Lady Frances Sorrell
Pro-Chancellor, distinguished friends, colleagues, graduands and guests.
Lady Frances Sorrell is one of the leading figures in design consultancy in this country and has done an exceptional amount to inspire and promote creativity in young people.
She was born Frances Newell in Woking in Surrey and grew up in Thame. When she was at school in Epsom there weren’t many opportunities to study art, but she was always making and creating at home. At the age of fourteen, her mother suggested she attend Saturday art classes, which is where her passion for design grew. She went on to study a Foundation Art course at Epsom College of Arts, and then moved on to a Graphic Design course.
In 1976, together with John Sorrell, she co-founded Newell and Sorrell, growing it from the kitchen table to a globally successful business with three hundred employees. Newell and Sorell was one of Europe’s biggest and most successful design companies, specialising in identity and brand consultancy. They were behind the groundbreaking redesigns of many of the UK’s most renowned organizations, including British Airways, the BBC, and the Royal Mail.
As creative director she won over a hundred awards for creativity and effectiveness. These awards included twelve Design Effectiveness Awards, five silver D&AD Awards, four Art Directors’ Club of Europe Awards, four Marketing Design Awards, five USA CLIO Awards, six Gold Awards and the Grand Award in the New York Festivals. In 2008, in recognition of all of this outstanding achievement, Lady Frances and Sir John Sorrell were awarded the D&AD Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award.
In addition to her design work, over the last twenty years Lady Frances has also worked pro bono for a large number of charities and organisations. She is a Member of the British Council Design Advisory Board, of the NHS London Design Advisory Group, of the Advisory Board of the National Photography, Film and Television Museum, of the Qualification and Curriculum Authority Arts Advisory Group, and, between 1999 and 2001 was a member of the Affairs & Awards Committee of City & Guilds and of its Future 100 Committee. She is also a Director of the Royal Academy Enterprise Board, Chair of the Interbrand Foundation, and between 2000 and 2002 she was a Director of the National Institute of Employment Studies. A particular interest of hers is the charity Mencap, of which she has been a trustee since 1999, and for which she created their 'Snap' photographic competition, which fosters understanding of people with a learning disability.
In 1999 Lady Frances and Sir John decided that it was the right time to get out of their business. It had become all consuming, and there were other things that they passionately wished to achieve. They jointly founded and now co-chair the Sorrell Foundation, a charity established to inspire creativity. At the heart of the Foundation's work is the principle of listening to the voices of young people. Its ‘joinedupdesignforschools’ programme has established the concept of pupils as clients, giving them creative skills for life and work, and involving them in the way their schools are designed. Hundreds of schools have taken part in this programme and thousands of school children have participated. She has worked with thousands of primary and secondary school pupils, helping them unlock their creativity and giving them life and work skills. She leads the Foundation’s National Art and Design Saturday Club, which creates new pathways into the creative industries for young people. In the words of Baroness Morris of Yardley, the former Minister for Education and Minister for Culture, Media and Sport, Lady Frances and Sir John Sorrell 'managed to put design on the educational agenda at a time when it was being squeezed out and at a time when it wasn't a political priority and I don't think there is anyone else in the country that could have done that'.
Lady Frances has been honoured by a variety of leading Art and Design educational and professional institutions. She is a Visiting Professor at the University of Arts London, an Honorary Fellow of University College Falmouth, and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. In 2010 she was presented with an Honorary Doctorate from the Open University for an ‘Exceptional Contribution to Education and Culture’ and in 2011 she was made an Honorary Fellow of Hereford College of Arts. Frances is a fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce, a fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers and a member of the Designers and Art Directors Association. She is frequently invited to act as a judge for a wide range of creative awards for young people and creative professionals.
In recognition of her contribution to the creative industries and for the tremendous work undertaken by the Sorrell Foundation to inspire creativity in young people and improve the quality of life through design, Coventry University, by decision of the Academic Board, has the privilege of conferring the Degree of Doctor of Arts, honoris causa, on Lady Frances Sorrell.