Right on schedule — or maybe a few minutes past the 11:00am deadline — the sophomore Graphic Design and Communications classes completed their display cases. The active learning project requires students to research, design and build a display case on topics related to design or photography. The project not only reinforces the digital skills students acquire over the first year of the program, it’s a great way to introduce some analog production techniques.
Club members enjoyed a recent trip to Fargo where they experienced an afternoon of touring and accolades. Before the afternoon kicked off, the group enjoyed fantastic wood-fired pizza at Blackbird in Downtown Fargo. They also dropped in on GDC Alum Rob Burke’s business Yarn before heading to Spotlight Media.
That evening the club members attended the gala AAF-ND Awards Show at the Avalon where Kylie Susag walked away with a Gold Addy for her Batter Life Campaign. The GDC Class of 2019 took home a Silver Addy for their totally awesome, 80s-inspired PROOF Magazine. Ty Betts also managed to pull down $75 in prize money for winning two rounds of heads-or-tails.
Imagine if the smart phone was a technology developed in the 1950s. How would the advertising of that era showcase this modern marvel? Students in the Typography class were challenged with this concept. Given a stock image they were to design an ad featuring a smart phone being careful to use typefaces and design trends common in the 1950s. It was a great way to stress how important design details are to the historical context of a piece.
Halloween was the perfect time for the first-year students in Sean Thorenson’s Digital Illustration class to create a series of seasonally appropriate ‘masks’. Using symmetry and only two spot colors, this assignment demonstrated the challenge of designing with limited color as well as the efficiency of the reflect tool. We have a lot of scary-good talent in this year’s group! Here are just a few of the illustrations from the classes.
After four weeks of analog illustration, our Graphic Design and Communications students opened Adobe Illustrator today — many for the first time.
I remember my first time launching the program — 28 years ago. Just a few things have changed about Illustrator since its inception in 1987. For one, the splash screen.
The unofficial covergirl of this vector workhorse was always a creative incarnation of Botticelli’s famous painting ‘Birth of Venus’. She graced the launch of the app up until Adobe went the way of the Creative Suite in 2003.
If you’re a designasaur like me, you probably remember these images.
Among the many basic production skills covered in the first semester, digital illustration students are currently busy working with vectors in Adobe Illustrator. In a recent assignment they were to create Halloween-inspired two-color illustrations using symmetry and transformation tools to simplify construction. They’re constantly applying the creative process to implement and refine their productions while adding to their mastery of the application. Below are just a few of this years’ creations. Happy Halloween from all of us in GDC!
©Marcus Taken Alive
©Alyza Yasenchack
©Kylie Susag
©Tyler Betts
©Carlee Gifford
©Bethany Reitan
©Shane Spilker
The first year Digital Illustration students recently completed an analog assignment where they were pushed to illustrate an object using different illustration styles and traditional mediums. For many it was an experimental voyage into trying something new. For others it was continued practice in an area they already excel. Below are just a few of the images captured from this assignment.
‘Moth’ by Alysha Yasenchack
‘Key’ by Marcus Taken Alive
‘Flower’ by Kylie Susag
‘Cactus’ by Emily Schumacher
‘Coffee’ by Bethany Reiten
‘Pup’ by Taylor Lemer
‘TV’ by Jamaika Lee
‘Cactus’ by Carlee Gifford
‘Lighter’ by Tyler Betts
‘Cap’ by Michaela Ahrendt
I appreciate the fact that my education in the Commercial Arts involved a fair amount of analog. In fact, my college class was one of the first to straddle the growing void between the old analog ways and the dawning digital age of the Macintosh.
Every once in a while we stumble upon these reminders from yesteryear in our storage room that clearly show the evolution of the iconic present. If you have ever wondered why Photoshop’s crop tool looks the way it does… I present to you the Brandt Scaleograph. I didn’t read the lengthy instructions on how to properly use it, but I can tell you the modern equivalent is much, much better.
On a recent trip to the Heritage Center, the sophomore Graphic Design and Communications class had the unique opportunity to learn from Genia Hesser, Curator of Exhibits with the ND State Historical Society. Hesser gave students an in-depth tour of the most recent exhibit in the Governor’s Gallery, The Horse in North Dakota. The class learned of the many challenges that faced the curators, preparators and designers as they brought the exhibit to life. Hesser stressed the importance of generating content that is descriptive but also very efficient – so that every word written is necessary to tell the story. In turn, the design, or form, of the exhibit must visually reinforce the content. Hesser’s wealth of knowledge will prove useful to the students as they begin the process of creating two new display cases for the program area this semester.
Graphic design is one of the few professions that places a high premium on the appearance of professional documents used to land jobs in the creative field. On occasion I’ll hear others outside our industry criticize the way our design students challenge the mold of the traditional, templated resume.
‘That type is way too small. You should use 12 point text.’
‘You don’t need that much color.’
‘What’s with the logo?’
‘Everything should be in one column.’
What they fail to understand is that the design of the resume, cover letter and stationery present the designer with an immediate opportunity to demonstrate to a prospective employer their mastery of typography, layout design and visual identity. In my experience there is really no better way to evaluate how well a candidate can do such tasks than for them to show it.
True, the content, spelling and grammatical perfection of these documents is equally important – and don’t forget the adage: it’s not always what you know but who you know – but if you hire a candidate to do design that visually demonstrates poor graphic design skill …well, you asked for it.
Graphic Design and Communications Sophomores at BSC spend a great deal of time honing their personal brand identities to match who they are creatively and professionally. They learn about how to assemble an impressive stationery system, build a resume and write cover letters so that they can apply for creative jobs with confidence. Combined with an impressive portfolio, the ultimate goal of the class, designers stand a much better chance of being hired to do what they’ve so clearly demonstrated they can do and happen to do very well. Design.
