Maritime Rescue Institute Rebrand

Live projects, in which students work on real solutions for real industry partners, are an essential part of many of the courses Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, has to offer. A recent project coordinated by Gray’s School of Art on behalf of the Maritime Rescue Institute (MRI) has seen three students participate in a rebranding exercise for MRI.

MRI is based in Stonehaven, Kincardineshire, and is recognised as a centre of excellence, providing specialist training and advisory services on all forms of waterborne emergency response to organisations and governments around the world. It also provides a 24-hour lifeboat service for the North-east coastline and now operates as an independent charity, relying on sponsorship from a number of companies, as well as seeking funding from the Lottery and other trusts and foundations. Shell U.K. Limited is one of the organisations which supports the charity and was able to put MRI in touch with the Gray’s students as part of an ongoing partnership it has with Robert Gordon University to utilise and nurture fresh talent.

As a result, three Gray’s design students Joel MacDonald (21) from Stonehaven, Robert Paul (21) from Elgin and Scott Mathieson (21) from Aberdeen have taken part in a project to rebrand MRI.

Joel has concentrated on reworking the MRI’s logo and corporate branding as part of his final year Graphic Design honours project and Robert, a Design for Digital Media student has created visuals for those who run MRI to see what they might hope to achieve from a major overhaul and extension of their existing headquarters. Scott, who is also a Design for Digital Media student is currently working on a new MRI website which will be launched later in the year.

Hamish McDonald, CEO and founder of MRI, is also a world-leading figure in waterborne emergency response and rescue and is absolutely delighted with what the students have come up with. He said, “Our product is knowledge. Our hands-on, real life experience and tremendous spread of contacts and projects is valuable to organisations much larger than our own and we also have a strong tradition of support to and from the local community.

“I think the corporate branding and website the students have worked on will really help to establish the Institute as an independent organisation and strengthen our position in both the local and international marketplace. It has also been fantastic to be able to utilise fresh local talent so we can see the proposed future of the MRI building by way of high-tech visuals and move forward with that insight.”

Cameron Craddock, Programme Leader for Communication Design at Gray’s School of Art commented: “This kind of live project ensures students gain relevant ‘real world’ experience and develop the necessary skills required of today’s digital designers. Design graduates are highly employable and develop a range of transferable skills whilst studying on the course.”

Shell’s Head of Communications, Steve Harris added, “The partnership between Gray’s and ourselves has been particularly fruitful because it has enabled MRI to benefit from the knowledge and skills of three talented individuals, Joel, Robert and Scott, whom we would not otherwise have had the opportunity to engage with.”

For further information about the digital media design courses at Gray’s, visit:
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