The 2021 SDS ” by the numbers…”

from Peter Pham

2021 was the year that we continued to learn more about Covid-19. New terms popped up like “covid-fatigue,” “variant mutations,” and “long-haulers.” It was also the year that brought us a vaccine to help us limit the spread of the disease and (hopefully) move towards herd-immunity not only as a community or region —hopefully as a planet.

There were moments of civil unrest in the light of local and national events…events that helped the world recognize how much we need to come together as a society to improve equity for everyone [A mission that GTC takes very seriously].

Amidst everything that happened in 2021, the students in the Graphic Comm program (and their families and supporters) pushed forward with their personal growth and learning.

We hope you enjoy this years edition of the 2021 Online District-wide Student Design Show.


illustration work: Amy Kleinhans

A few facts about this year’s show:

  • About 190 pieces were submitted
  • Students were to limit their submissions to 5 per student
  • Qualifying student work was to have been created between Spring of 2020 (post show) through Spring 2021.
  • it is always interesting to me, as I process the work, to see the trends in submission categories each year. This year (2021), he submissions (from MOST submissions per category down) were:  
    1. LAYOUT (~13%)
    2. PHOTOGRAPHY with limited POST (~13%)
    3. DIGITAL ILLUSRATION (~11.5%)
    4. LOGOS and IDENTITY (~11.5%)
    5. PHOTOGRAPHY (~11%)
    6. COMPREHENSIVE CAMPAIGN (~9%)
    7. TRADITIONAL ILLUSTRATION (~8.4%)
    8. PACKAGING (~8%)
    9. POSTERS (~8%)
    10. OTHERS (~6.5% combined)