Luvena at her university work station. Photo by Katie Johnston.
When the BBC’s antique expert Paul Laidlaw asked the University of Cumbria’s Graphic Design department to create the branding for his new antiques business, he was presented with many interesting design options but it was Luvena Petty’s photographic themed design which caught his eye.
“I was surprised, I completely didn’t expect it at all,” said Luvena, “so when I was chosen to do it I was quite excited because I have never done a job for another client before and because he is a little bit famous, it was a bit different so it was exciting.”
The competition to find the winning design was held in October and all the third year students entered to get the chance to do all the design work and branding for Paul Laidlaw’s new antiques business, which he will soon be opening in Carlisle. Each student had to pitch their design to the Bargain Hunt expert explaining why their design would work well for his business and it was 20-year -old Luvena’s photography inspired design which Paul chose.
Luvena said: “I am interested in photography so I wanted to incorporate that in the design, I did not want to just do a business card with text and colour on, I wanted to try and incorporate my style and type of feel into it so I went down the route of photographing objects and figurines and incorporated these images into my design.”
Some of the design work Luvena has created for Paul Laidlaw.
“I don’t really know why he chose mine but it was probably the photography element that did grab him.”
Since winning the competition Luvena has been busy working on designing the business cards, letterheads, leaflets, magazines, signage for the shop, polo shirts that the staff will be wearing and even the number paddles for the auction house.
Luvena has also had a lot more meetings with Paul with the design work changing and developing throughout the process. One of the things Paul wanted to bring into the design was a tartan element, as being a proud Scotsman Paul has his own tartan which he wanted to bring into his business branding.
“He is a nice guy and is really friendly and easy to talk to so working with him is really good.”
Luvena has always felt passionate about being creative but despite this she almost went to study law rather than a creative subject: “Originally I didn’t want to do graphic design, I wanted to do law as a degree I’m not sure what swayed me to do this course but now I am doing it I’m extremely glad I am, I could not see myself doing another course.”
“I have always been quite creative, in a way I always want to make something. If I’m bored I can’t just sit still and read a book I have to get up and make or do something.”
This desire to always be doing something creative works quite well for Luvena as a graphic design student as there is always some kind of design project to work on. The tutors encourage students to allow their creativity to shine through.
More of Luvena’s design work.
“I like how different all the projects are and how we can try a bit of everything and even though I may not like one project I know I can just wait until the next one and I will probably enjoy that, it’s quite diverse.”
“This is a good course because whatever you’re interested in you can apply it to your work, the tutors don’t just want you to design to a brief, they want you to put your own creative flare and spark into it as it is going to go in your portfolio at the end of the day, so it has to express what you are like as a designer.”
After university Luvena intends to take a bit of time out rather than jumping straight into a career in graphic design: “I would like to travel, I don’t want to go straight into work unless a really good opportunity comes up. I want to go and work in India in schools and with animals, before I get into a job and I’m working all my life, I want to explore the world.”
If you would like to see more of Luvena’s design work you can log onto her website.
Words Samantha Ridley
CAMPUS 