Adland: Creative Advertising students create in-house newspaper

First year students studying Creative Advertising came together to create the first edition of Adland, an in-house newspaper responding to their History of Advertising module.

Rebecca Wass, associate lecturer in Creative Advertising, spearheaded the project. Rebecca feels that collaborating on the newspaper was the perfect assignment for students at the beginning of their degree. "It takes their skills in copywriting further and enables them to explore the history of advertising through the themes and topics that interest them. One of my first jobs at an ad agency involved writing a donor magazine for UNICEF, so I believe this is really useful experience for them."

Creating a newspaper from scratch is a demanding project, and students were asked to undertake each step of the process. That meant combining the two main strands of their course; creating art and writing copy. Students used their design skillset to efficiently utilise white spaces in the newspaper, sourcing images to complement their articles and then redesigning them for their purposes, alongside learning how to write compelling headlines, standfirsts and, of course, the articles themselves.

The final product speaks for itself; Adland is packed full of interesting, diverse content. From pieces on how the restrictions placed on the tobacco industry forced advertisers to be more creative to articles on racial stereotyping in the industry, the newspaper is well worth exploring. The range of works shouldn't come as a surprise, as students were given free rein to write about the subjects that interested them most.

Rebecca believes that for students, the opportunity to develop their skills by writing feature articles is invaluable.

To be able to say to employers that, yes, I'm great at being a part of creative advertising projects but that I'm also able to write long-form articles, is a real asset. The newspaper is another addition to their portfolios and is physical proof that they can deliver on an ambitious project from scratch."

Bronwyn Cheshire is one of many students who were grateful for the opportunity to create Adland. Reflecting on her experience working on the publication, she says "often the past is overlooked. It's easily done when you're constantly focussed on bringing new creative ideas into the world. It can become harmful because there is so much to learn from the past... Adland served as an opportunity to look back at our industry and constructively give our critique of its actions.

The process has been valuable as, by educating ourselves of our industry's past, I feel more able to contribute to moving industry practice in the right direction once I graduate. Overall, it gave me more rounded knowledge of the world I'm going into."