Students fine tune their employability skills at the Northampton Music Festival

The Northampton Music Festival is back for the eighth year and five students from the University of Northampton have had the opportunity to get involved with the organising and promotion of this year’s event.

Chris Moore, Hayleigh Maxey and Chloe Stevens are all second year Graphic Communication students and have been involved in the design element. Working alongside Amplitude Media, the students won the commission as part of their Professional Studies Module and have created all the art work and branding collateral for the festival. Two Events Management students from the University have also won internship placements.

Chris commented: “We were lucky enough to have our work chosen by Northampton Music Festival and we have been working with the organisers to produce advertising posters, billboards, event programmes and branding collateral.

“This has been a great experience for me, seeing my work develop from a University project to a real billboard and watching our posters appear all around town is really exciting. It feels great to contribute to such a fantastic event which helps to put Northampton on the map, and it’s an impressive addition to my design portfolio.”

Hayleigh said: “I’ve found it great to be working in ‘the real world’ as such, with stricter deadlines but a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. It’s shown me what it’s like to work with real clients and how to use the skills I’ve learned from the past two years at University with real clients and in a project that will have a physical outcome plastered all over Northampton!

“Being picked to design the assets for Northampton Music Festival was a great opportunity because not only does it give me an insight into what it’s like to work in the industry, but it also gives me more confidence that the skills I have learned at University. This will help me in the future when I get a job in graphic design after graduating. It’s a massive confidence boost for me and I am grateful for the opportunity!”

Chloe Stevens commented: “It has been a great opportunity to work with the team at Amplitude Media as it has given me a greater understanding of what is required when hosting a big event. Not only this but it has given me experience in this field of design and I have thoroughly enjoyed and am very proud to be a part of this great local festival.”​

Trevor Brown, Senior Lecturer in Graphic Communications commented: “The chance to work with the Northampton Music Festival 2015 was a great opportunity for our second year Graphic Communication students to experience, not only a real industry client briefing, but also the pressure of producing and executing a proposal for a live project.

“The winning team of Hayleigh, Chloe and Chris are now responsible for designing the marketing and promotion branding collateral – a huge undertaking. The branding will be visible across the whole town and equally across multiple social media platforms. Working alongside Amplitude Media, the creative and project management pressures again will be a great experience for them – perfect preparation for their future careers in the creative industries.”

This year’s festival takes place from 19 to 21 June and will have pop up events and gigs taking place in venues and on streets throughout the town centre over the weekend.

Find out more about Northampton Music Festival.