Art and design blog

Need help with referencing? 

Cite Them Right is an excellent online tool to help you reference your assignments.

You can access Cite Them Right via the link above, at the top of any search in Library Search, or the link within the orange “popular now” section on the library home page.

In Design programmes you will go beyond resources such as books and journals and consult a wide range of sources when doing your research which may include:

• infographics
• logos
• mood boards
• packaging
• podcasts
• posters
• social media

Cite Them Right gives clear advice on how to reference numerous types of information using Harvard and other referencing styles as well.

The Library also holds online drop-ins where you can join the chat function LibraryTalk with your questions about referencing to get sound advice.

The Yoto Carnegies are long-running UK children’s book awards – they recognise outstanding reading experiences for writing and illustrating in books for children and young people. The Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration is the award for an outstanding book in terms of illustration for children and young people. More information is available on the Yoto Carnegies web page.

In the library we are fortunate to have a number of the books which have won this illustration award in recent years.

• Nguyen, T. and Zdung, J. (2023) Saving Sorya: Chang and the sun bear
• Pinfold, L. (2011) The black dog
• Reynolds, J. and Novgorodoff, D. (2020) Long way down: the graphic novel
• Smith, L (2017) There is a tribe of kids
• Smith, S. (2019) Small in the city

We encourage all illustration and design students to borrow and read the books. Check them out to see the style of illustration, and how the illustrations enhance the stories.

…. and who knows, you could be a winner in future years!

The joy of our library resources is that you can research topics of interest from multiple sources and compare and contrast what you find.

For example, the Tate Modern London is currently exhibiting 'A World In Common: Contemporary African Photography', bringing together 36 artists who use photography to reimagine Africa’s place in the world. It is inspired by the continent’s rich cultural traditions, as well as present-day social and political realities. 

If you're visiting London you can visit the exhibition in person, and there is a really useful guide to the exhibition on the Tate web site. 

However, through the University library you can also borrow the Exhibition Catalogue which is an extremely vivid catalogue which textual entries complementing the images. Suzie Williams, our Academic Liaison Librarian for the Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries has read the catalogue and has discovered lots about the artists, their work and their message.

The exhibition was also featured on 'Sunday Brunch' on Channel 4, which current students and staff can watch through our subscription to Box of Broadcasts (log in with your Univeristy login details to watch this clip).

VADS, the Visual Arts Data Service, is an online resource with over 140,000 images from over 300 art and design collections in the UK. These images are free to use for non-commercial use in education providing that you give appropriate acknowledgement through your referencing.

Images cover many areas in the visual arts including fine art, media, design, applied arts and fashion. To check how you can use these images, explore the FAQ section which gives clear advice to ensure you use the images in an appropriate manner.

Remember that you can use Cite Them Right, the university’s referencing tool, to ensure you reference all your sources correctly.