Author: Beverly Lansing

A graphic design school was recently asked to submit designs for a local television program.

“Your Public Schools” is a program broadcast on LCTV in Lockport, New York and the host, Becky Albright, was asked to have a logo designed for her TV studio.

Albright decided to ask Karen Krull’s graphic design class at the Niagara Career and Technical Education Center for help. Graphic design schools often work with community organization to provide graphics for everything from art murals to television and broadcast graphics.

These types of relationships are mutually beneficial to the community and to the design school’s students. The students get to learn about real-world projects with which they may be challenged during their future careers. Working with “clients” is something that is often simulated during coursework, but graphic design schools need real life example project to really drive home the points that are taught during class.

Communities often depend on local education institutions to obtain affordable (often free) services from students who need the experience. For the students at NCTEC, this came through the request of the LCTV Executive Director for the show’s logo. The students in the graphic design program submitted thirty designs for the program to choose from.

Out of those, twelve graphic designs were chosen to be further scrutinized by LCTV’s Board of Directors. In the end, they chose a design depicting a green chalkboard with the TV show’s name written in the center in chalk-like color and font with doodled designs in each of the four corners.

Graphic design school student Rachel Lewis created the design and was quoted in a local news report commenting on her win. “I was very excited to hear that I won. I also volunteer at the LCTV studios at the Kenan Center so it was cool to be chosen to have my design appear on one of their programs,” Lewis said in the report by WGRZ News 2.

Graphic design schools work to create new artists in every conceivable form of art.

In some cases, the schools produce online publishing gurus who are savvy to the ways of the web, but in other cases graphic design schools collaborate to produce top notch concept artists, too.

A fine example of such collaboration is Drexel’s graphic design school and a Gallery in Philadelphia that recently coordinated to create a spectacular public display. “Art Ignites Change” is now on display at the Gallery at Market East and officially opened in December.

A senior student collaborated with other students of Drexel’s graphic design school to create the exhibit which depicts the City of Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Program as a timeline originating nearly thirty years ago. Randi Dean, the senior, and more than ten other graphic design students were assigned the project as part of collaboration with the city’s program, but only one design was chosen.

Dean’s design is the one currently on display and the graphic design student said she was surprised to be chosen in a report by The Triangle, a school publication. “It was surprising and exciting to have my design chosen, but with that came the nervousness of working with real clients and satisfying their expectations,” she said in the report.

Partnering with local art officials can help graphic design colleges propel students into a new career and bring attention to the hidden talents at their institutions. It can be a winning situation for all parties involved and is a creative solution in many communities.

The City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program often taps into the talent at the graphic design school, according to Rees who said “This is not the first time we have worked with the program. They will come to us with exhibition needs, which we can then refine into assignments for the students to complete. It is like a business opportunity.”

A graphic design school is bragging about one of its outstanding students this year.

A student at the Academy of Art University used his passion for contemporary events to create a campaign that is getting much attention.

Johnny Selman is a student at the Academy of Art University’s graphic design school who says he “wanted to expand as a designer and grow as a communicator”. He might be accomplishing that, but he is certainly gaining the attention of BBC, a main stream media outlet that is the subject of his idea.

Each day, Selman creates a graphic design poster to illustrate a news story presented by the BBC station. The graphic designer-to-be also has a website, BBCX365, where he demonstrates his perception of the news using skills he has learned at the graphic design school. The designs found on his website are torn from the pages of BBC’s website, he says.

In a report from the Academy of Art institute, Selman says that his story choice hinges on many things. “My goal with the project is to raise awareness of global current events with the American public, so I try to choose news articles that might slip by their radar,” the graphic design student said. He added that he considers what he has reported on recently and adds variety to his thesis project.

The graphic design school reported that his posters “create striking imagery that encourages the viewer to learn more”. As it turns out, his approach might be working. Comments on his website indicate that his designs do encourage them to learn more about the news headline he features.

The graphic design school’s student is becoming famous for this project, too. Selman’s posters have been discussed in Desktop Magazine, GOOD Magazine, SF Weekly, Mission Local, Design Observer, Guardian UK, and of course, BBC News.