Thanks to Lisa McDaniel from the leveling 2.0 group for setting up a meeting with Jack Sanders from DESIGN BUILD ADVENTURE to gather some information for the student’s current book project about Samuel Mockbee – what a great inspiration!
Check out more on Design Build Adventure: http://www.designbuildadventure.com/about/jack-sanders
Students, faculty, family and friends gathered last Thursday night for the gallery openings of SHOWCASE 2012 and the M.F.A. Thesis Exhibition. If you missed the opening and want to see some of the exciting work coming out of the M.F.A. program, the Thesis Exhibition will run through March 31st and Showacase 2012 through April 5th! A special thanks goes out to jurors Herman Dyal and Chris Visit, Dean Mottet, Claudia Roeschmann, Christine Haney and The University Galleries [1] & [2] staff and volunteers.
SHOWCASE 2012
The exhibition showcases 30 selected pieces of M.F.A. graduate student work. Jurors Herman Dyal from Dyal and Partners and Chris Visit from Frank + Victor Design attended the opening where they presented awards and discussed the work with students and guests. Congratulations to all the finalists and this year’s winners: Larry Goode (Best of Show), Duncan Robertson and Andrea Weissenbuehler (Juror Awards), and Blake Miller (Domy’s Award).
M.F.A. Thesis Exhibition
The thesis exhibition features work from M.F.A. Candidates Kelley Nixon, Genaro Solis Rivero, and Miguel Martinez. The thesis topics include Kelley’s San Marcos Identity focusing on the process of brand development, Miguel’s Re-Thinking the Happy Meal presenting interactive tools and new approaches, and Genaro’s Bricks for Justice, a traveling exhibition for the International Justice Mission, a Human Rights Organization.
In this year’s Poster for Tomorrow contest, our MFA students once again helped draw attention to a social cause—calling out for the Rights to Education—through their poster design. Among 2780 posters submitted throughout the world, 4 of our students and our professor Jeff Davis were shortlisted top 400. Among them winners are Stephanie Hall, Chuck Sanders, William Townsend, and April Wright. Chuck was also shortlisted top 100 poster. Congratulations everyone! You all did wonderful!
Aside from the tremendous talent these students possess, they also sharing something else in common: all of them were enrolled in Jeff’s ARTC 5310 Art Direction class over this summer. That leads us to the point—designers should not work alone because good ideas always flourish in the process of bouncing back and forth through collaboration. This was also the case in last summer’s Art Direction class with Bill Meek, with 5 of his students shortlisted in 2010′s Good50x70. It has been my observation that students tend to be more driven, more competitive, and likely to produce excellent work in an environment that encourages discussion along with constructive and honest feedback. If one of your upcoming goals is to win in the next rounds of competition, it will be wise to get together with your fellow design peers and start sharing some brain waves in a shared space, or enroll in a class with such goal.
On another note, our peers Duncan and Miguel have been coordinating frequent meet-ups that serve as an outlet to share projects we have been working on, budding ideas, hands-on tips, and let’s face it, frustrations we come across when we hit our walls. Like their Facebook page to get info on their next meetings.
Semester is coming to an end. What collaborative exchange has been especially mind-opening to you this semester? Thoughts welcomed.
-aL.
Brand New Conference Live Webcast
In the age of convergence, when it is becoming harder to draw the line between making a business look sleek + representing a business well, designers are taking on new roles to help clients define themselves visually + strategically in the marketplace.
Enjoy a conference on branding with other creative minds without flying to San Francisco next Friday, 9/16 at JCM 3107. The Communication Design Program is holding a live webcast from 11am–8:30pm. And did we mention it is free for attendees!
The Brand New Conference is a one-day event organized by UnderConsideration, focusing on the practice of corporate and brand identity — a direct extension of the popular blog, Brand New by Armin Vit + Bryony Gomez-Palaci. The conference consists of eight sessions offering a broad range of points of view with speakers from around the world practicing in different environments, from global consultancies, to in-house groups, to small firms.
As a bonus, ComDes faculty will be hosting workshops to keep our creative juice flowing in between sessions.
When:
9/16, next Friday
11am–8:30pm, show up when you can make it + stay for as long as you can
Where:
JCM 3107 (live streaming from San Francisco)
Show up: with an open mind + sketchbooks + xactos for the workshops
Welcome new students + welcome back returning ones!
Orientation is this Saturday, August 20, at 10am at JCM’s 2nd floor MFA studio + conference room.
Orientation can be a misleading term where it seems to be just for new students and a meeting on how the program works. Part of it still is. For others, it is probably the only time in a year (hopefully not throughout their MFA life) when they get to meet their fellow degree pursuers, discover the going-ons, and available resources (such as where the print room is) in the program . After all, we are collaborators who create better work by being informed and bouncing ideas.
So come and meet new + old buddies + professors you may want to take a class with next semester, get informed on what you can expect from newer classes offered, and gain insights from former students on the path they have set forth on.
Coffee will be brewing + light breakfast served, if you come early.
TypeCon2011: Surge, the annual type conference hosted by The Society of Typographic Aficionados (SOTA), took place last weekend from July 5-10 in New Orleans. Typographers and designers from all over the United States and a few from abroad were in attendance. The conference included a program for all type enthusiasts full of presentations on the inspiration, science, and technology behind type, an exhibition of intriguing design and striking type, and of course some New Orleans excitement!
A guest post by Sean Barnes
Last year, while on the Germany trip, I wrote about the value of travel on our education and how, for example, being in the locations of the Bauhaus and seeing the original work that was produced there deepened my understanding more than any amount of researching and reading could. That same principle applied to the New York trip this month. In many ways, that understanding was even deeper because we had more opportunities to talk directly to designers – from the up-and-coming to the unquestionably iconic – and better understand their processes and approaches to design.
If there was one, overall lesson that I learned on the trip it was that there are many different ways to create a successful career in graphic design and that success can be defined in many terms. The range of experiences and approaches we encountered was vast – from a designer sharing space with several other creatives to a large, international company setting the branding directions for the largest of the largest corporations.
Stylistically, the designers we met with were also diverse. Perhaps the greatest contrast was between the designers who started and ended our tour – James Victore and Massimo Vignelli. Since we are all students of design, I’m sure I don’t need to go into the differences in style of each of these men, but I was struck by the similarities between the two. Each found his path in the large world of graphic design. Each surrounds themselves with his work – Victore’s studio is stuffed with hand-painted objects and personal notes and work, while Vignelli wears clothes he designed and is surrounded by furniture and objects designed by him and his wife Lella. Both have been able to create lives based in design, which are balanced with their personal lives and create an environment in which they can thrive. While it’s doubtful that either designer would agree on a particular piece of work, they have similar commitments to the practice and growth of graphic design. The point here is that graphic design is a large enough field that each of us can find our own path and place in it and define our success by our own terms. To see that in action is truly inspiring!
The MFA program is fortunate to be able to offer such remarkable and rewarding opportunities as these field trips. I encourage everyone to get on the waiting lists for future adventure. You will never regret it!
Day 2 was less lively (walking wise–we stayed in Chelsea) but was no less interesting than the prior day. The first meeting was scheduled with Carin Van Vuuren of Landor, followed by Woody Pirtle formerly of Pentagram, and lastly with Tom Kluepfel of Doyle + Partners.
What an action packed day the MFA ComDes students had! By far the busiest day of the five day adventure, the students had four appointments across Brooklyn and Chelsea, meeting with James Victore, Jessica Hische, Mirko Ilić, and Milton Glaser. An insightful day was had by all, ending on a particularly magical note with Milton Glaser.
