Third year Wintec | Te Pūkenga Visual Communication student Carmin Erasmus has created the brand identity for a new Dress for Success clothing retail shop called Rosy in central Hamilton.
South African born Carmin Erasmus is in her final year studying towards a Bachelor of Design in visual communication. She spent her secondary school years at Rototuna High School and first heard about the Wintec | Te Pūkenga School of Media Arts by attending its annual end of the year Creative Showcase with her school group.
“I was in year 12 I just felt so inspired, oh my, this is what I want to do,” she says.
Now, nearly three years on, as a student she’d aspired to be, she's working with clients and has been able to deliver The Rosy Project.
Working directly with clients is something School of Media Arts students are used to as it is integrated into the teaching and learning process. In the classroom students are given a brief, meet with clients and then they go on to pitch their ideas to the client, with the top pitch going on to be implemented. For Rosy, Erasmus says she was fortunate to be selected, “They selected three designs that they liked, it then went to the board and was down to a vote.”
The design for branding Rosy, a new pre-loved clothing store launched by Dress for Success, was developed after identifying the need for a permanent shop, with both Auckland and Wellington branches of the organisation having gone through this process.
“They wanted to open up a shop to sell the donated clothes and to kind of make money for Dress for Success and build the brand,” says Erasmus.
She says the whole idea behind Rosy is that she's meant to be like a best friend. “A lot of women who are struggling would go to Dress for Success, but maybe once they've gone into the workforce they could come back to Rosy and support other women. It’s kind of like shopping in your best friend's closet.”
The collaboration is a result of Wintec | Te Pūkenga Team Manager Julie Ashby’s connections with Hamilton City Business Association [HCBA], as she’s on the board and is “always looking for suitable non-profit projects students can participate in to provide industry connection, hands on skills and applied and meaningful projects. Being able to understand the process of working with a client and understanding how an idea can actually become a reality, is essential learning for emerging designers.”
Erasmus explains that “when I was first designing, I didn't think about materials, for example, the vinyl where there's only a specific colour range. Now having my workflow through to a completed project, I think I understand how your final design is actually going to be implemented”. She also says she became more confident getting quotes, working with timelines and working within a non-for-profit structure.
Wintec | Te Pūkenga third year Bachelor of Design (Spatial) students were also enlisted to develop proposals for the layout and fit-out of the clothing shop. “They were involved in developing the client brief, listening to the client needs, and specific requirements from Jane Rotton and the team at Dress for Success,” says Spatial Design tutor Megan Scott.
Scott says that students gained real-world experience working with the client.
“They visited the site, did site measurements, developed a concept design solution and pitched it to the client. These are all such valuable learning experiences that offer our students a connection to industry clients and an accurate experience about what working in the industry is like,” she says.
“The result is a welcoming space to suit the functional requirements of the retail, boutique dressing, office and other spaces that help the company to fulfil their vision”.
Read more news from School of Media Arts:
