GRAPHIC design students at Forth Valley College are benefitting from being able to work with real clients alongside their studies.

Lecturers are the college worked with first and second year students to create the Design Collective to allow students to connect with organisations in the local community.

Owen McArdle, from Tillicoultry, is a second year on the HND Graphic Design course and said the collective has helped him experience working with real clients for the first time.

He said: "I think it has been important for us to work on live projects through the design collective.

"The experience of working on live briefs gives us an ideal insight into what it will be like in the workplace, dealing with actual clients.

"It is slightly different to working on class projects as we need to liaise with the client closely and work to quicker turnarounds and deadlines.

"We have produced designs for business cards and book covers and used techniques such as printmaking and heat press as well as taking photographs.

"I feel we as students have come on leaps and bounds because of this."

Since forming the collective, students have worked with Community Schools 2008 Charity, Alloa Athletic FC and provided marketing materials for the college.

Hannah Keba, FVC Creative Industries lecturer, said: "The Design Collective has been a pilot project designed to give our HND Graphic Design students the opportunity to put their skills into action, where students have been able to opt-in and have selected the design jobs they wished to take on.

"We are immensely proud of all the participants who have been enthusiastic contributors.

"Many have been able to explore different ways of generating income from their work, and all have interacted with clients and created professional projects to be proud of.

"We plan to develop and grow the Design Collective into a self-sustaining business, and we are currently applying for funding to support this."