17th October 2001

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Two University of Ulster designers are set to rub shoulders with the stars, after they were nominated for a BAFTA award.

Norman Lawrence and Ronnie Baird, lecturers in Visual Communication from the University's School of Art and Design have been nominated for an award in the Interactive Entertainment category of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards 2001.

The BAFTAs are the world's largest and most prestigious interactive entertainment awards with entries ranging from WAP, CD-Roms, DVDs through to games, websites and digital television.

The two UU staff have been involved in the development of a DVD which explores the theory and practice of drawing in professions ranging from architectural design to fashion.

The University of Ulster worked with London Institute, Falmouth College of Arts and Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication in the development of the electronic learning DVD called "Seeing Drawing".

It can be integrated into teaching and learning in a variety of educational contexts, though primarily aimed at higher education.

Mr Baird said: “The concept of drawing as visual thought is crucial not just to art and design but to countless other disciplines such as engineering, architecture and technology”.

"Seeing Drawing" is in six parts - exploration, instrument, method, reflection, understanding and fashion. The University of Ulster was specifically responsible for the ‘method’ section, which explores how designers use drawing in their work.

Mr Baird said: “This clearly demonstrates the quality of the staff and graduates at the University of Ulster and shows that it is not necessary to leave the province to obtain content of an internationally accepted standard”.

He added: “This project is an excellent example of how higher education can be used creatively to build a product capable of competing with the work of commercial developers in a highly professional and competitive marketplace such as new media”.

As well as developing the University of Ulster content, Mr Lawrence and Mr Baird were also content and editorial advisors to the London Institute development team. They have published research papers in the UK, USA and New Zealand on their work on the project.

Both of them, along with colleague Andrew McConnell, have been international award winners before, gaining an IVCA award in the UK and USA for their video on the University's Faculty of Art and Design.

They are involved in research into interactive distance learning and are currently working on a number of web-based projects including a new MSc in 'Future Thinking' due to be launched in October next year and a fully interactive web-based foundation course in design called 'Design Intro'.

The BAFTA awards ceremony will be held in London on 25 October.

For further information, please contact:

Press Office Department of Communication and Development
Telephone: 028 9036 6178
Email: pressoffice@ulster.ac.uk