Join us for Winter School 2017!

January 9 – February 3, 2017

Start your New Year filled with inspiration, creativity and lots of new friends by joining the Make it in Design Winter School.

This exciting global online design event gives you experience working to A/W 17/18 trend briefs, helps build your portfolio, connect with other designers around the world and gives you the opportunity to get your work published!

Winter School will run for four weeks from January 9 – February 3, 2017 and for just £20 (approx $25 USD), you can choose from our Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced tracks or enjoy an attractive discount when you sign up for multiple track bundles available in our shop.

Winter School offers exciting creative briefs inspired by A/W 17/18 trend reports from the fabulous trend forecasting website Patternbank, an amazing chance to get your designs printed onto fabric and tea towels thanks to Fashion Formula, awesome downloads, fun tasks, lovely prizes, the chance to get published in a future issue of MOYO magazine, and lots of treats along the way too!

Winter School can also make a wonderful Christmas gift for a creative friend or loved one. Please see below for more information about our Winter School gift vouchers.

What you get in each track:

Beginner track:

Two beginner creative briefs inspired by real A/W 17/18 trends from Patternbank to help you generate new sketches and simple patterns (one brief in weeks 1 & 3)
Two fun beginner design exercises to get you out and about and having fun (one exercise in weeks 2 & 4)
A chance to see your work come alive on fabric and tea towels thanks to Fashion Formula who will select 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize winners per track (see below for more details)
Two impressive downloadable high resolution papers/textured backgrounds to use in your projects
Exclusive downloadable wallpaper for your desktop, phone and iPad!
Chance to win a free place on Module 1 of The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design worth £189 starting February 20, 2017
Access to our private Winter School Facebook group where you can connect with other designers participating in this cool event
Chance to get your work published in MOYO magazine, on the Make it in Design website and across our social networks.

Beginners will be able to tackle the briefs either on the computer (Illustrator/Photoshop) or traditionally off the computer. Please note that no technical guidance is offered during Winter School.

Intermediate track:

Two intermediate creative briefs inspired by real A/W 17/18 trends from Patternbank to help you explore new colour choices in your patterns (one brief in weeks 1 & 3)
Two fun intermediate design exercises to get you out and about and having fun (one exercise in weeks 2 & 4)
A chance to see your work come alive on fabric and tea towels thanks to Fashion Formula who will select 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize winners per track (see below for more details)
Free colour palettes to push your creative boundaries
Two impressive editable fashion-based technical drawings to work with, so you can drop your pattern onto a shirt for example
Exclusive downloadable wallpaper for your desktop, phone and iPad!
Chance to win a free place on Module 2 of The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design worth £259 starting February 20, 2017
Access to our private Winter School Facebook group where you can connect with other designers participating in this cool event
Chance to get your work published in MOYO magazine, on the Make it in Design website and across our social networks.

The intermediate creative briefs will be aimed at Illustrator/Photoshop users. Please note that no technical guidance is offered during Winter School.

Advanced track:

Two advanced creative briefs inspired by real A/W 17/18 trends from Patternbank to help you build your portfolio with product mock-ups featuring your patterns (one brief in weeks 1 & 3)
Two fun advanced design exercises to get you looking at things in a different way and doing things you’ve never done before (one exercise in weeks 2 & 4)
A chance to see your work come alive on fabric and tea towels thanks to Fashion Formula who will select 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize winners per track (see below for more details)
Impressive downloadable rights-free stock product photography and room set image exclusively styled for Make it in Design to enable you to produce professional mock-ups for your portfolio
Exclusive downloadable wallpaper for your desktop, phone and iPad!
Chance to win a free place on Module 3 of The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design worth £359 starting April 24, 2017
Access to our private Winter School Facebook group where you can connect with other designers participating in this cool event
Chance to get your work published in MOYO magazine, on the Make it in Design website and across our social networks.

The advanced creative briefs will be aimed at Illustrator/Photoshop users. Please note that no technical guidance is offered during Winter School.

Watch Rachael’s video

Rachael Taylor shares some insight into what you can expect at this year’s Winter School:

How it works:

(1) On Monday January 9, 2017 you will be sent your first creative brief

– If you want to be included in our online public gallery you will need to submit your work by Thursday January 19, 2017

– The gallery will go live on Friday January 20, 2017 and we will share it widely on social media.

(2) On Monday January 16, 2017 you will be sent your first fun challenge

– Share your pictures anytime before Sunday January 22, 2017 in the private Winter School Facebook group. Spot prizes will be awarded!

(3) On Monday January 23, 2017 you will be sent your second creative brief

– If you want to be included in our online public gallery you will need to submit your work by Thursday February 2, 2017

– The gallery will go live on Friday February 3, 2017 and we will share it widely on social media.

(4) On Monday January 30, 2017 you will be sent your second fun challenge

– Share your pictures anytime before Friday February 3, 2017 in the private Winter School Facebook group. Spot prizes will be awarded!

(5) On Friday February 10, 2017 we will publish a round up on the Make it in Design BLOG with links to all the galleries and an announcement of all of the prize winners.

– PLUS we will create a special Winter School feature in a future issue of MOYO Magazine!

(6) On Friday March 3, 2017 all three Winter School classrooms will close.

Register today:

Each track is priced at just £20 and we offer attractive discounts if you sign up for more than one at the same time.

Here’s what’s on offer, available to purchase in our shop:

1) REGISTER FOR 1 TRACK: £20

2) REGISTER FOR 2 TRACKS: £35

3) REGISTER FOR ALL 3 TRACKS: £45

Winter School Partners

We are delighted to be partnering again with the fantastic trend house Patternbank and digital textile printing experts Fashion Formula following another successful Summer School in 2016.

Patternban k has kindly supplied six Autumn/Winter 17/18 trends (two per track) for the Winter School creative briefs and we can’t wait to share them with you. They’re fab!

Fashion Formula is kindly offering a 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize per track:

1st prize: 3 meters of any fabric from their range and 2 tea towels
2nd prize: 1 meter of any fabric from their range and 1 tea towel
3rd prize: 2 fat quarters of any fabric ( 65 x 48 cm) and 1 tea towel

Be inspired by Summer School 2016

Take a look at some of the amazing work that came out of Summer School 2016 to get an idea about the sorts of things you’ll be getting up to at Winter School!

View the Creative Brief #1 gallery

View the Creative Brief #2 gallery

You can search your social networks using the hashtags #summerschool2016 and #makeitindesign too!

The perfect Christmas gift

Winter School can make a perfect Christmas present for your creative friends and loved ones.

If you’d like to purchase one or more tracks as a gift, please get in contact with the team at [email protected] and we’ll happily arrange this for you.

Your Winter School gift includes a beautiful gift certificate for you to print out or email to that special person.

Gift vouchers are available to purchase until midnight (GMT) Monday December 19, 2016.

Tell your friends!

Encourage all your friends to get involved too! Grab this button and share it on your blog, website and your social networks telling everyone you know you’re off to the Make it in Design Winter School!