Hybrid Services, Mimaki’s distributor for the UK and Ireland, said that the motivation behind the project was to enable the firm to forge links with the college and provide the graphic design students with valuable experience.
UV Creative, Hybrid’s marketing and design agency, approached the college on Hybrid’s behalf to arrange the partnership and mentored the students during the process.
“It seemed like too good an opportunity to miss to give the second-year students real world experience of a commercial brief and the opportunity to use the Mimaki kit in the process,” said UV Creative director Duncan Jefferies.
Hybrid’s showroom suite houses a large selection of wide-format Mimaki printers. The project was devised to show the number of applications that can be achieved with a Mimaki while also redecorating the firm's showroom.
As the main concept for the project, the 12 students were asked to rebrand No 3 Gateway, Hybrid’s UK office, as a hotel and leisure complex.
The students were split into three teams of four and asked to pitch their ideas to this brief.
The strongest concept was selected to take the project forward and the students were invited into the showroom for two days to work with Hybrid’s sales and technical teams to bring the designs to life.
The end-result was the production of banners, signage, promotional items, wallpaper and many other products that all exhibited the common brand theme.
“All of the students got behind the chosen concept and rolled it out across the showroom. They took a very mature approach and they really bought into it commercially,” said Jefferies.
“They had a really good opportunity to develop the brand that they created across a broad series of applications.”
Full access of all of Hybrid's Mimaki kit was given to the students including outdoor durable, latex, SUV, textile and LED UV printers. Some of the students were also given vehicle-wrapping experience.
Jasbir Dhesi, the principal and chief executive of the college, officially opened the showroom on 17 June.
“The most satisfying part was the students pointing out to their parents what they’d designed. To see it come to life at the opening event really made the whole project worthwhile,” said Jefferies.
Hybrid hopes to repeat the process with the college to give next year's students a similar opportunity but with a different brief.
“We’re delighted with how it went and I think it really opened their eyes to career possibilities. The students can say on their CVs that they’ve had experience of using Mimaki printers and had the chance to pitch to a real client,” said Jefferies.
