Roulette 2022
Our inaugural Roulette project featured some fantastic work: seven worthy finalists, two runners up in Chloe and Juliette, and a winner in Hesk.
As mentioned in a previous post, Roulette is our annual awards scheme in collaboration with the University of Lincoln, SODA Studios and The CDCT, and was inspired by one of Cam’s favourite projects – and the one he described as a ‘game-changer’.
Russell Potter, founder of SODA said “We were approached by the Graphic Design Course leaders at Lincoln University to take a lead in the Roulette Design Brief in memory of former graphic student Cam Day.
The idea was to formulate 12 very short, concise statement that would act as a very open ended start to a brief. We wanted to capture the students’ imagination but also allow plenty of room for interpretation to see where each statement could be taken. After brainstorming the concept, our team of graphic designers, architects and interior designers all collaborated to formulate the statements and hone them for presentation to this year’s cohort.
This year the SODA team chose twelve starting statements that students picked with the help of an online roulette wheel. These were:
Look up look down
Same old
Here’s looking at you
From dawn to dusk
They said
Command Z
Say it like it is
The grass is always greener
What goes around comes around
Every now and then
You only see what you’re looking for
Stick to your guns
The starting statement could be explored in any way, and the openness of the project allowed students to push themselves out of their comfort zones and/or choose to tackle something which would be a great addition to their portfolio.
“3 months later, we met to review the 10 shortlisted projects and the calibre of design work was really impressive – beyond any of our expectations. It was amazing to see the breadth of design that came from these statements. At SODA we pride ourselves on being experimental and free thinking – and we saw the same attributes in the designs presented to us. We have really enjoyed this collaboration with Lincoln University and wish all the students well on their future studies and careers.“
Shortlisted projects from Lily, Alex R, Andrew, Darren, Chloe G, Hesk, Juliette, Owen, Aimee and Chloe D featured some strong ideas and so much variety which was great to see. The students presented with such confidence to the judging panel, and Rhona and other staff members didn’t envy the panel’s task of choosing a winner and two runner ups.
The runners-up were Juliette’s Elevate (based on ‘Look up, look down’); a three-step campaign to help individuals overcome their fear of heights using VR technology and an app; and Chloe G’s Be the Change (based on ‘Say it like it is’); a campaign designed for Greenpeace which emphasised the need to act, not react to climate change. Follow Juliette here and Chloe G here.
The winner was Hesk’s Grit, (based on ‘Stick to your guns’); a beautifully made book documenting stories over decades from Lincoln Mountaineering Club, which was presented to the judges ‘As good as a TED Talk’. Follow Hesk here.
Huge congratulations to all of this year’s finalists!