TAFE SA student Jake Newland has applied his graphic design skills to a car wrap which will be showcased across the country in August.

Sun Sprite, the SA Solar Vehicle Association’s entry in the Bridgestone World Solar Car Challenge 2025 (August 24 to 31), will be sporting the wrap as it travels 3000kms from Darwin to Adelaide.

Jake, who is studying the Diploma of Graphic Design at the Adelaide College of the Arts (AC Arts), says he’s excited about the potential exposure his design will receive through the international event.

“It was pretty cool to see my design on the car – I’m really proud of it,” he says.

Jake, who is mid-way through his 12-month graphic design course, was offered the opportunity to design the car wrap after revealing his interest in motorbike graphics during a class discussion.

“The first day of term I mentioned that I worked part time for a graphics company where they do awesome motorbike graphics and my lecturer said that she might have an interesting project for me, which turned out to be the solar car wrap,” he says.

Jake says the creative project was a great opportunity to build on his industry experience and work with real clients to meet their expectations.

“When you get attached to a design it can be hard to change but you need to work with the client and make sure they’re happy,” he says.

“We ran through a brief and I did a few sketches to generate some discussion and then I refined the design after the client’s feedback.

“My client, the SA Solar Vehicle Association, was good to work with and understanding of the fact that I’m still a student.”

Jake says his sunset-inspired design was influenced by the name of the car, Sun Sprite, and its shape.

“You need to work with the curves and lines of a product and there’s an angle on the car so we couldn’t put logos on that part of the wrap because they wouldn’t be seen,” he says.

Jake moved from Alice Springs to Adelaide to take up an electrical apprenticeship before deciding to pursue a long-held interest in graphic design.

“I knew some graphic designers in Alice Springs and I was really interested in the industry, but I ended up doing electrical work for four years,” he says.

“When I decided to expand my horizons and try other things, I got a job with a graphics company and that’s when the graphic design interest kicked in again.

“I’m a semester in and I’m loving it. There’s a good support network at TAFE SA and I appreciate the one-on-one time with the lecturers.”

In the long-term, Jake says he’d like to combine design work with travel but for now his focus is on continuing with his study and honing his skills by working on a variety of projects.

“A big project of mine at the moment is setting up a drum wraps business but anything I can see my work on is nice,” he says.

Photo: Jake (centre) is pictured with (from left) James Trezona (SASVA), Nicole Koch from TAFE SA's Graphic Design Program, fellow student Emilie Flavel, and Stephen Trapnell of Ochre Digital.