Colleges invited to take part in the RDSA awards are each given a brief from a retailer or brand and allocated a mentor from a retail design consultancy. This year Glasgow School of Art, Manchester Metropolitan University, Middlesex University, University for the Creative Arts Farnham and University of Huddersfield tackled briefs from the Co-op or The Body Shop International.

 

Each college was briefed separately by the client.  Mentors and tutors then worked with the students over a period determined by individual colleges. Each college fielded a long-list of up to a dozen serious contenders. This was whittled down by the brief-setters, with input from the mentors, to four entries each from UCA and Huddersfield for Co-op and three each from GSA, MMU and Middlesex for The Body Shop.

 

All involved agreed that the standard of work created largely by second-year students was exceptionally high this year.  See for yourself by reviewing the shortlisted projects against the briefs.