contributed by Lorraine Nicoletta

For my recent presentation, as a part of the Clever Claver lecture series, I focused on the worlds of graphic design and architecture. Both influence each other, and also inspire my own work.

Throughout my education at MICA and abroad, I have collaborated and designed side-by-side with architects and urban planners to create unique structures and systems. Together we were able to take our projects to a new level because architecture and graphic design are two forms of communication not bound by the constraints of a culture or language – they set  and break standards in different ways and give the public something new to experience, ponder, and interact with.

I gave the example of Times Square, New York. This area is dominated by advertisements and signage hanging onto every surface, creating new facades for the buildings, and altering the way people interact with the area. Now the public’s interaction with Times Square has been altered again when designers and architects created the Tkts booth which includes a bleacher style seating where pedestrians can sit and take in the stimulating landscape. Though it is just a place to buy tickets for Broadway shows, designers created an interactive structure, rather than just take up more space in the city.

I concluded my presentation with something my professor abroad (an architect)  always said which was, “To participate, and create in diverse groups creates a condition of intense joy that is shared.” While abroad I spent the semester collaborating with architects and designers from all over the world. Working with this group of like-minded people who each had a unique set of skills different from my own did create the “joy” my professor spoke of. Together we were able to spread the “joy” past the group and the project into the community where the project was based. Together, we were able to create an environment that interacted with all the senses, and movement of the community through the design of the actual structure, which was then strengthened with the support of design.

By imitating each other, together graphic design and architecture are able to speak on a massive and miniature scale getting the public’s attention at all levels.

Lorraine Nicoletta is a senior graphic design major, environmental design concentrator from New York.

contributed by Gabe Kelley

User experience is a facet of design that many students have not explored fully. Jonnie Hallman (formerly of Adobe) led us in a workshop for exploring the inner-workings of UX/UI design. Jonnie is a successful UX/UI designer who has been inspired to transform well-known tools like flickr and twitter. In the workshop, we considered how people will interact with a space that we as designers define for them.

We were asked to create or redesign an app that we found useful. We had to define about what users would do when they came to the app, and what would draw them to the app or service over others on the market. We defined the user interactions and tried to make it easy to navigate through the design. At the end of the workshop we all had fully-mocked up designs that displayed our new knowledge of interaction through design.

Gabe’s solution, graf, combines data sources into one unique interace.
Gabe Kelley is a junior senior graphic design major from Richmond, VA.

Contributed by Heather Kohlberger

The ’12 seniors are currently working to install an undoubtedly fantastic and impressive collection so be sure to stop in to enjoy another year of MICA GD’s pride and joy!

Friday, May 11–Monday, May 14, Special gallery hours: Friday, 11 a.m.–8 p.m.; Saturday–Monday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. 
Campuswide, Reception: Sunday, May 13, 1:30-5 p.m.

The 2012 Commencement Exhibition highlights works by nearly 400 emerging artists in the undergraduate class of 2012. By transforming the College’s permanent galleries, hallways, classrooms and open spaces into one expansive gallery space, each student is able to show a substantial body of work.

Contributed by Amelie Au

When I first signed up for a spring break travel Blitz, I didn’t know what to expect. Even after Ryan (our teacher and advisor), had given us a brief presentation in our very first introductory meeting, I wasn’t quite sure what a “blitz” exactly was. All I knew was that this was going to be a one week intensive course and that we would travel somewhere to design something. Kind of vague. I admit that even by the time we had landed in Birmingham, Alabama, drove two hours to Greensboro and settled into the bunkhouse, I still had no idea what to expect in the next seven days.

Looking back, it felt much longer than seven days. Ryan said that one of their previous Blitz mottos was: “Every day feels like a week.”

We spent the first three to four days really experiencing Greensboro, getting to know the community there, and visiting the nearby sites that Rural Studio (a team of inventive student architects) had built. The architecture in the area was quite remarkable. Rural Studio’s projects have a very modern and experimental twist, with the additional usage of recycled and salvaged materials (such as windshields, roadsigns and carpet squares), resulting in a unique style that makes them stand out in their surrounding context. We also got to experience the amazing Pie Lab, HERO, and HERO Bike during our short stay in Greensboro. We met a lot of the locals and learned about the history of their small town. The entire community was so friendly and welcoming. Music Man, a local personality, captures the spirit quite well when he said, “I know no strangers.”

We spent most of Wednesday brainstorming and trying to decide on the direction we wanted to take our project collectively. I think that was probably the most difficult part of the Blitz. The first half of the week was pretty overwhelming; there were so many things we had to absorb and process as newcomers. If we were going to design something for the local community, we had to do it right and remain conscious of our decisions. Besides generating ideas, we also had to plan the execution of the project in correspondence to our budget and our very limited time there. Although deciding on the project was quite challenging, I think that our end-result of the sign-painting worked out very well, mainly because it resonates with the community at Greensboro.

Wednesday night, we walked around the quiet streets to scope out possible locations. The next morning, we proposed our idea to Sara, a director at HERO, and asked permission to do the sign-painting on the wall of a building they owned. Once it was approved, we scurried to create a couple of variations of designs. We returned later in the afternoon with a few finalized proposals to be critiqued, edited, and sent to Pam Door, the executive director of HERO, for the final decision and approval. As soon as the decision was made, we drove to Tuscaloosa to buy all the materials and paints we needed. At around midnight we started painting, and by 4 am we were finished. I honestly really like the idea of it appearing overnight.

To be honest, I had always been a little hesitant to work in teams or groups to collaborate on projects. But after this trip, I’ve learned the potential and benefits of teamwork, and have come to realize its importance and efficiency. It was such a great environment to be in too — everyone cared about their work, everyone wanted the project to be strong, and the best part of it all was that everyone wanted to have fun in the process. I’ve learned so much from this trip; I’ve absorbed a lot of tips, techniques, and inspiration with me. As a sophomore (and baby designer, as I like to call myself), I feel grateful to have been able to collaborate with others, experienced designers and artists, and observe their creative processes.

Right now, we are in the process of translating our Blitz experience into a publication. So I hope everyone will keep an eye out for it. I’ll just go ahead and assume that it is going to be awesome. I think that after this experience, I’d like to participate in more projects that revolve around social design and I also encourage anyone who is interested to go on a Blitz with Project M if they get the opportunity to do so.

A few parting words of wisdom from the 2012 spring blitzers: “Kill your timid notions.”

(Special thanks to Ryan Clifford, Becky Slogeris, Agnes Zuberecz, Amy Lee Walton, Brian Pelsoh, ColinDunn, James Anderson, Kim Gim, Leah Moloney, Leah Tipton, and Liz Orr)

Amelie Au is a sophomore graphic design major from Hong Kong

Contributed by Emily Ragle 

The third and final installment of Off The Rails: The 2012 MICA Thesis Exhibition opened this past Friday, April 20^th. The projects of four GD MFA students are on display on the 3^rd floor of Fox.

Abe Garcia can trace his love of design back to when he was creating posters for his musical friends. Though his work strayed from music over the years, he saw his thesis project as an opportunity to return to his roots—this time moving beyond gig posters. In his project Lofi, Hifi, Wifi, Abe explores other ways in which design can inform music and vice versa. Using sound-reactive technology in collaboration with several musicians, he has created complex, experimental visualizations of sound. The exhibition promotes interaction by allowing users to generate music with three different electronic instruments.

Seeing a coffin in a gallery might be disconcerting, but that’s exactly the problem Aggie Toppins addresses with her project. Her personal experiences with death and funerals have been anything but comforting, which was the driving force behind the creation of The Good Service. She researched funeral traditions in other cultures, identified the shortcomings of the standard American service, and decided it was time to give death a redesign. Aggie investigates the crafting of memorial objects and suggests that it can make one’s own eventual death feel more comfortable, natural, and manageable.

Another component of the project is the concept for an iPad app called Elegy. The app could be used at funeral services in place of traditional guestbooks and photo albums. The advantage is that people are able to add their own photos, stories, recipes, etc. to the memorial page. More images of the project as well as Aggie’s research and writing can be found at thegoodserviceonline.com.

When Rolando Gutierrez isn’t busy being the most impressive vinyl installer of all time, he is creating gorgeous typefaces. For example, his modular typeface “Alphabeta” uses a set of straight lines and curves to form as many glyphs of each letter as possible. “Hipstory” is an open-source typeface that allows users to download a template and draw on top of each letterform. The user-generated type becomes available for download, and other users can then mix and match what other users have created. “Suncity”, a stylish, condensed typeface, uses over 300 2-letter ligatures as an approach to customization and mutability. The common thread is that he is maximizing the potential for customization within a single typeface, and therefore pushing the limits of what a typeface can be. Truly brilliant.

The people of Venezuela are experiencing an era of turmoil under the totalitarian leadership of Chavez. Having grown up there, Clara Kohn Marquez recognizes how discouraged the people of her country have become. In response, she created a children’s book about a sloth named Teresa, who is positive in the face of adversity and represents hope for Venezuelans. The installation is lighthearted and friendly and will remind you of childhood visits to libraries and museums. In addition to an inviting, central reading area, Clara has created large paintings of the characters and opportunities to interact with each one. Check it out and you might even get a hug from Teresa herself!

Contributed by Colleen Roxas

At a young age, I’ve always known that I wanted to be an artist or designer. Taking after my father, who excels at the craft of airbrushing and carpentry, I had always been interested in various aspects of the process that involve designing, building, and making. Although my father was able to guide me through a lot of processes, most of my learning came from my own curiosity and enthusiasm. I wanted to make my ideas real, so my search would often include taking trips to the public library to check out books from the arts and crafts section. In elementary school, I was constantly drawing. I wrote and illustrated books for our school’s library about my activities in class, I drew pictures for the county’s “Just Us Kids” newspaper, I sewed clothes for my stuffed animals and dolls, I made jewelry gifts for my classmates and family, and started creating perspective drawings of rooms and homes that were solely built from my imagination. On special occasions, I designed custom greeting cards for my family, since I was just a kid that couldn’t afford to go to the store to buy any. Basically, I’ve always enjoyed making things — all the time, and still do.

Middle school was when I was introduced to the idea of “design” without really understanding that my process involved problem-solving and making design decisions at an early age. It started out with the online gaming community called ‘Neopets’. When I joined these online forums called, “Guilds,” I made a lot of new friends around my age that designed the layouts for the forums, and layouts for their pet’s homepages. I decided that i wanted to code my own websites for my pet pages as well, and they helped guide me towards resources to other sites and other outside forums. I joined online communities that created elaborate pixel-based art, “vexel,” and vector drawings where we would be able to share work while playing games. My internet friends had a lot of knowledge in making websites and making beautiful art, which inspired me to learn as much as them.

Even today, I still enjoy being inspired and finding resources to learn new things related to design. All of the processes involved with crafting throughout my life have helped me with making design decisions today. The quality of craft has been important to me because the detail-oriented and aesthetic aspects of design show the thoughtful effort and value of a project’s creation. The excessive amounts of time I spend, obsessively staying up late to carefully build a project, have always lead me to discover new revelations, find happy accidents, and keep a curious mind.

Exploring various mediums and crafting various things have increased my versatility. My varied interests helped me to become generally flexible and well-rounded in diverse fields, and has opened the doors to new possibilities. Precision, technique, and value for aesthetics comes from a lot of this process of experimenting and critical observation. I like to allow myself some freedom, every once in a while, to try something different, to challenge myself, to continually learn new things, to think critically, and share something I feel good about. Over time, crafting in all aspects of art has helped me grow as a designer, to continually improve the quality and sophistication of a final outcome’s presentation. Crafting and continually merging the traditional and digital realms of art have helped me to make my concepts and ideas feel real. In addition, a feeling of enchantment that you can instill with another person has always been very important to me, and this is why I try to remember the value of the things that I make. It’s valuable to know that the things I create could not only communicate or express a message, but connect and delight others in a significant way.

Name and year: Jaewoo Ahn, Sophomore

Hometown: Fort Lee, NJ

Interested in graphic design because: Since 7th grade, I’ve screwed around with Photoshop making tacky, stupid little banners and such, but as I got older, I started working for my mom and creating posters, flyers and banners. It was then that I discovered that I find a sick obsession and enjoyment with having OCD on screen, and making stuff look nice. When I came to MICA, I then realized the big role of graphic design in communication. Creating effective communication is fulfilling.

Favorite typeface: Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk extended

type 1 with Jennifer Philips , she is amazing. “’nuff said”.

Favorite course (or project) so far: vinyl project with Kristen Spillman. It was cool making an vinyl cover for a good album.

Advice for other designers: I’m not one to be advising people on how GD should look, but I always try to go for simplicity, cleanliness, and direction.

Name and year: Krystal Corbo, Senior 

Hometown: Stamford, Connecticut

Interested in graphic design because: It’s a puzzle that you get to solve visually. I love connecting all the dots to make the project as cohesive and relevant as possible. It’s fun, and there are always problems that need solving.

Favorite typeface: It’s always changing. I’ll always have a soft spot for Univers, but right now I’m addicted to Freight Micro Pro. I think the italic styles are super unique and interesting.

Favorite course (or project) so far: Branding and Letterpress.

Advice for other designers: Get off the computer once in a while! Explore letterpress, bind a book, paint, draw. It will not only be refreshing to give your eyes a rest from the screen, but make you think in ways you don’t always have to on the computer. It may even inspire some new ideas for current, or future projects.

contributed by Greg Cole

Field trip day was a nice experience for juniors to explore the range of design studios in Baltimore. The entire junior class split into small groups, with different tours for each. Thanks to all of our generous hosts: FastSpot, Orange Element, Mission Media, Planit, Spur, B Creative, Ashton Design Associates, Exit 10, and GraphTec.

Touring through the design studios Fastspot and Orange Element gave me a good feel for the work environments and atmosphere of their spaces. The employees of both studios came across as a team, and it was great to see. After visiting the studios, our group traveled to GraphTec where we received a tour of their printing company. The machinery was quite impressive and learning about their functions was very informative. Seeing firsthand what is involved in mass producing printed work became very real to me.

Greg Cole is a junior design major from Maryland.

Experiencing magic at Spur Studio