TU Dublin School of Art and Design Celebrates Outstanding Success at the 2025 IDI Graduate Awards 

TU Dublin School of Art and Design students have once again demonstrated exceptional creativity and innovation at this year’s IDI Graduate Awards, held at MTU. They earned recognition across multiple disciplines and took home several major prizes, including the prestigious Grand Prix Award.

Visual Communications Design graduate Ruby Aron won the overall Grand Prix Award, in addition to receiving top honours for her typography project Tree Text and a Highly Commended for Cneasú don Gaeilge.

In the digital and experimental categories, Nicole Preece secured two category wins for her project Automated Affection, while Dan Kinlay’s Lissajous: An Audiovisual Experience received Highly Commended in Experimental Design and Commended in Design for Moving Image.

Recognition also went to Tom Whitfield, who won Product Design for his project Synapse Socket 1, and to students Genevieve Carolan and Sarah Marica, who both achieved Highly Commended in Design Research – Written.

Further commendations were awarded to Lenny Sanches, Aoife Roche, Nicole Preece, Oisín McPhillips, Katie Condren, Praise Akintokun, and Niamh Fanning, reflecting the depth and diversity of talent across the TU Dublin School of Art and Design’s creative programmes.

This year’s results underline TU Dublin’s continued strength in design education and celebrate the university’s commitment to fostering critical, socially engaged design practices.

TU Dublin School of Art and Design 2025 IDI Graduate Award Winners and Commended Students:

GRAND PRIX  – Winner
Ruby Aron – Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin School of Art and Design)

BOOK DESIGN – Highly Commended
Cneasú don Gaeilge – Ruby Aron

TYPOGRAPHIC DESIGN  – Winner
Tree Text – Ruby Aron

TYPOGRAPHIC DESIGN – Highly Commended
Cneasú don Gaeilge – Ruby Aron

TYPOGRAPHIC DESIGN – Commended
The Cacophony Prevents Us From Singing – Niamh Fanning 

DESIGN FOR DIGITAL – Winner
Automated Affection – Nicole Preece

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN – Winner
Automated Affection – Nicole Preece

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN – Highly Commended
Lissajous: An Audiovisual Experience – Dan Kinlay 

DESIGN FOR MOVING IMAGE – Commended
Lissajous: An Audiovisual Experience – Dan Kinlay
Spiral succession. Selective silence. – Lenny Sanches
Into the Foxgrove – Aoife Roche 

PRODUCT DESIGN  – Winner
Synapse Socket 1 – Tom Whitfield

GAMES DESIGN – Commended
Chrono Connect – Oisín McPhillips 

ILLUSTRATION – Commended
Nocturnal Singers – Nicole Preece

INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN  – Commended
The Cloisters Kinsale – Luxury Events and Conference Venue – Katie Condren
The L’Oréal Hub: Corporate Headquarters and Experiential Flagship – Praise Akintokun

DESIGN RESEARCH  – Written – Highly Commended

Marketing The Imperial Premier League: English Football Jerseys and the Conquering of the Global Everyday – Genevieve Carolan
The ESB Head Office Building Redevelopment: Biophilic Design and Urbanisation in Dublin – Sarah Marica

TYPOGRAPHIC DESIGN – Commended
The Cacophony Prevents Us From Singing – Niamh Fanning

A huge CONGRATULATIONS to the winners and highly commended, commended and shortlisted entries of the IDI Graduate Awards 2025!