If ever there was evidence for the NSW Government to give more support to TAFE education, the Hornsby Northern Sydney Institute campus’ ‘Rise’ showcase of Cert IV student work was just that – amazing!
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| The inspirational theme for the Hornsby TAFE graphic design student's showcase was 'RISE' |
Right after the news broke that the NSW Government, in 2019, had expended, according to the Sydney Morning Herald: “ In total, the government awarded eight contracts totalling more than $6.4 million to different firms to provide advice and services across the TAFE sector between June 2018 and September 2019,” Hornsby, NSW, TAFE held its ‘Rise’ 2019 Graphic Design Student Showcase.
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| Oneworld Design's Anne Bonnefin addressed the assembly |
We can only hope that this sum, which included a “splurge with Hudson RPO, which was paid $2.5 million "to provide recruitment support services to the organisation design program" until 2022, while Deloitte Access Economics was paid $1.08 million to provide a set of forecasts to inform TAFE about their training requirements" – is a good investment because it would be hard to imagine a better skilled group of graduates than those presenting their portfolios and show reels on Tuesday night. TAFEs are facing budget and human resource cutbacks under the Berejiklian NSW government, although they say none of these ‘will affect front-line teaching jobs.’
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| Paper&Pixel's Jean Kropper (L), JDA's James Cryer and Signarama's Evan Foster |
Thanks to the encouragement and hustling of industry recruiter James Cryer, a handful on Sign Graphics personnel attended including Evan Foster from Signarama, Jean Kropper from Paper & Pixels, Anne Bonnefin from Oneworld Design and myself from WFOL. What impressed us all was the comprehensiveness of the graphic skillsets that Hornsby TAFE’s Graphic Design teacher Jenny Young and her team, have taught into these graduates.
Examples included brand development, packaging design, labels, automotive design, animation, photography, fashion & textiles, jewellery, typography, website work, signage, wrapping paper and production of a digitally-printed portfolio and showreel. Each student named their own ‘design company’ either under their own name or an invented name such as Patrick Ng’s ‘Atomic Designs.’
All I can say is that, without exception, the standard of work was highly professional and each of the ten featured graduates, would be very employable right away in any of the design disciplines requiring graphical skills and use of InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop and so on. These are the kind of grads who would pick up production knowledge very quickly by applying their digital knowledge.
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| Patrick Ng with his portfolio |
James Cryer observed: "The skills shortage bites hard across all sectors of our industry with no clear-cut entry paths, either via apprenticeships or client-facing roles. We need to reach out to these graduates to keep them in 'our tent' and not lose them to other industries eager for their skills. As the print and signage sector's leading recruiter, JDA is delighted to try and help 'bridge the gap' between students and our industry. Large digital print groups - Signarama, Signwave, Snap, Kwik Kopy etc - are ideally placed, with their numerous print centres scattered across the country, to act as mini-training centres (a bit like McDonald's in the fast-food sector) - providing ideal entry-level training across a range of skills that will equip new Cert IV graduates with the skills they need to eventually become a senior member of a large print, packaging or signage group. Events such as this provides a ideal starting point for closer dialogue between our industry and students and is a reminder that many of them need being made aware of the exciting career opportunities that now exist."
Alan Valdez, Alexander Carlo-Stella, Joanna Martin, Jonathon Simon, Laylah Soo, Nathan Nylander, Paula Guimoraes, Patrick Ng, Rachel Kearney, Shannon Dawson
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| Rachel Kearney with her portfolio |
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| Shannon Dawson with portfolio |
Employers - remember they all have impressive portfolios and showreels ready to go! If you'd like to contact any of these great young digital designers of the future about a job, email: james@jdaprintrecruit.com.au
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| Hail all the students! And the photographer could have done better (shakey mobile shot) |
