Bringing Industry into the Classroom: Live Briefs in the Bachelor of Media Design
At Media Design School, we’re committed to graduating students who are ready to hit the ground running in the design industry. A major contributor to our high employment rate among graduates is our dedication to work-readiness, which we foster through industry-driven projects.
Our Bachelor of Media Design (BMD) programme, for example, integrates live industry briefs, giving students the opportunity to collaborate with well-known companies, developing not only technical skills but also critical soft skills that are essential in any creative career.
The recent live briefs in the BMD programme showcased this unique learning approach. In the second year of the BMD, students specialising in Interactive, Motion, and Graphic Design tackled real-world challenges set by prominent industry leaders like Sony Music, Spark, and the Auckland War Memorial Museum.
Here’s a glimpse into what each collaboration brought to our students’ experience:
Sony Music New Zealand
Our students had the chance to work closely with Sony Music artists, including Shelton Woolright and Alex Thompson from Made You Look, as well as Lizzie McGowan from Sony Music. For eight weeks, students worked on a project inspired by the music and vision of the artists, who provided ongoing creative direction and feedback. This collaboration enabled students to explore creative boundaries and gain insights directly from professionals in the music industry, making for a meaningful and inspiring project.
Spark New Zealand
This year’s partnership with Spark continued a longstanding tradition of collaboration, with outcomes from these projects having previously won recognition at both the Best Awards and the Creativepool Annual Awards. With guidance from Spark’s own creative team, students worked on a design brief that blended innovative thinking with practical outcomes. Through this, they learned firsthand how to approach projects that might go on to earn accolades in competitive, real-world settings.
Auckland War Memorial Museum
Our Year Two Motion Design students took on a UX-focused live brief with the Auckland War Memorial Museum’s Digital Experience team. Over eight weeks, they tackled design challenges, working under the mentorship of Nolwenn Lacire and Joshua Radford from the museum. This project equipped students with hands-on UX design skills and exposed them to the intricacies of designing digital experiences for a public institution.
Each of these collaborations exemplifies how MDS integrates real industry work into our curriculum, providing an environment where students can flourish under the guidance of creative professionals and develop the skills they’ll need for the future. Our live briefs help us achieve our mission of creating industry-ready graduates, and for students, the experience is as rewarding as it is transformative.
