The TU Dublin Graduate Exhibition is an annual event showcasing student works. The primary target audience includes graduating students, faculty staff and professionals or potential employers. Our secondary audience includes potential future students aspiring to join our college as designers and design enthusiasts from the public who support creative industries and emerging talents.
The aim of this project was to create a vibrant visual identity for the exhibition, reflecting the collective identity of the graduating students. Featuring work from 13 disciplines across the Schools of Art & Design, Media, Conservatoire, and Mechanical Engineering, the design symbolically represents students as atomised particles of type—distinct yet unified.
We interviewed graduating students from all 13 disciplines, focusing on their opinions and practices to capture their authentic voices. These interviews shaped the words and phrases in our atomised typography, ensuring our visual identity reflects genuine student experiences and perspectives. These particles are composed of letters that form words and meanings derived from student voices. Shades of yellow are central to our identity, framing the design with positive energy, joy, vitality, and warmth. Employing black and white imagery in our identity underscores the unity and cohesion of our diverse student body, highlighting a collective identity that transcends individual differences. The identity is showcased in print and digital media: publications, invitations, posters, our website, social media, banners and a wayfinding system, extending into the exhibition space through strategic architectural interventions.
Throughout the building, artificial and natural light are used by incorporating gels and yellow lights to enhance each exhibition space and entrance. Yellow gels on windows mirror the colour treatment in our print elements and transform through light, infusing the environment with vibrancy and energy. Vinyl cut letters serve as wayfinding elements and spatial design features, integrating student voices into the campus landscape.
From print and digital media to architectural interventions, this identity invites the broader audience to celebrate and connect with our graduates' achievements. Creating a cohesive and dynamic visual narrative that reflects and unites our students' work through a vibrant identity.
Eilis Espina / Miriam Hurley / Sarah McEvilly / Ying Qi Tang