Edinburgh Napier University

  In 2014 five Graphic Design students went to Mossuril, a remote coastal town in north east Mozambique. They had designed branding and marketing materials for two projects set up by the charities the Teran Foundation and Breaking the Ice. One was to design the branding for a soap co-operative called SHINE, and the other a new film festival called LIFE.

Working with local Mozambican students the project was an important intercultural experience for all concerned. In an increasingly global economy students must develop an intercultural awareness of themselves and other cultures, a key attribute of global citizenship. Design education can be a transformative and socially engaged practice offering an important platform for student internationalisation.

This research film analyses how UK design students participated in live professional practice projects in an African context, and the impact it had on the students and the community. It also challenges preconceived stereotypes and post-colonial attitudes that are embedded in European culture.

The aim was that a different environment with challenging resources and social conditions would develop student global citizenship and mobility, using professional practice to culturally inform the European and Mozambican students in this research as they actively shape the world around them.