Whitecliffe Graduate: Jafar Woods

Jafar studied the 18 week Certificate in Digital Media + Design at the Whitecliffe Manukau campus. The certificate course is designed for those who need to create a portfolio to continue their education or who want to pursue a new career and have always desired to engage in art and design.

Two years ago Jafar started a boutique design company, Birds and Bonsai.

“I design custom bespoke suiting and outerwear and freelance as a stylist and branding consultant. I was having a friend assist me in drawing some of my newer designs that were less typical of traditional suiting design concepts and it was frustrating because, well… nobody can see your thoughts. The more creative complexity my designs required the more apparent it became that I had to cultivate some drawing skills of my own.”

Jafar, wanting to close the gap between his ideas and the creative skillset needed to bring them to life, decided to enroll at the Whitecliffe Manukau campus.

“I was pondering my present situation, in life you know... I was feeling stagnant and somewhat unsure of the next step. While tidying my room I was playing a podcast in the background and I overheard, You should aim to be as educated as you are intelligent, and it clicked. The two weren’t matching up."

"I had a ton of ideas and concepts floating around in my head but I didn’t possess the mastery of the skillsets I needed to properly bring them to fruition and I was tired of trying to express these ideas through other people who had the technical skills I lacked. I decided, I had to step back into the classroom, and what a delight it’s been."

"I floated the idea of taking some courses around with family and friends and the name Whitecliffe kept popping up so I decided to take a tour of the campus. I love environments where everyone is creating and collaborating so I immediately fell in love with the campus and the people."

"I decided this is where I need to be, but naturally when taking on a commitment of any kind I was concerned with economy of time. I read through the prospectus and the certificate of Digital Media + Design popped out at me. Just reading the course description I thought no way, you can’t fit all of that into a course. I was wrong. The curriculum was curated beautifully so that we weren’t jumping all over the place, and the instruction was top tier.”

Jafar’s eye for fashion detail can be seen in the illustrative series he produced over the course; pictured below. These digital illustration skills were his main reason for taking on the Certificate. Jafar highlighting that he came away with the knowledge he needed to continue to progress his business and design capabilities. Now that he’s completed the Certificate he hopes to continue to grow his brand.

“I honestly can’t believe that I’ve acquired this many skills in such a short time. Every subject, project and skill set was interwoven into a really cool and cohesive course. By far the most impactful course I’ve ever taken. Everything that I’ve learned serves my personal creative vision and translates directly to real life business. That’s what I was after!"

"Having acquired these new skills I am continuing to grow as a designer and a business. Though digital drawing may have been the catalyst that inspired me to enrol, what the course has given me in addition is a very well rounded understanding of Digital Design and implementation across different platforms and programs which has made it so much easier and inspiring to run my operation.”

Birds and Bonsai