Delivering on its “print in action” vision, IPEX today, announced a design challenge aimed at apprentice graphic arts designers and students to create part of its 2017 advertising campaign.  

Apprentices and students, and designers working in the wider community aged under 25, are invited to develop and submit a design of a visitor promotion advertisement for IPEX. The winning designs will be run in the trade press over a five-month period. Entries will be judged by a panel comprising a publisher, marketing experts, graphics designers and chaired by IPEX Event Director, Rob Fisher.

“We felt this is a great way to engage with people who are currently completing apprenticeships in graphic arts and print companies, and with those designers aged under 25 who are working in the wider print community. It gives them an opportunity to showcase their work on an international stage”, commented Fisher.

The closing date for entries is April 30 and the winner will receive a MacBook Air with runners-up receiving gift vouchers to redeem for equipment of their own choice. Prizes will be presented at a ceremony held on the main stage of this years’ IPEX on November 1.

Professor Brian Minards, principal of Harrogate and London-based design consultants Minards Associates, and a Professor in the School of Advertising at Academy of Art University, San Francisco, said; “Print is where design meets the physical world, so to my mind it is vital that designers learn what it can do for them. This competition allows for young apprentices and students to experience what it’s like to produce designs that will work across different, integrated mediums.”

The competition is closely aligned with the Future Skills Zone, another new key feature at IPEX this year, and aimed specifically to help printers attract new talent into the industry. 

Full details of the competition can be found on the IPEX website: http://www.ipex.org/designchallenge 

IPEX is one of the world’s longest established exhibitions for the print industry with a heritage that dates back to the 1800’s. It is the UK’s largest print industry event and, according to show organizers, will attract some 20,000 visitors and 400 + exhibitors. The next edition takes place Oct. 31 to – Nov. 3 2017, at the NEC in Birmingham, UK.