We asked 45 students to design clothing inspired by the Ocean

Behind our Ocean-themed design challenge for illustration students 

It was March 2024. Our Youth Engagement Lead, Gemma, was standing in front of 45 MA Illustration students at the University of Edinburgh – and she had a challenge for them. 

The challenge? Soak up the Ocean science she’d be delivering in our Wavemaker workshop and then, bring it to life through new designs for our sustainable apparel store, inspired by the Ocean.  

Live design brief meets Ocean conservation 

The Live Design Brief – created in consultation with the Illustration Programme Director, Amy – asked the students to ‘re-introduce the Ocean’ to the Ocean Generation community. 

The challenge provided the students tangible substance of what it means to be strategically creative, meet the requirements of a live client brief and deliver a project that’d be used in the real world. 

What started as an educational Wavemaker workshop resulted in a collection of sustainable clothing inspired by the Ocean – designed by students.  

The students had the opportunity to engage with Ocean Generation at multiple points along their design journey; reflecting the client relationship they’d have when working in the industry.  

How the Wavemaker collection came to life 

STEP 1: Students participated in our Wavemaker Workshop and learned more about the Ocean. 

STEP 2: Gemma and Amy (MA Illustration Programme Director) led an ideation session to get creativity flowing. 

STEP 3: Students pitched initial ideas to Gemma and Amy. 

STEP 4: Students submitted their first drafts for feedback from the Ocean Generation Team. This allowed for client feedback, concept iteration, and facilitated project management skill-building.  

We were so impressed with their initial sketches. Many of the students had done extra research around the Ocean, to inform their work. 

STEP 5: Students submitted final designs to be used on sustainable clothing inspired by the Ocean. 

STEP 6: The most difficult job yet – choosing the winners!  

What did the students learn before designing the collection?  

Why is the Ocean important?

Students learnt about the importance of our Ocean: How it provides us with every second breath we take, covers 70% of our blue planet and gives us the fundamental resources we need to survive. 

We discussed 5 Ocean Threats caused by human action. Think climate change, pollution, coastal infrastructure development, resource extraction and daily Ocean use. And zoomed in on the problem of plastic pollution. We explored incredible Ocean solutions that brilliant Wavemakers across the world have come up with, to help tackle pollution. 

We also talked about some of the amazing creatures in our Ocean and what they provide our world with. For example, whale falls.  

What is a whale fall?

A whale-fall is another name for the death of a whale. Soon after a whale dies, it sinks to the Ocean floor. It provides an essential marine ecosystem as other animals feed on the remains. 

Over 21 marine animals rely on whale-falls to survive. The incredible contribution of whales served as inspiration for two of the final designs are now featured in our Ocean-themed clothing store.  

What stories inspired the sustainable collection?

Gemma had some interesting discussions with students as they developed their designs. 

One of our whale-fall designers, Jingyuan Liu, told us how her design was inspired by the news of a whale mother passing away and her calf using its body to hold up its mother and prevent her from sinking.

This really highlighted the connection between humans and Ocean creatures – each caring for each other, and experiencing grief for our loved ones.  

Sarah Stegall‘s seal design was inspired by a visit to the beach in La Jolla, California and the group of seals she saw basking in the sunshine.

The experience reminded her that it was the little things in life, like enjoying the sun or observing seals enjoying the sun that can have a lasting impact on us. If we don’t take care of the natural world around us, we’ll begin to lose those little moments in life. 

Clothing inspired by the Ocean, for Ocean lovers  

We’re so excited to share the Designed by You: Wavemakers edition. The collection features 5 designs by 4 graduates of the MA Illustration programme at the University of Edinburgh. You can now purchase these designs, which will support our Ocean education charity.

This is just the beginning for projects like this at Ocean Generation. We’re exploring more ways to facilitate live briefs with different organisations and universities.  

Book us to deliver a project like this  

We offer live briefs in various creative pursuits across the UK, from illustration to theatre and filmmaking to game design.

If you are interested in bringing an experience like this one to your college, university or youth group, please get in touch here.

Post by

Gemma Connell