The last year and a half has been testing for everyone and the creative industries have been hit particularly hard. At the end of last month, as things slowly started to open up again, Design Exchange was invited to one of its first physical events of 2021: the University of Brighton’s BA (Hons) Graphic Design and Illustration Graduate show 2021. 

Although everyone was still wearing masks and with social distancing very much in place, it was so good to be out mingling again and getting inspired by the next generation of creatives. Held in Hoxton Arches, East London, the first work that caught our attention was by Photographer and Art Director Madeleine Clench. 

After requesting to speak with Madeleine to find out more about her work, we were advised that Madeleine had tested positive for COVID-19 just a few days before the show, and was at home in Brighton self-isolating, along with some of her final year classmates. 

Madeleine replies from her isolation “Getting COVID was a massive blow, I was in shock when I found out. I was told by my boss to get a PCR test a few days before the final year show because many of my work buddies had tested positive. I had my double vaccine in March and I wasn’t showing symptoms. So I thought it would come back negative. What was really hard was telling my six other housemates whose work was in the show that they would also have to isolate. And another course friend, Holly, who had to isolate too because I had coffee with her earlier on in the week.”

So we thought we should get in touch to find out what graduating in a pandemic feels like. How awful is it to miss your end of year show? What impact has Covid had on University life? How was working from home over the entire final year? And, despite the difficulties, were there any positives?  

“Once I was given the results the symptoms started to come in fast. My throat became dry, and my nose wouldn’t stop running. The doctor said it was the Delta variant if there were cold symptoms. I was unable to sleep that night, It was horrible. I was quite ill. I had to call 111 because I was worried about a pain in my chest,” Madeleine continues. “The only way to describe it is like when you cough it’s a deep cough coming from the chest. I coped by getting Disney+ for a month and just escaping through film. But there’s only so many films you can watch. 

“I found what got me through was the kindness shown by my flatmates, having conversations with them in the garden, them making me dinner, and watching England win the Football. I never watch football! But it made me feel connected to the outside world,” she says. 

We ask about the impact COVID-19 had on university life, and her work, over the course of the year, and Madeleine is quick to explain just how big a difference it made. “COVID has had a huge effect on the student population, especially practical courses. The Arts has really suffered for many reasons. I missed being able to work amongst my friends and fellow creatives. 

“Although our tutors have done their best with Teams and trying to do group activities online, it wasn’t quite the same. Frustration grew as the year went on and we were still not allowed in the studio when we could see people drinking in pubs and bars. We also felt we had been robbed, in quality of teaching and facilities wise,” she explains. “As a photographer, I wasn’t able to use the photography studio. I struggled to even buy materials for shoots, as deadlines came fast and by the time you had an idea it was too late for the delivery.”

Speaking of how the staff handled the new abnormal, Madeleine believes teachers also struggled but helped keep students on the right track. “I felt the tutors were as frustrated as us but I remember one saying there are still art students being successful in the pandemic, so it was a harsh but true reminder not to fall behind and not to become a victim. I also remember not having a library or coffee shop to work in, so we would move from our bed to our bedroom desk every day, it was pretty grim. What helped me through those times was making myself get up at 8:30am and go for a run three times a week.”

So, despite the huge difficulties, were there any positives? “It’s hard to say what work I would have produced last year. But I think the pandemic pushed me to work harder as there were not as many distractions, there were no spontaneous beach parties. It was me, my camera, laptop and the world around me,” Madeleine says. 

“I found inspiration in other ways, as things started to open up again I took the train a couple stops to Shoreham, because my world had been very insular. I could see my mood lifting from being in a different environment. I think a sense of place is very important for mental health and connecting with nature,” she continues. “But reading my comments from the assessment and achieving a 1st class degree I felt so happy, as my hard work had paid off. I was doing something right. The tutors pushed what I was doing and believed in me.”

Below are some more examples of student work that caught our attention during our visit to the University of Brighton’s BA (Hons) Graphic Design and Illustration Graduate show 2021

After visiting the show, we spoke with Illustration Lecturer Liv Taylor who told us: “As with all past year students, Brighton University has always put on a general final year show located at the University in Brighton, where they invite the creative industries along to see students’ work.

“However for the last 20 years or so the University tradition has been to encourage students to take their show on the road to a chosen location and venue all funded and organised by the students,” she continues. “From as early as their first year of study through to the end the students are asked to do fundraising events, pre-lockdown this would involve things like club nights, bake sales or comedy nights. During lockdown events, we decided to design t-shirts to sell along with selling our own prints. 

“Over the course of three years the students end up with a pot of money, the benefit being the students have an event that is completely theirs, so although the staff on the course can support them and give advice, each final year student has to come up with a brand or theme, with their own identity, to have their own take on and to illustrate who they are,” Liv says. “This is great professional practice for the students, bringing it all to life, like students having their own professional design studio, with their own branding team, shop team, creative team, and all left to arrange team meetings which in normal years, would all be in a shared studio. 

We ask about student attainment, and if the pandemic prevented them from achieving their full potential. “I must say, the students have all done an amazing job in operating like this during this year using their digital skills and adopting so quickly using their social media and other online platforms to present work to each other and operating on a real professional level. For the students and staff, this year has seen a much different type of engagement, in some ways it has lacked the magic and intuition of being together in a studio, but also there were some benefits from not being together. For example, being able to share ideas immediately onscreen and some students being super prepared before meetings.

“Some students totally thrived and were so focused and motivated under lockdown and came into their own, maybe this was down to not working in a studio and not being distracted or influenced by a trendy thing going on or seeing what everyone else was doing,” she continues. “Others, however, did miss the social space, it’s the studio and it’s the social dynamics that allow creativity to happen and it was really hard to foster online, and although we had tools and software that helped, it still felt a bit like social media. 

“Finally, as a teacher, it was slightly harder being all online to draw people in, so students were either fully engaged and showed up or were on the outside and either didn’t log on or weren’t able to engage as deeply. But once you got the engagements it seemed to work well overall, I guess it’s all swings and roundabouts and different for each of us. Just like the pandemic.”  

A huge well done and congratulations to all the students and teachers of 2021