City duo have designs on top tech firms

Thursday 24 February 2011

City duo have designs on top tech firms

Two Glasgow students caught the attention of two of the world’s biggest computer brands.

Derek Bowers and Iain MacDonald, graphic design students from Cardonald College, are now acting as consultants with US giants Apple and Adobe.

Derek, 24, from Sandyhills in Glasgow, recently graduated, but was approached in his final year by computer giants Apple after they spotted his work online. He said: “We were set a task in our final year at Cardonald to create a calendar for 2011. I wanted to make something that was relevant world-wide so created a calendar based on the globally recognised colour wheel, using a mosaic made up of 1440 different images. “I put the final design on my online portfolio and to date it has had 9000 views and featured on blogs all over the world.” But Derek was amazed when he received an e-mail from Apple. He added: “It was from Apple’s art director in New York, saying that he really liked my calendar and asking where he could get a copy for their studio. “I intended the calendar to have global appeal, but it’s incredible to think that what started as a college project has ended up on the wall of Apple’s New York design studio. Iain, 21, from the Outer Hebrides, but now living in the city, was contacted by software firm Adobe, makers of Photoshop and Illustrator, after they spotted an online tutorial he created for their drawing application. Iain said: “I was looking for apps for drawing on my iPhone. I liked the Adobe one and decided to create a tutorial on how best to use the app for my design blog. The next morning I got an e-mail from Adobe in San Francisco saying they’d love to link up to the tutorial. Needless to say, I said yes! “I’ve struck up a good relationship with their head of apps. She asked me to film a video about the app for a compilation they were putting together, which the TV department at Cardonald helped me to do. “I check in with them fairly often. It is exciting to be involved with such a major company.”

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