From Brighton MET to the royal stage: student wins prestigious design award  

A Brighton MET College student recently impressed the judges to win the marketing design category of the Royal Ballet & Opera Schools Design Challenge.  

Violet Modder, an Art Foundation student at the college, entered this year’s competition, which focused on the opera Das Rheingold, with entrants being given three visions set by Creative Associate Opera Director Thomas Guthrie.  

Focusing on ‘a myth for the modern world’, Violet’s design commented on how people’s identities become fragmented and distorted by influencer culture and social media, whilst using little accents of gold to refer to the plot of the opera.  

Her work will be on public display as part of the 22 winning, highly commended, and commended student designs in the Linbury Foyer at the Royal Opera House in June.  

The students have also been invited to go to the Royal Opera House to receive their awards and spend some time with industry professionals, giving them a real insight into what it is like at the Royal Ballet and Opera.  

The Royal Ballet & Opera Design Challenge is a national competition which gives students the opportunity to create a design based on a professional brief inspired by a Royal Ballet or Opera production.  

She discussed how she decided to enter the competition, saying:  
“I go to the Royal Opera House very regularly, for example, I always go up for my birthday, and it’s something that my family and I love to do, especially my mum.  

“Being able to be part of something that I love going to, I love the ballet, and I love the opera. To be able to create pieces of work for that company was just something that I was really interested in doing.”  

When asked what she had learnt taking part in the competition, she added:  
“So it was my first time using a live brief, I’ve never actually done that before, so even learning how to make sure my work is referring back to the specific audience, and also referring to what the judges want, where they want their logo placed…was quite a big thing.

She also added her recommendation for people to take part in the competition, adding:  
“I would really recommend anyone next year to definitely take part in it, even if you don’t think you are going to win, just take part. Even just going through working with a live brief, working with such a large company is such a really good skill to have under your belt.” 

To view the results of this year’s design challenge, please click here. To learn more about all the Art & Design courses available at the college, please click here.