The Shakes inspire Joshua to global design success

An American rockabilly punk band has proved to be a prize-winning inspiration for design student Joshua Middleditch.

He has clinched second place in a global competition, the D&AD (Design and Art Direction) student design awards, where judges were wowed by his creative proposals involving USA band The Shakes.

Joshua, 21, lives in Hartlepool and is originally from Whitby. He has just finished the second year of his BA (Hons) Graphic Design and entered the illustration category of the student competition run by D&AD, an international organisation.

The design brief for this category was set by Diesel clothes, challenging entrants to devise an innovative way to boost CD sales by putting illustration and artwork back into music.

Creating an experience Joshua said: 'I chose The Shakes as they’re a lesser known band and wanted to create an experience for the band’s audience. So underwear would be the ticket to the gig rather than a printed piece of paper, to reflect Diesel’s ethos.

'The fans would then take photos wearing these and upload them to the band’s Facebook page to receive an exclusive song. I just thought this would be a different way of connecting loyal fans with their band.'

From thousands of world-wide entries, ten were nominated, with Joshua coming second.

He added: 'I was pretty amazed to get second place, a lot of people couldn’t believe I was a second year student. It’s made me feel more confident about where I am creatively.'

Following his competition success, Joshua has secured two design work placements in London and Leeds.

---