University of Northampton students work with Coca-Cola Enterprises to create wall murals

Seven students from the University of Northampton have had the opportunity to design murals for the communal areas at the Coca-Cola Enterprises distribution centre in Northampton.

Georgia Webb, Andrew Bremmler, Chris Moore, Meghan Hughes, Ryan Curran, Armani Conway and Kamala Roberts are studying for the BA (Hons) Graphic Communication and BA (Hons) Illustration programmes and all attended brainstorming sessions and pitched in with ideas until they came up with the final concept.

The final design tells the story of how Coca-Cola is made, from the plantations of sugar cane to consumer use. The students’ first task was to create a story board showing each stage of the process, which was then broken down into five individual stories. It starts by depicting the harvesting of the sugar cane, then shipping the bottles out and onto the bottling process. It then goes on to show the bottles moving across the conveyor belt to be loaded onto the articulated trucks and delivered across the country. The narrative concludes with a family enjoying a summer picnic with their bottles of Coca-Cola.

The students were also commissioned to create a ‘wall of inspiration’ which is based at the visitor’s entrance to the distribution centre. The mural features a number of welcoming, inviting and inspirational words and phrases in many different languages representing the global breadth of the company.

Student, Andrew Bremmler, commented: “The project has been a fantastic opportunity for us all and we have enjoyed every step of the process from working with the Coca-Cola Enterprises team to the printers who brought the designs to life. It’s been really exciting to be able to work with such a renowned global organisation and seeing the final designs up on the walls in the distribution centre gave us all a sense of pride. We are thankful to Coca-Cola Enterprises for giving us the opportunity to work closely with a professional client and develop our skills.”

Ricky Vallance, Senior Manager Distribution Operations for Coca-Cola Enterprises commented: “The project enabled the students to design and work with us to create an innovative piece of work to transform our working environment. It was a fantastic effort and reflects our values appropriately.”

Louise Bird, Senior Lecturer at the University of Northampton, commented: “Our Graphic Communication and Illustration programmes have a strong professional practice element embedded within the courses and this, together with the development of the students’ creative practice, results in a high level of professionalism that is very evident in the work the students have produced. The final outcome has been a huge hit with Coca-Cola Enterprises’ VIP guests and senior management and has been held up as an example to other Coca-Cola sites and offices across GB.”