HERE are some Smart designs from a smart York student who found the Highway Code to success.

Melanie Oates, a graphic design student at York College, has won first prize in a design project for the tiny Smart car sponsored by the motor retailer Smart of York at the Mercedes-Benz showroom at Clifton Moor.

Melanie is one of 12 students who took part in the competition launched last year.

The group is in the second year of a new three-year BA (Honours) graphic design course at the college.

The challenge? To come up with innovative ideas for marketing Smart which is among the top three growth brands in the UK car market.

Judging the entries were two senior executives from Smart of York - group operations manager Mark Tomlinson and brand manager Tony Wright.

Their main criteria were creativity and originality, execution of the idea, practicality in implementation and communication of the key brand messages particularly for the Smart For Four, the four-door version.

Melanie's solution was to base her designs on symbols and icons in the Highway Code to illustrate aspects of the car, as in the image above. But she also used the falling rocks danger sign to illustrate Smart's dent resistant side panels; and skid hazard warning signs to emphasise the car's electronic safety programme which senses wheel slide and corrects it.

A speed limit sign with 61.4, represents the miles per gallon fuel economy for a diesel version.

Mr Tomlinson, describing all the students' entries as imaginative, said: "Many of the ideas challenged our current thinking on Smart and I congratulate the whole group on their creative ability and enthusiasm."

Melanie's prize was a selection of branded Smart items, including a jacket, T-shirt, holdall and a miniature model of a Smart car.

Alan Preston, the college's programme leader, said: "This live project gave our students valuable experience of working to a brief set by an external client.

The students were able to discuss and analyse the objectives with the Smart marketing team before developing their creative ideas."

Updated: 09:37 Friday, April 22, 2005