Success story: Gemma Rose

My name is Gemma Rose, I am 25-years-old, I studied Graphic Design BA (Hons) at University Centre South Essex from 2015 to 2018 and this is my story.

I finished secondary school and attended South Essex college to study Fine Art. I’ve always been into illustration and felt this was the next step for me. I knew I wanted to go to university, but I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do. I then completed a Level 4 Foundation course in photography as photography was something I also had interest in. Here I experimented with mixing photography and illustration.

My photography tutor at the time suggested I check out the Graphic Design course, one thing led to another and I found myself on the BA Graphic Design course. In total I was at the college and university for six years.

Since completing the course I’ve met and worked with some great people. I’ve worked with rapper Slowthai to produce album merchandise, illustrated a series of children’s books, produced hundreds of illustrations to be used alongside school learning resources and had a lot of fun.

I’m currently working as a freelance illustrator and designer at a co-working space just outside of Southend with other creatives. It’s a big studio with other creatives doing their own thing. Freelancing can get a bit lonely, so it’s nice to be around other creatives.

That’s one of the great things about being a freelancer, you can really be doing dramatically different projects every time. One week you might be designing a logo for a small company, the next you’re working with Slowthai’s design team. At the moment, I’m currently designing and illustrating a series of books for a client, which is something I thoroughly enjoy. It’s all about bringing people’s ideas to life.

I was a remote-working design lead for a company producing school resources for nearly three years, then COVID-19 happened and I ended up losing my job. But one door closes and another opens. I found other projects to keep me busy and embraced working as a freelance illustrator and designer.
University Centre South Essex was such a good experience and every tutor I had was passionate about what they taught and really wanted you to succeed. It was also convenient location with great travel links to London and cheaper tuition fees.

I learnt a lot of new skills from the course and my peers which definitely helped shape me into the creative I am now. I found that the course helped me think more conceptually and ‘out of the box’ when approaching projects and clients. It’s also helped boost my confidence when presenting work and ideas.

What I enjoyed most was the amount of freedom you have and the good feeling of progressing towards your future aims and goals. Also I enjoyed meeting new people, getting new perspectives and bouncing off ideas and knowledge to each other.

When you’re a freelancer you have to supply your own equipment unfortunately, but I took full advantage of using the equipment available at the university, whether that be the full access to the Adobe software or raiding the cupboards for ink and paint brushes. You’d often find me in the screen-printing room or being experimental with new and unusual materials. 

I would recommend University Centre South Essex as I feel you have more time with your tutors compared to others I know who went to universities elsewhere. It’s also a nice environment, the people are friendly and the tutors and staff will help you in any way that they can.
My ambitions would be to revisit one of my old projects, a book I wrote and illustrated as part of a final project during my Graphic Design course. I’d love to redo it and get it published.

University definitely helped me build my confidence when presenting my project outcomes in front of a group and made me confident in my own abilities. 

For more information on the Graphic Design programme, visit: www.southessex.ac.uk/course/graphic-design-ba-hons