When something doesn’t light a fire within you, keep going until you find your passion. Mum of three Emma McVerry from Crossmaglen did just that. Emma recently graduated from the Graphic Design Higher National Diploma at Southern Regional College, on Friday 29th August, and picked up the part-time ‘Student of the Year’ Award for her immense efforts during her programme of study. No stranger to education, Emma has a degree in Software Development from DKiT. However, it wasn’t the right fit.
Like many young people considering their future, Emma had originally intended on becoming a teacher and took A-levels in Religious Studies, Business Studies and ICT, but was swayed down the path of Software Development, as that’s where the job market was.
“When I first went to university, I studied Software Development at DKIT. While I enjoyed working on front-end design, the creative and technical aspects of designing the user interface ensuring they were appealing, user-friendly, and efficient, I didn’t enjoy the back-end coding side of things. It made me realise that my interest lay more in the visual and creative aspects.”
With a Software Development degree under her belt, Emma leaned into her creative side, using the Photoshop and InDesign knowledge she had gained over the years on small projects on the side at home finding enjoyment in that line of work.
A few years later and now with three young children to care for, Emma decided to return to education and study something she genuinely enjoyed, but that would also fit around family life. Emma said:
“The HND in Graphic Design at Southern Regional College felt like the right choice. It was creative, practical, and offered part-time study, which made it manageable alongside other commitments.”
Returning to study is no mean feat. It’s an adjustment for everyone in the household. Emma highlights that one of the most challenging aspects returning to education was the adjustment to allocating time for studies. She says:
“Getting back into the routine for studying was hard at first. That first assignment was overwhelming as it had been years since I’d studied properly and I found it hard to get into the mindset again. But once I got into the rhythm of it, everything clicked.”
For her final project, Emma combined photography and illustration to create ‘Oscar the Brave’, a piece which she and others could get something back from.
“I created a children’s book based on my sister’s horse-riding school, Tate Hill Stables. My sister Amy works with a lot of children with additional needs who have developed an attachment with the horses at the riding school, so I thought it would be nice for the kids to have something their parents could read to them, or the kids themselves could flick through in their own time.”
She continued:
“I photographed the stables and the horses and created illustrations for the book called ‘Oscar the Brave’. Alongside the printed book, I made a large physical two-metre-tall wooden book, with laser cutouts, for the end of year exhibition. I then hand painted the wooden pieces to replicate the illustrations in the book.”
Alongside running two social media pages, one which she created to document her coursework and another offering freelance design services, from personalised illustration projects, banners to bespoke gifts, Emma plans on returning to Southern Regional College in September to undertake the part-time Creative Imaging BA (Hons) top-up degree at the College’s Banbridge campus, …where she is already thinking about what she may produce for her final exhibition in 2 years’ time.
Connect with Emma on Instagram via her social media handles @emmamcvdesign or @idesign_emv.
ENDS
CLANRYE NEWS 