Fit for the future: Flourish nurtures the next generation of creative talent through mentoring programme
Hands-on learning experiences
At Flourish, we’re big believers in learning through experience – and that goes beyond our day jobs. Our creative team regularly volunteers time to coach students across the South West, helping them build confidence and gain practical skills while getting invaluable insight into what creative roles look like in the real world.
We’ve always taken a keen interest in developing new talent. From charity initiatives to school and college partnerships, supporting our local community and nurturing the next generation is baked into how we work. And it’s something we’re proud to give our team the time and space to do.
Coaching future creatives
For the past three years, our Senior Designer Michael Barbour has been leading mentoring programmes with student groups from Bath Spa University, University of Bristol, City of Bristol College and Clifton College.
He’s regularly joined by other members of the creative team – most recently our Junior Designer, Lucie Thompson. Lucie’s story is a great example of how the programme works in practice: she first joined us through one of Michael’s student sessions in 2023, landed an internship, and is now a full-time, highly valued member of the team.
Rooted in the real-world
We’re always keen to make sure that students on our mentoring programmes get the most valuable experience. Over time we’ve adapted the tasks to reflect what’s happening in the real world. Our most recent student coaching programme was with a group of A Level design students at City of Bristol College was no exception.
Their brief? An 8-week project exploring how to use AI tools as part of the creative process. The idea was to give students hands-on experience with the kind of tech that’s becoming a staple in creative work – and to help them understand where human creativity still leads the way.
One of the first things they learned? AI doesn’t always get it right. Their job was to step in, shape the output, and bring direction and originality to what the tools produced.
The creative brief
The project started with a ChatGPT prompt designed to spark unexpected ideas:
“Generate three fictional and completely random business ideas based on my interests in [Enter your interest here]. The business should have a clear description, and a unique selling point. Do not use AI in the business idea.”
From there, the students chose one business idea, developed a brand identity for it, and created marketing collateral – supported by AI tools where helpful, but guided by their own design thinking and creative judgement.
One-on-one feedback, studio experience
Halfway through the project, Michael and Lucie visited the college to sit down with each student and talk through their progress. These one-to-one coaching sessions are a big part of what makes the programme different – offering students real feedback from working creatives.
At the end of the programme, the students spent a day at our Bristol studio to present their work to our team and their peers. They were assessed on creativity, use of AI, and presentation skills – and one standout student earned an internship with Flourish, starting after they finish college.
Want to get involved?
We’re always open to running similar sessions with other schools, colleges or universities in the South West.
If you’re a course leader and think your students could benefit from this kind of hands-on coaching, we’d love to hear from you. Drop Michael an email at [email protected] and let’s have a chat.
