V&A Museum Critique at LCC

Second year students from GMD took part in an exciting bespoke brief set by the V&A Design Deparment this summer. To coincide with Alexander McQueen’s ‘sell-out’ show ‘Savage Beauty’ students visited the exhibition and responded to a brief which asked them to design a poster and marketing campaign with linked Private view invitations.

The challenge was especially interesting to the students because the brief asked the communication to be ‘Thrilling, beautiful, spectacular and dramatic’ reflecting the work on display while also adhering to strict V&A branding guidelines. This is the first and largest retrospective of the late designer’s work to be presented in Europe and the promotion had to showcase Alexander McQueen’s visionary work but also reflect ’Savage Beauty’ and Mcqueen’s obsession with the brutality and mechanics of nature. Design director Claude D’Avoine was delighted by the range of approaches and felt that students had produced ‘brave and exciting work’ which supported the dramatic staging of the exhibition and sense of spectacle synonymous with Mcqueen’s runway shows. The original version of Savage Beauty at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York in 2011 was organised by the Costume Institute and became one of the Museum’s most visited exhibitions ever. Design tutor Sarah Temple ran the project with a very specific objective: ‘This was a great project for students because they had to consider Mcqueen’s motivations and creativity above their own; so many restrictions made it a tougher challenge and a fantastic contrast to other more open briefs that they receive’

Claude D’ Avoine, design director at the V&A conducting a crit at the London College of Communication with Year 2 Diploma in Professional Studies students