NC Art and Design Portfolio students at Ayrshire College took part in a poster design competition to highlight the dangers of carrying a knife.

This competition continued the work of the College’s Respect Week held in December 2013 and involving partners such as Police Scotland, Women’s Aid, NHS Addiction Services, Scottish Fire and Rescue, the Lighthouse Foundation and Inverclyde Anti Knife Crime Group.

Respect Week provided a wealth of safety information to students and staff across all campuses of Ayrshire College. It was a knife crime presentation delivered during that week which inspired the students to use their creative skills to raise awareness amongst young people of the dangers of carrying a knife.

They devised a poster competition with the class creating different designs which all reinforced the anti-knife message. Ayrshire College Campus Liaison Officer, PC Claire Walker was asked to judge the competition and Lucy Hulbert’s ‘Stop Knife Crime’ won, while classmate Heather Barbour’s ‘Beat the Blade’ was chosen as runner-up.

Competition winner Lucy Hulbert said “I am delighted to have won this competition. After learning more about knife crime and the impact it can have, I wanted to create a poster which would help to spread the message about the dangers to young people of carrying knives and what the consequences can be. I created my poster using a cut paper technique to create a collage and applied bold colours to give the poster maximum impact. I am very proud of my finished piece.” Hazel Connelly, creative industries lecturer said “The competition was created as part of the course unit ‘Introduction to Graphic Design’ and offered the students a great opportunity to work on a ‘live’ brief. It allowed them to improve their skills, particularly in taking a project from initial brief through to delivery to the client. The class produced excellent work and all who took part should be proud of themselves.” Claire Walker, Ayrshire College campus liaison officer said “I was delighted to be asked along to look at the students’ poster designs. I am pleased that Respect Week was successful in creating discussion around knife crime and personal safety among young people. The input on knife crime was delivered to the students during Respect Week by John Muir, Chairman of Inverclyde Anti Knife Crime Group who himself lost his son to a knife attack. The winning poster created by Lucy Hulbert was very bold and at the same time delivered the message ‘a moment of anger, a lifetime of pain’ which I think emphasises the effect his input had on the students. This project is another good example of the opportunities being taken by young people across Ayrshire College to promote and deliver crime prevention to our communities.”