place to use as a starting point for the first project (more of that later). It was a fun and memorable day as we happened to time our visit perfectly with Storm Ali arriving in the north-west of England! Here's some footage we took on the day looking out over Derwent Water as Ali whipped it into a frenzy! Here's the effect of a 90 mph gale on art & design students and tutors. Unfortunately we hadn't thought to bring a s ..read more

Why did Pudsey visit the graphic design/illustration studio? We can't tell you, ut watch this space ..read more

The team behind a rapidly growing independent brewery have injected their personalities into the business by literally putting themselves on their products. Eden River Brew Co, in Penrith – formerly known as Eden Brewery – renamed and rebranded in June. The brewery has given its new look a personal twist by featuring pictures of its team members on the cans for its core range of modern, hoppy beers.  It is also inviting customers to put their face on a can next year by posting pictures of themselves drinking one of its brews on social media.   The cans feature the faces of dire ..read more

Regular readers of the Blog will know that it's rapidly approaching that time of year when we head to London (a large city somewhere to the south of Penrith) to exhibit our graduating student's work to industry professionals. Have a look here to see last year's foray to 'the smoke'. We will be exhibiting our highly talented Graphic Design and Illustration graduates at at New Designers Part 2, held at the rather swanky Business Design Centre in central London (above). The show opens on Wednesday 4 July and it runs through to Saturday 7 July. Opening times as follows: W ..read more

For those of you who couldn't make the end of year show, here's a little of what you missed... Private View Night Bronagh's hand-made, tasty treats at the start of the evening... Bronagh's hand-made, tasty treats at the end of the evening... The much admired 'wall of wonder' (or 'tableaux of tat') A few exhibition stands: Alex Stockwell   Sian Whitfield Lüdia Stahlschmidt  Schools visit day - most commonly asked question: "Is it a real swan?" Answer: "Yes, but it's dead ..read more

Regular readers will know that our illustration and graphic design students have been working with the Eden River Brew Co. brewery, and one of the county’s most successful family businesses, to create the artwork for a new range of beers.  Eden River Brew Co., in Penrith, is running its Eden Student Design Project for a second time, in partnership with the Westmorland Family, which owns Tebay Services, on the M6, Gloucester Services on the M5 and the Rheged Centre. The new range of beers were launched on Friday 4th May at the Rheged Centre. In January, the brewery’s managing direct ..read more