UoN x STB Live Brief 2026

For this year’s live brief with the University of Northampton, we set students the task of rebranding a community organisation or venue. It’s the third year we’ve run the brief and each time we get an amazing variety of responses.

We asked students to consider the smaller venues, charities or grassroots organisations that don’t often have the budget or time to invest heavily in design. An open brief like this gives the students opportunity to create a personal project, resulting in a unique piece of work to feature in their portfolio.

As it’s up to the students to choose the client, we always get a real variety of responses, ranging from a taxidermy museum in East London to a local music venue in Bedford.

Following a virtual briefing, we ran an interim crit to chat through and offer feedback on their initial ideas before they submitted their final responses. Here are some of our favourites:

Close Encounters
Connor King

“Close Encounters has been redesigned as a modern community-focused comic space with a refreshed visual identity aimed at attracting both existing fans and establishing new audiences. Comics are close to my heart, so choosing Close Encounters felt natural. I realised comic shops can feel intimidating to new customers, so I rebranded the space into a modern community hub that feels more open and welcoming.”

See more of Connor’s work here

160 years of art education
Shahbaaz Zeb

“160 years is a big milestone, covering all forms of art being taught at the University of Northampton. The creative challenge was to create an identity which could represent all the creative arts. From my research, I found some interesting shapes from a sculpture in the archives which is still on campus today. I decided to use those shapes to create a modular word using ‘art’ which was recreated in different ways, including a 3D version”

See more of Shahbaaz’s work here

Swindon Harriers Athletics Club
Zachary Sparkes

“My aim was to give Swindon Harriers a new brand identity. It’s a local athletics club which I’ve been a part of for eight years, so it made the project a personal one. I wanted to promote the athletics club for sponsors to help raise funds to support the track being resurfaced.”

See more of Zachary’s work here