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Quick Chat Print – Caxton, working with design students

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Janice Page Caxton

We recently caught up with Janice Page, General Manager at Caxton, to hear her thoughts on working with the current crop of Kiwi design students. Caxton (formerly The Caxton Press) was founded in Christchurch in 1935 by celebrated New Zealand poet and publisher Denis Glover. The award-winning printery has a long history of producing high quality work and supporting the local industry. Recently, Caxton printed the NZ edition of the BJ Ball Calendar featuring winning entries from our 2024 Student Design Contest. Here’s how it all went down… GSM: Does Caxton have much involvement with Tertiary design schools and their...

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2024 Student Design Contest – Visions of the Future

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2024 student design contest Visions of the Future

Once again, the BJ Ball/Ball & Doggett Student Design Contest for 2024 was a great success and the resulting calendar showcases some of our fantastic emerging talent. The contest theme for 2024 was Visions of the Future—an expression of the future through type and colour. Students were tasked with creating a short saying about how the world may change for the better, and then to create a visual expression of this using type, colour, graphics and/or photography. Students were also required to match their design to a BJ Ball/Ball & Doggett paper stock from a provided swatch of samples. Judging...

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Student Design Contest 2023 – Seasons in Type

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student design contest seasons in type

Our annual Student Design Contest, Seasons in Type, yielded another fab crop of entries - Here are the winners... The annual BJ Ball/Ball & Doggett Student Design Contest for 2023 followed the same format as in previous years. Two calendars were produced—one for Australia printed by Special T Print in Sydney, and a New  Zealand version printed by Centurion in Auckland. Both featured winners from their respective countries as well as a selection of ‘best of the best’ trans-Tasman winners that appeared in both. The Brief The contest brief was simple—create a colour palette for one of the four Seasons,...

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First Portfolio

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portfolio

If you are a Vis-Com student with your sights set on a career as a graphic designer, at some point, you'll need to create a portfolio to showcase your skills to potential employers. In this article, we take a look at some basics to help get things moving in the right direction. First, let’s get this on the table—creating a portfolio can be challenging. So if you are feeling this way, you are certainly not alone. Aside from the high stakes of ‘getting it right’, this task can be difficult because you are curating your own work. This involves critiquing...

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2022 Student Design Contest + 2023 Calendar

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student design contest calendar

For 2022, the Student Design Calendar Contest was opened up to entries from both sides of the Tasman. The result was a fantastic range of dynamic submissions - and two great calendars. Here are the winning entries... For many years the BJ Ball Student Design Content was a mainstay for tertiary students studying visual communication in New Zealand. Not only was it an exercise in offering the students some real-life experience in the world of commercial print but the students also gained recognition as a Calendar Contest winner. After taking a brief hiatus in the 2010s, BJ Ball reintroduced the...

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Australian Print Apprentice of the Year 2022

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print apprentice of the year 2022

One of the highlights of the Australian National Print Awards is the Apprentice of the Year - celebrating emerging industry talent. The team at GSM donned our best threads and went along to catch up with the two finalists> The Australian National Print Awards provide an opportunity to recognise the skill and craftsmanship of the Australian Print and Visual Communications industry. The Apprentice of the Year is an auspicious, highly regarded and coveted award bestowed only on those who display the highest level of skill in their field. Having achieved the top echelon of performance within their State before vying...

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New Zealand Print Apprentice of the Year Awards 2022

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AOY 2022

One of the highlights of the annual Pride in Print Awards is the Apprentice of the Year - celebrating emerging industry talent. The team at GSM donned our best threads and went along to catch up with the five finalists. Pride in Print 2022 was held in the newly opened Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre—a stunning venue for this prestigious event. As always, one of the most anticipated awards bestowed on the night is the BJ Ball Apprentice of the Year— propelling a select group of emerging industry talent into the limelight. For the Apprentice of the Year awards—one finalist...

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Design Graduate

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student graduate portfolio

As a graduate, and with the end of the year in sight, you will be one of many looking to break into the industry. We, therefore, thought it might be timely to cover some basics in seeking that ever important first gig> Anyone who has built a successful design career—knows how hard it is to secure that first industry gig. So, you’re most definitely not alone. With approximately a thousand design students graduating every year in New Zealand, realistically, there are not enough positions for everyone (at least—not at the same top agencies). As a graduate, you’re in a school...

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BJ Ball Student Design Contest 2021

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student design contest

The BJ Ball Student Design Contest was back in 2021— Here's a Look at the 12 Winning Entries... For many years the BJ Ball Calendar was a mainstay design contest for any Tertiary student studying graphic design in New Zealand. The premise was simple—submit a design that answers the brief. Following the contest, the 12 winning entries were featured in the calendar, which went out to print companies and design studios around the country. For the winning students, this meant industry recognition. For BJ Ball, the calendar was a platform to showcase a range of paper stocks. A win-win situation....

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From Study to Studio – How to make the transition….

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GSM chats with Josiah Rees, 2020 Gold Pin winner at Best for student graphics. We ask the question.... What's it been like transitioning from study to the 'Real World'? Kia ora, I was born and raised in Ōtautahi, Christchurch, with a designer for a dad, Dad introduced me to InDesign at around the age of 14. Some of my earliest designs were the cover of my year 10, school leaver’s magazine and a logo, or two. Some of which my dad included in some concepts for his clients. From then on I was set on design and it was a...

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