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The 2023 Student Design Show “By the Numbers…”

from Peter Pham

As I process the work for each year’s Student Design Show, I muse at the trends that appear among the submissions each year.

In the early 2000’s (when the analytics were not as easily processed and quantified) there was a definite preponderance of Layout and Illustration student work. It had been a mainstay of our program from its inception, and oft-associated with the practice of graphic design.

In the 2010’s, we saw a tremendous increase in the amount of photography work––possibly correlating with the increased availability of really good consumer digital equipment… and a notable trend towards people becoming more interested in creating high quality products for a variety of uses outside of the traditional scope.

It appears that everything old is new again.
Much like the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, illustration, posters, and layout is at the top of our list this year! Items associated with traditional print-media categories are making up teh vast majority of submissions… with traditional illustration coming in right behind them.

While Graphic Design is not necessarily synonymous with illustration, (and definitely not in the same category as Fine Art) the crossover point emphasized by volume of entries is worth noting.

A few facts about this year’s show:

  • Around 160 pieces were submitted this year. [We’ve had in excess of 300 in a very active year with high enrollments]
  • Qualifying student work was to have been created between Spring of 2022 through April , 2023.
    It may be selected from student coursework, or from parallel individual practice to coursework.
  • Categories needed to be made up of minimally 5 submissions, or that category was closed and merged with another. (Since the Districtwide Student Design Show began in 1999, we have had anywhere between 7 and 14 categories in a given annual show).
  • This year’s categorical submissions (from MOST submissions in a category to the least) were:  
  1. DIGITAL ILLUSTRATION (21%)
  2. POSTERS (18%)
  3. LAYOUT (13%)
  4. TRADITIONAL ILLUSTRATION (12%)
  5. LOGOS/ IDENTITY/ CAMPAIGN COMBINED CATEGORY (~9%)
  6. EDITED PHOTOGRAPHY (9%)
  7. UNEDITED PHOTOGRAPHY (6%)
  8. 3D/ PACKAGING (5%)
  9. MULTIMEDIA/WEB (4%)
  10. PHOTO MANIPULATION (3%)