IADT Students Take on the Irish Design Industry

8th July 2025
by 100 Archive Team,
edited by Lara Hanlon

By: Francs C., Beth Cullen

Re:Design

IADT Students Take on the Irish Design Industry

Imposter Syndrome Must Die

Entering the third year of our graphic design studies at IADT, many of us faced a common challenge: transitioning from academic projects to professional practice. The search for internships felt daunting, and it was hard to know where to begin. Reaching out to professionals, making our portfolios stand out, and understanding what we could offer often felt overwhelming. While around half of our 32-person class managed to secure internships, others hesitated, unsure about how to take the first step. In some cases, students didn’t even hit 'send' on their emails, afraid of making mistakes or appearing unprepared.

By the end of February, the successful students had gone out on their placements, while those of us who remained entered into the 'Professional Studio' module, facilitated by our lecturers Rory Bradley and Holly Brennan. This module aimed to simulate a professional studio environment, offering us the chance to work with real clients on genuine design projects. Alongside the client work, we also participated in workshops with industry professionals like Karl Toomey from Wove and Danielle O’Connell from Good As Gold, which helped us gain practical insights into the industry while building our confidence and team skills.

How ReDesign Was Born

During the last of these sessions, Danielle asked us how we would feel about running an event that connected us students with industry and just like that ReDesign was born. Even though it seemed like such an abstract concept, everyone jumped straight into planning mode, brainstorming ideas, drawing up invite lists and assigning ourselves different roles. Our main goal with ReDesign was to connect students with industry, hoping to start changing the way that design students and professionals interact.

We also wanted to hear from professionals about their own journeys into the industry to demystify our misconceptions about what it takes to be a successful designer. We wanted to level the playing field, providing a space where students could chat and mingle with professionals and hopefully realise that they don’t in fact bite! An important mechanism of ReDesign was the Mentorship Lottery, in which both professionals and students could enter, in order to be paired up for mentorship, furthering our goal past the event night, of changing how students and industry communicate.

The Event Night

Led by the core ReDesign team, Beth Cullen, Jaz Webb, Niamh Cooney, and Robin Dennis we broke the night up into talks from industry professionals, networking opportunities, a panel talk and of course, drinks at Dun Laoghaire’s Lighthouse bar. Once we were all set up (had transported mass amounts of pizza to the third floor) and after a quick change into our incredibly stylish, hand-painted T-shirts, our guests started arriving. The night kicked off with free pizza and mingling as our students and professionals filled the top floor of IADT's new building. We then made our way to the main room where Beth Cullen opened the night with a funny anecdote and introduced our first speaker Emerald Gibson from &Open, followed by Colin Farmer from Unthink, Louise Brady from Zero-G, and Scott Burnett from Wove. These eye-opening talks highlighted the various types of roles that exist out there for us design students as well as gave us insights into the different, often non-linear paths that these successful designers took in order to carve out their own places in industry.

After more mingling, Allie McSwiggan and Niamh Cooney hosted the panel that consisted of Rory Bradley, Emi Daly (Accenture), Danielle Townsend (BOUNCE), and Lauren Higgs (Good as Gold). Our first round of questions was submitted anonymously via the ReDesign Instagram, before we opened the floor to live questions. We wanted to provide an opportunity for students to ask their burning questions that they may be too afraid to ask a professional otherwise such as “what was your biggest f*ck up at an internship?”. This prompted eye-opening discussions from the importance of prioritising your mental health, focusing on the small wins, how to become a time management beast (just like Danielle Townsend) to how to gracefully handle a Harry Potter edit of your bestie making its way into your board report presentation. Jaz wrapped the night up with a heartwarming speech and we all set off for some drinks in Dun Laoghaire.

Reflecting on ReDesign

ReDesign was more than just a networking event — it was an empowering experience that challenged us to rethink our potential. We started the journey as a group of students feeling unsure of our place in the industry, but we ended the night with newfound confidence and practical insights.

ReDesign was a celebration of collaboration, creativity, and courage, a chance for students to meet industry professionals on equal ground. While this event may have been a one-time initiative, we hope the connections made and the conversations started will continue to inspire us as we move forward in our design careers. As we move forward, we hope ReDesign becomes an ongoing tradition, continuously fostering connections between IADT students and the design community.

Special Thanks

We would like to thank all of the big legends who helped us to make ReDesign happen. All of the guest speakers and panelists, whom we learned so much from, as well as everyone who took the time to come along on such a sunny evening. The Elevate team, without whom there would have been no pizza. Our wonderful lecturer and mentor, Rory Bradley, for all the support and for everything he does for us behind the scenes. And of course, Danielle O’Connell who set the wheels in motion for ReDesign and casually changed our lives. And a special thank you to the core ReDesign team, Beth, Jaz, Niamh, and Robin who worked tirelessly to bring us the perfect night. We started ReDesign as a group of internship-less students, armed with a whiteboard and marker and zero event planning experience yet created something that we’re all proud of, that has us ready to embrace the design industry with confidence and self-belief. We hope that ReDesign is just the start of something, and that we can continue to reshape the relationships and open up communication between design students and industry.