Enterprising Graphic Design students put their grey matter to good use by designing, producing and selling their own fashion range to generate funds for the Degree Show.

The Grey Matter Store – a website especially created to sell their t-shirts, tote bags, badges and posters – attracted custom from all over the world and raised over a thousand pounds to help with the cost of exhibiting their final year projects.

From independently screen printing their illustrations to ironing and packaging t-shirts to promoting their products on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, students’ hard work paid off.

“In the design industry you have to work together and Grey Matter was a real team effort,” said Aaron Alexander, one of six students on the fundraising committee. “Everyone submitted designs and we had orders from as far afield as Canada, France and New Zealand!”

Barbara Ridley, Award Leader for BA(Hons) Graphic Design, is proud of their success: “Grey Matter has proved to be a very workable and successful idea – I am particularly impressed with their team work and the way they used social networking to spread the word.”

The Grey Matter Store has now closed, but after graduation students intend to relaunch the site as an online portfolio for the class of 2010.

That class includes Kirsty Edwards, Stephen Salt and Lucy Smedley who made the final shortlist of this year’s MPA Roses, Andy Cooke who recently had a four-page spread in Grafik magazine and Malaysian student Jia Ying Gnoh who has been nominated for two prestigious D&AD awards.

Work by all of these students can be viewed by the public from Saturday 12th until Saturday 19th June at Staffordshire University’s College Road campus in Stoke-on-Trent.