Something’s been cooking at The Unknown Creative. It’s been part of the agency’s fabric since it started 15 years ago, but now it’s formalised and we’ve given it a name.
Design School is The Unknown Creative’s module-based training program for grads and junior creatives launched in September 2024. Covering the fundamentals of brand, strategy, and craft, it’s intended as an in-studio follow-on from university education but with one key difference. During Design School, creatives take what they’re learning from independent research and apply it directly to the real-world client briefs we’re working on as an agency.
Junior Designer, Sian, is the first to ‘officially’ enrol in Design School, following other junior members of The Unknown Creative team who’ve been trained up at the agency since 2009.
John Dunne, agency founder, says: “Since starting up in 2009, investing in junior talent has always been big part of the agency’s DNA. We are here to give them a great start in the UK design industry. And we also love to discover what makes them tick.”
So, what can juniors expect from the Design School curriculum?
Module One looks at Design History. Sian’s been exploring art and design movements from the past and modern-day; the impact they had, how they’ve been commercialised, and the lessons they hold for brand designers. The studio walls have been decorated with examples from Neo-expressionism, Bauhaus, Punk, and Pop Art to name but a few. We’ve all got a favourite art movement here at The Unknown Creative, so The Wall has sparked plenty of interest and chatter.
The Design School program will go on to unpack principles including typography, colour, brand strategy and storytelling, design for print, digital, and mobile, plus ethics in design.
Sian says “Kickstarting with Design History module at TUC has been an exciting experience as a start of industry life. As a recent uni graduate, it was great to go back to learning about art movements, then discussing them and how they have influenced design today.
“Out of all my movements researched, I loved Punk, and how it influenced design – my favourite example being Jamie Reid and his iconic album cover designs for the Sex Pistols. Looking into certain movements made me realise how other creative industries crossover and influence graphic design such as fashion, music and architecture.
“From Newcastle College to Northumbra University and now my learning journey continues at TUC! So far it’s been a widely varied experience of learning, workshops, client work and much more. In these past few months, the team has guided me along the way and have introduced me to industry life in the best way possible. Loving it!”
And we’ve already noticed how Design School brings the team together. Not only in the modules where a specific skill is being taught, like our studio lead James talking about type or Andrew, our animator, chatting on the basics of motion graphics. But also in passing conversation and pop-up workshops, where we all naturally gravitate towards discussion and debate — simply for the love of design and building brands.
We’re excited to share Design School with more creatives (at all levels!) as our team continues to grow.