Up Close with Our 2011 Student Competition Second-Place Winner

Our 2012 Student Design Competition is officially open! To help get the creative juices flowing, we're going to take a closer look at this past year's winners.

Derek Eng, who recently graduated from Ontario College of Art & Design, was our second-place winner in the 2011 competition. He also won third-place in last year's competition, and he again impressed us with his layered designs chock-full of information designed in a fun and approachable way. As the second-place winner, Derek won a $1,000 prize, the Adobe Creative Suite and an internship opportunity. Click through for the 2nd spread of his entry and for some insight into how he came up with his winning entry. We'll be posting the same for our other winners within the next few weeks, so keep coming back!



Second Place
DEREK ENG
SCHOOL: Ontario College of Art & Design
LEVEL:  Senior
INSTRUCTOR:  Karen Simpson
CATEGORY:  City/Regional

What was your inspiration in creating your entry?
Geography was always a favorite subject in school and I thought a street map would provide an ideal grid for a layout that needed to accommodate a lot of bite-sized pieces of information and photos about a city.
 
What was the biggest challenge in creating your entry, especially after being a winner last year?
Getting over the fear that it might not look too good if I enter again and don't do as well this year. Fortunately, I moved up a spot.
 
Any advice for students entering next year's competition?
Study the latest SPD annuals and remember that it's a student, not professional, competition. I know a lot of classmates who wanted to enter but didn't because they were afraid their entries weren't good enough.
 
What magazines do you turn to most for design inspiration?
It seems to change every few weeks, depending on what catches my eye at the newsstand. Lately though, I've been exploring a lot of foreign magazines, which have become much more accessible and affordable now that I have an iPad.
 
Did you participate in any publication- or design-related campus activities while in school?
Not so much when I was studying design. But when I was studying business the first time I did post-secondary, I realized I was passionate about magazines when I would spend more time designing and art directing the school's magazine as an extracurricular activity than doing my actual homework.

++++++++++++++

Wanna know how you can enter the 2012 competition to win money, cash and an internship? Click here for all the details. And comment below if you have any questions.