AN aspiring artist is on the way to forging her own career in design after creating a poster to help attract teenagers into the world of work.
Jamiela Nunez, 17, a sixth form student at Trinity Academy, in Thorne, has won a competition that will see her artwork displayed in schools across the UK.
Job Centre Plus (JCP) organised the challenge for a new promotional banner to be displayed at workshops and careers fairs as part of the Department for Work and Pension’s programme introducing teenagers to the world of work.
Jo Kelly, Schools Advisor for JCP in South Yorkshire, explained: “We identified that there was a need for a new poster that would attract students and their parents and so we invited schools from across the region to give us their input by coming up with ideas for a new design.
“We had an impartial judging panel – made up of students from a school that hadn’t taken part in the competition – and Jamiela’s design was the clear winner as it was so colourful and eye-catching.”
Jamiela said she was “surprised but delighted” to have won the top prize, beating off competition from schools across South Yorkshire.
After receiving her winner’s certificate and a voucher for the Frenchgate Centre in Doncaster, she said: “I really didn’t expect to win. I don’t normally enter competitions. I think I have the mindset that there’s no point because I won’t win! I only entered this time so that I could contribute something to Trinity.”
Explaining her winning design, Jamiela added: “The information we had to include was on a double-sided sheet of paper, but I instantly had the idea of squeezing it all onto one side so that it would be easy to find.
“I also knew that I needed to use bright colours to attract people, and incorporated hand-drawn images to do with school and work so that it all fit together.”
The competition has given the Art and Graphic Design student a boost of confidence, and she is now keener than ever to forge a career in the design industry.
The news that her banner would be displayed across the country also came as a shock to Jamiela, who said: “I just thought it would be going in the Job Centre in Thorne.
“This competition has given me a great opportunity to see what it’s like working to a design brief and to see whether it’s something I want to do. I’m really happy to have won!”