First year students in the Digital Illustration class were recently given an exercise that encouraged them to doodle. Doodling not only serves as a great entry into the creative process but helps imitate the act of thumbnailing. Each student was given a page of eight scribbles to complete with their own doodle solution. It was interesting to observe how students creatively transformed each scribble into something original and uniquely their own. The short video above highlights some of the solutions to one of the scribbles.

Panoramic photography is much easier in the digital world than it was with film, most special-effects are. Using the wide view of the world opens the door to a different creative dynamic.

The Sophomore Graphic Design and Communications students did a great job finding creative applications for the method.

The freshmen students are working with a foot in the analogue world and one in the digital realm. Many are just starting to learn to use the Adobe suite of software.

To help foster a collaborative environment a group project was created. Groups were given a target audience, a product and an intent to work on. Each group had to create a product and marketing method for the product. The freshmen created some great pieces.

The image below shows the pitch for “expensive bread aimed at computer geeks.” The final product was “8-Bit self toasting bread.”

Here’s the exercise: choose an animal and a location with a four-person group. After brainstorming on those items we throw in a brand name. The goal is to incorporate all three pieces into what an annual report cover would look like. Needless to say none of the the three pieces were a natural fit, but that built creativity into the exercise.

Sean Thorenson presents the course syllabus to sophomore students Tuesday morning in this photo shot through the window of the classroom.

The first day of Graphic Design and Communications is behind us. It was great to reconnect with the sophomore students and exciting to see new freshmen faces.

The GDC program has a full freshmen class with 32 students and nearly full sophomore class with 30 of 32 spots filled. The program hasn’t had that many returning students in many years.

Students start regular class Tuesday morning and the Graphic Design and Communications department is ready for them. It will be exciting getting to know a new group of first year students and reconnecting with second year students.