Red & Yellow School’s students took home five student Loeries in total in 2016, including poster silver for “Hell, who’s in it”, publication design bronze for “Animal Farm Revisited”, integrated campaign bronze for Sii effluent detection’s “Swimming In It”, as well as package design bronze for both Converse All Stars’ “Blanc Canvas” and QE01 Philophobia’s “The Royal Tease”.

Silver & bronze for the Red & Yellers

As a result of this student award success, Red & Yellow School was ranked fifth in the Loeries’ ‘top educational institutions for 2016’ table. That’s proof that the Red & Yellow School really does create “marketing mavericks, creative magicians and digital ninjas,” or “Red & Yellers”.

Some of those include recent graphic design/art director graduate Mark Reichardt, responsible for the poster silver; graphic design/art director graduate Joshua Talmarkes, responsible for the package design bronze with copywriter Connor Newkirk; as well as graphic design/art director graduate Carina Bonse; and copywriter graduate Gabi van Niekerk behind the campaign bronze. Bonse says it’s been: ”Three years of late nights, hard work, lots of laughter and one or two tears.”

Some of Red & Yellow's past Loeries.

Van Niekerk and Bonse at Student Portfolio Day.

Talmarkes and Bonse.

Now they’ve got their wings and are ready to take flight. Reichardt plans to do so by freelancing. As he'd also like to get into the music and art world, he currently has some freelance design work going at the moment while working on a full-length album. Talmarkes, on the other hand, intends entering the advertising industry this year. He’s off to a good start, having already been scouted by various advertising agencies that he’ll make his decision from. He’s really enjoying his internship with Publicis Machine agency and hoping for a full-year internship there this year. Not one to rest on his laurels, he has already started planning his designs to be entered into this year’s Loerie Awards.

Then there’s Bonse, whose future plans are to get a job and do awesome work, while also working on a couple of side projects. With her accolade as AdFocus Student of the Year, Bonse is sure to do well. Her copywriting teammate Van Niekerk also has some exciting opportunities to choose between, but hasn’t made any final decisions yet, having just recently put her final portfolio and graduate exhibition together. Of her portfolio, she says: “It took blood, sweat and sleepless nights, and I’m so happy with the result! It’s an incredible feeling to have all of my final work completed.”

Red & Yellow's head of copy, Wendy Shepherd.

Red & Yellow senior lecturer for graphic design and art direction, Clayton Sutherland.

Sutherland and Shepherd.

Here Clayton Sutherland, Red & Yellow senior lecturer for graphic design and art direction, and Wendy Shepherd, Red & Yellow’s new head of copywriting, share how they plan on guiding this year’s students to greater heights, with Telmarkes, Bonse and Van Niekerk chiming in on who they most admire in the industry.

1. Share your top three emotions linked to your students’ Loeries’ wins and the School’s 2016 rankings.

Sutherland: Oh, we always have mixed emotions as lecturers as they're ultimately your briefs you put forward, and you just want the feedback received to match up with a few finalists at least. Last year was a tad disappointing as we had some great finalists (18 in total), but not all crossed the finish line as we’d anticipated, given 2015’s 7 student team wins. 2017 is a new year to look forward to in terms of continuing to raise the bar on our creative work and challenging the students with new briefs.

Shepherd: Unmitigated delight. Pride in my students. Deep satisfaction.

2. How do you plan on keeping – if not bettering – your rankings in 2017, as last year's graduates now enter the industry?

Sutherland: As lecturers and as a school, we’re always keen on bettering ourselves, naturally, as it reflects how the industry sees the level of work our students are producing and it’s a great benchmark. We enter a number of local and international awards each year, all of which are a fantastic opportunity to grow our students’ creative thinking and confidence in their ability to produce award-winning work.

Shepherd: Awards are a casino. Unless you're John Hunt (and even then) there just isn't a winning formula. R&Y is about passion - we pour it into everything we do. Hard graft, late nights, pushing creative far beyond the first ideas, fostering the best environment for our students and being there at the coalface with them throughout. If we're doing that, we're doing the most we possibly can. That's what we have always done. It is what we will continue to do.

3. Where are you displaying your Loeries?

Sutherland: All that glitters, as they say. We keep our Loeries and other industry awards front-of-house as it shows you’re competing for the industry top spots, and that the students’ work is being accorded its due. We do however, always aim to extend our Loerie bird flock’s migratory pattern and breeding programme.

Shepherd: We keep our birds where our students can see them. To remind them how it feels to take it to the bridge.

4. Tell us who you personally admire in the industry.

Talmarkes: I don’t have anyone specific, who I admire at this stage, however, I must say, the staff and creative directors I’m currently working with at Publicis Machine are fantastic. Brendan Hoffmann, one of their creative directors [and a former Red & Yeller himself], took me under his wing and has really shown interest in me and what I can do.

Bonse: Clayton Sutherland, our senior lecturer at Red & Yellow.

Van Niekerk: I’m inspired by Nunu Ntshingila. She is an incredible woman and I can’t wait to see what she does at Facebook this year. I also look up to my lecturer Carmen Schaefer. She always encourages Red & Yellow students to pursue their ideas and craft every project until it has purpose. She inspires me to make all of my work the best that it can be.

Seems we’re all looking forward to the creativity that unfolds this year. Click here for Schaefer, Bonse and Van Niekerk’s views on ad industry from a female perspective. You can also click through to our Loeries’ special section for more, here for Red & Yellow School’s press office, and be sure to follow them on Twitter and Instagram.