top of page

_Student resources

It can be tricky to know where to begin when you're beginning your creative career journey, which tools you should be using, where you should study, where to find inspiration, and even how to get your name out there. 

Below you'll find free creative tools, information on free education. talks to inspire you, how to network and getting yourself seen. It's the kind of advice we wish we'd had access to when we were starting out.

_Free creative education

_D&AD Shift Google Campus

D&AD Shift with Google is an award-winning, free industry-led night school for self-taught creatives entering the advertising, design and creative industries from outside traditional education.

A free 4-part course introducing you to the commercial creative industries

_D&AD Shift

An award winning, free industry-led night school for self-taught creatives entering the advertising, design and creative industries from outside traditional education.

In partnership with Google and adidas, D&AD Shift is run in five cities: LondonNew YorkSydneyBerlin & Hamburg and is soon to launch in São Paulo.

_Common People

A community for people who work in the creative industry, or would like to and have experience of coming from a working class background. It is a community that comes together to help each other out and who want to change the creative industries for the better, by making Common People more common.

_Brixton Finishing School

Brixton Finishing School offer a range of free online or in-person courses to help upskill and gain roles in the marketing, advertising and communications industries.

_UAL Insights Programme

UAL Insights Programe helps you discover how your interests and identity can be the force behind your creative expression, future study and career. Free creative activities and pre-university advice and support, for those that are eligible. 

_Your Game Plan

YourGamePlan, have compiled the best resources for you to upskill and raise your CV to the next level. By registering with YourGamePlan, you’ll gain free access to employability courses, tools & opportunities

See yourself as an Ad Exec? Curious about advertising? The Pitch offers insights into the exciting world of advertising as well as offering industry placements. Open to 14-19 year olds in the UK. 

_The Pitch
_Global Academy

Global Academy aims to prepare young people for life in the Creative Media Industry. Open to year 10—year 13 students, Global Academy aims to teach young people the practical skills to be ready for life in the media, linking all education through specialisms of creative media, design, and entrepreneurship.

_Free creative tools

_AI Image Generators

Stable Diffusion

Stable Diffusion is a deep learning, text-to-image model released in 2022 based on diffusion techniques. It is considered to be a part of the ongoing artificial intelligence boom

_AI Chatbot

ChatGPT

chatbot and virtual assistant developed by OpenAI and launched on November 30, 2022. Based on large language models (LLMs), it enables users to refine and steer a conversation towards a desired length, format, style, level of detail, and language. Successive user prompts and replies are considered at each conversation stage as context.

Gemini

formerly known as Bard, is a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Google. Based on the large language model (LLM) Successive user prompts and replies are considered at each conversation stage as context.

_Graphic Design

Canva

online template editor app for creating social media graphics, presentations, promotional merchandise and websites.

_Web Design

Figma

collaborative web application for interface design, with additional offline features enabled by desktop applications for macOS and Windows.

_Video Editing

Davinci Resolve

Color grading, color correction, visual effects, and audio post-production video editing application for macOS, Windows, and Linux, developed by Blackmagic Design.

_3D Modelling

Blender

Free and open-source 3D computer graphics software tool set used for creating animated films, visual effects, art, 3D-printed models, motion graphics, interactive 3D applications, virtual reality, and, formerly, video games.

_Design

​​Sketchup - 3D modelling software that allows users to create and manipulate 3D models of buildings, landscapes, furniture, and other objects.

Unsplash - Beautiful, royalty free images and photos that you can download and use for any project.

_Illustration

"We are distributing refurbished Macbooks to students who have joined Central Saint Martins having taken part in our outreach programme Insights, which supports progression to UAL for young people from the most economically disadvantaged areas of London.

_Video

"We are distributing refurbished Macbooks to students who have joined Central Saint Martins having taken part in our outreach programme Insights, which supports progression to UAL for young people from the most economically disadvantaged areas of London.

_AI

"We are distributing refurbished Macbooks to students who have joined Central Saint Martins having taken part in our outreach programme Insights, which supports progression to UAL for young people from the most economically disadvantaged areas of London.

_Networking & Mentorships

At Vital Hardware, we believe everyone should have an equal opportunity to pursue their dreams and unlock their creative potential. We partner with creative institutions such as Central Saint Martins and D&AD Shift to support students from underprivileged backgrounds.

 

Through providing laptops and tablets, we reduce socioeconomic barriers to creative success and pave the path for creative fulfilment.

The impact of Vital Hardware’s donations extends far beyond the classroom. With access to laptops, students can explore their creativity, conduct research, collaborate with peers, and showcase their work to a global audience, opening doors to opportunities they may have never thought possible.​

_Jobs & Internships

_Talks & Event

1At Vital Hardware, we believe everyone should have an equal opportunity to pursue their dreams and unlock their creative potential. We partner with creative institutions such as Central Saint Martins and D&AD Shift to support students from underprivileged backgrounds.

 

Through providing laptops and tablets, we reduce socioeconomic barriers to creative success and pave the path for creative fulfilment.

The impact of Vital Hardware’s donations extends far beyond the classroom. With access to laptops, students can explore their creativity, conduct research, collaborate with peers, and showcase their work to a global audience, opening doors to opportunities they may have never thought possible.​

2At Vital Hardware, we believe everyone should have an equal opportunity to pursue their dreams and unlock their creative potential. We partner with creative institutions such as Central Saint Martins and D&AD Shift to support students from underprivileged backgrounds.

 

Through providing laptops and tablets, we reduce socioeconomic barriers to creative success and pave the path for creative fulfilment.

The impact of Vital Hardware’s donations extends far beyond the classroom. With access to laptops, students can explore their creativity, conduct research, collaborate with peers, and showcase their work to a global audience, opening doors to opportunities they may have never thought possible.​

_News

_Stay in the loop

bottom of page