December 10, 2014 10.30 am This story is over 111 months old

Lincoln designer wins coveted Adobe competition

Design achievements: A talented design student from the University of Lincoln has been recognised in a competition run by Adobe.
Student Tom Watkins won the coveted award for his work with Adobe.

A talented design student from the University of Lincoln has been branded as an exciting young creative to watch after winning a competition run by global software company Adobe.

Tom Watkins, a second year undergraduate studying Creative Advertising in Lincoln’s School of Architecture & Design, was named winner of the Creative Jam at the Adobe Education Summit 2014.

Entitled ‘Creativity for Education’ the summit welcomed inspirational guest speakers and international delegates to discover the latest in creative innovations.

Ahead of the event, Adobe invited 10 students from across the UK to respond to a design brief using Adobe Creative Cloud applications.

The ‘Creativity for Education’ event gave the designers two and a half hours to respond to the brief on ‘Your Creative Muse’.

Tom designed a print inspired by his muse – risk takers and forward thinkers, personified by Felix Baumgartners’ space jump.

Tom's award-winning work on his muse: Risk Takers and Innovators.

Tom’s award-winning work on his muse: Risk Takers and Innovators.

The best two designs in the competition were chosen by a panel of expert judges, before an audience vote awarded Tom the Creative Jam title.

Tom said: “It was amazing to win the Adobe Creative Jam. As the winner I was awarded a Microsoft Surface Pro 3, which is a great prize, but the most satisfying feeling was having people approach me after the event to say they would like a print of my work.”

Tom was also recently awarded the title of ‘Behance Project of the Month’. Owned by Adobe, Behance is a network of consulting and online portfolio sites and services used by professional designers, creatives and agencies around the world.

Each month, the Behance team recognises an inspiring portfolio of work and November 2014 saw Tom’s unique collection of animal logos receive the title.

Tom’s Behance page, which features his celebrated animal logos collections as well as artwork for The Body Shop and pieces inspired by international footballers, has now received almost one million views.

Justin Tagg, Senior Lecturer in Creative Advertising at the University of Lincoln, said: “Tom, like so many of our students, is not just a talented designer but also an entrepreneurial spirit. He’s managed to make a name for himself within the industry whilst still studying here and that shows the most important qualities of all: tenacity, guile and hunger for success.”