The Graphic Student

Finally - we’re featuring an industrial design student. Eric Stafford, a third year student at Humber College shows some incredible renderings on his deviantart (ugh) page. His line quality, colouring, and perspective are spot on. He also seems to be featuring some of his photography now. Definitely go check out his work, it really is incredible.

You know what would make being a design student a lot easier/more fun? If all the friggin’ design magazines weren’t $20.00 an issue! And then of course the European mags are the best, and they’re $30.00! That’s the price of a hardcover book…maybe that’s why we all fight so hard to be in one.

The Cranbrook Academy of Art just commissioned Elliot Earls (not a student) to design posters for their school’s courses: 2D Design, Ceramics, Painting, Fiber (shown above), Photography, Print Media, Sculpture, 3D Design, Metal Smithing, and Architecture. 

These are what art school posters should look like. This is how an art school should market themselves to students. I have never understood those college posters of happy students sitting on the grass having a picnic with their books open. An art school’s brand should inspire students - especially in schools where branding is taught! It’s not often that beautiful art/design school promotional material shows up, so it’s always refreshing to see it. 

Go check out all the posters, and become as jealous as I am of Cranbrook’s students…

(link via Design Observer)

I never thought the first book to be reviewed on TGS would be a fictional novel. Chip Kidd’s The Cheese Monkeys, takes place in an art school in the 1950s. The main character, Happy, discovers graphic design with his over-the-top teacher Winter. The novel takes you through Happy’s first two semesters at the school, his experiences with other art students, and all the assignments in between.  

Not only is this book a great fictional read, but you’ll probably learn a thing or two reading it. You might even develop your view on the difference between commercial art and graphic design. The book goes through four design projects - one of which involves making a sign that will have you hitchhike your way back to school. Winter stresses the importance of page layout, wow factor, and using what you know about the audience to make a successful design.

It may not be the most accurate story of art school, but it’s very similar to what I expected college to be like before I actually started. It’s extreme, it’s exciting, and it’s exactly how I wish school was. I highly recommend reading this novel.

(have you read a book you think other students should know about? Please tell us. We want to read it too!)

In this great video/interview with James Victore, he rightly puts us students on computers in our place. I really want to meet this guy.

This student designed website for University College Suffolk is pretty neat. Click around and you’ll find student work, videos related to their school, and some other neat easter eggs.

This video might be a tad sappy, but the event itself would be intense. Creative Engine, a 24-hour design marathon at the University of Central Missouri. For the entire time, design students from the university are given any number of projects briefed by real-world clients with small budgets. Within the 24 hours, the students will design posters, promo material, identities, etc. for the companies, who will in turn print and use the designs. It seems like a great opportunity for the students, and something that would be fun.

The popular print education Series Ed  has been a hit in my class since we discovered them in our first year (they’ve tended to go “missing” quickly). A number of publications showcasing and educating students on the potential of paper, ink, and printing. It is self-described: Ed is a continuing education series sponsored by NewPage. Over the years Ed has delivered technical advice on all things printing; coatings, inks, retouching, prepress, embossing and more. Above all, Ed is here to help you understand the amazing things you can do with paper, and how to improve the work you do with it.

The series is now online in a fantastic new website, Ed Lives Here. Now you can look into all the amazing printing processes, add-ons, and capabilities online (no more fighting over the books!). It’s certainly worth any students attention. A designer not understanding printing, is like a racecar driver not understanding how the car works. Spend some time and browse the site.

I came across an interesting site today: myocad.com. Basically what looks like a facebook for OCAD students/fans (is fans the right word? I just mean you don’t have to be a student to join the community). The part that grabbed my attention was the Art. There is a whole database of student-created and added artwork that you can browse through and comment on. I wish all design schools had places like this. I don’t know why showcasing the students work isn’t a top priority for schools, because it is really the most encouraging/non-encouraging factor in choosing a future school. 

The other thing I found on myocad was a strong hatred for the students’ own school. There is more than one comment with the same attitude as this: And I think people on facebook still love ocad cause they haven’t graduated yet and have yet to see how totally full of shit most of their classes were in terms of helping them be employable. 

Man, chill out, you get to live in Toronto!

Meaning_Making, a series of videos I found discusses the Graphic Design Thesis II work done by University of New York (I think I’ve linked to the right department there) students Michael Mallon, Joseph Mazzaro, Patrick Walsh and Melissa Washin. It’s asks questions about ideas, process, execution, etc. You might find the videos a little pretentious or slow at times, but what the students are saying is very interesting, and a lot of the work shown is fantastic. One piece that caught my attention in the 2nd video is the stenciled statistic on the recycling bin “a plastic milk jug takes 1,000,000 years to decompose” - seems like the perfect place to educate people on that issue! If you’ve got the time, go check them out. Here’s a link to each specific one (but watch them in order).