Graphic design and photography students have been busy working together on a live brief to create an interactive map for the historic Cromford Mills. A recent visit to the mill and canal gave students the chance to gather information and images to help them get the project off the ground.
After some desk based research, the graphic design students gave the photography students a brief. In the brief, they detailed the images they would need for their map projects. The photography students captured images during the trip. These will help the graphic design students shape their final interactive designs.
Inspired by the mills
The day at the mill and on the canal gave the students chance to understand and be inspired by the location. The trip helped them to inform the designs they will create. Importantly, it also gave them an opportunity to understand more about the end users of the product, and how they might use the maps.
One graphic design student told us:
“We were given a brief from a visitor from Cromford Mills so we could start to develop ideas before the trip. It has been really good to go and physically go to the place so we can put our own facts into the project and see how people use the site. It is so much better to physically see it than just do desk research.”
Working to a brief
Photography students commented how vital it was for them to work to someone else’s brief to capture a particular type and style of image.
A few of them explained:
“It has been really interesting to work in a different way. I have had to think about what someone else wants out of the pictures I take; as well as how it will be used in the end.”
“We have had to spend a lot of time over the last year working to develop our skills based on what was in our own local environment. It was good to get out and do something different. It definitely develops different skills.”
Creative collaboration
Both groups of students welcomed the opportunity to start the new term being able to work together. The fact that they could also work on a project in a new location was also a bonus.
Students are now busy back in the classroom developing their ideas and editing their images to be incorporated into a final project. We look forward to seeing the interactive maps when they are complete.
In the mean time, here are just a few of the images taken by the photography students:
Cromford Canal by photography student Serenety Stevenson
Running water at the mill site by student, Serenety Stevenson
Working water wheels By student Mia Archibald
The mill behind the mill pond by student Ellena Jury
A barge under a bridge on Cromford Canal by student Kelsie Naylor