The creative work of City of Bath College students will be unmissable to people flicking through a local charity’s annual review.
Level 3 BTEC Creative Media Publishing students gained invaluable employment skills when they lead an exciting project for the Off The Record children’s charity.
Charity bosses put their faith in the eight students when they asked them to work together to design and layout their annual review.
More than 500 copies of the 14-page booklet have been printed and it is expected to be read by thousands of people.
The students were sent the text for the annual report as a Word document and it was up to them to split it up into shorter and easier to understand chapters of information.
They then worked in InDesign and Photoshop to create an eye-catching design with photos and pull-out boxes, and came up with the idea to put a silhouette of a child in the corner of every page.
Student Joe McPhee, who was the creative director of the six-month project, said they had learned the importance of team work.
He said: “It was great experience to work so closely with such a professional organisation.
“We wanted to create an interesting and eye-catching read that would appeal to all ages and seeing the finished product has given us a real sense of accomplishment.”
The students split themselves into two groups to work on the annual review; writers and designers. It was the job of the writers to proof-read the text, while the designers took care of the graphics.
They worked on the annual review in the classroom as part of their lessons and also regularly visited the charity to update bosses on their progress.
The publication includes an overview of the charity’s work, a message from the director, as well as its achievements, case studies and financial activities.
Publishing lecturer Mike Moran said: “It was a real publishing experience where students had to manage their own time and meet deadlines.
“If things didn’t go to plan, they had to be able to adapt and allow for unexpected changes.”
The student design team is named as Joe McPhee, Kieran Odinus, India Barrett, Rhiannon Edwards, Bethany Maitre, Lucy Jenness, Georgina Cole and Serena Mirelle-Nolan on the back cover of the annual review.
Off The Record is based in Manvers Street and provides free and confidential services to children and young people to improve their emotional health and well-being.
Its director Jocelyne Tagg wrote to the students to thank them for their hard work and praised them for their imaginative design.
