Young Talent: New blood 1 - Private View - Advertising.

I tried to think back to my college days at Manchester Polytechnic and recall what the work was like in my portfolio. Not much came to mind, other than I remembered travelling all the way down to London on a National Express coach, only to be told that if every ad was as good as the first one in my portfolio, I'd get a job. Nice.

These days it's even more competitive. Students are expected to be able to crack briefs from day one. So how did this year's batch of New Blood stand up to the acid test?

Interestingly, much of the work used non-traditional media: everything from clothing to logo design. And much of it was highly finished (something that didn't happen in my pre-Mac college days).

First up, Leeds University with an anti-skin cancer (8) campaign. The copywriting could have been better but full marks for a good use of media.

Where better to write the real facts about what the sun does to your skin than on sun loungers and bathing towels.

The boy from Dolphinholme (9), a self-promotional piece from Staffordshire University, looked interesting but I wanted to read, touch and feel the design to really be able to judge it. Liked the typography, though.

University College Falmouth attempted to tackle the topical issue of artificial sweeteners and child obesity (7). Hard-hitting ads that are pro-natural sugar sounds like an interesting brief but the visual felt a little old hat.