Young artists at Stockton Riverside College were given the chance to put their design skills into practice and, by doing so, help out a good cause.

The students were challenged to come up with an illustration to represent A Way Out, the Teesside-based charity that supports vulnerable women, young people and families in Teesside.

“As a charity we are always looking for ways to engage with our communities to help spread the word,” said A Way Out’s chief executive officer Kay Nicolson.

“We got in touch with the college as we were looking for a strong image that really links to us, that we could use on our fundraising packs.”

With the chance to show what they can do the creative college students came up with a whole host of potential designs.

Kay said: “We were blown away by the quality of the work and the thought process behind it.”

Art and Design course lead Liz Dixon said: “This was such a valuable experience for our students as it gave them experience of how a working project, like this, would work in the real world.

“They were given a brief, they then presented their initial drafts to the charity, received feedback and then amended and refined their final designs.”

After shortlisting five finalists the charity ultimately chose two images to incorporate into their fundraising pack branding.

“My goodness did we struggle,” said Kay. “It was difficult to decide and impossible to choose just one. The two designs that we finally selected were particularly beautiful.”

Student Billie, said: “It was a shock at first to have my design chosen but it makes you feel more confident about your work. I chose the butterfly as it seems to represent what the charity is about.

Grace, 16, added: “I’m quite proud of myself to have my work chosen. For me the dandelion head represents freedom.”

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