A single/continuous shot walk-through of the iMET CENTER during a quiet moment
before our upcoming STUDENT DESIGN SHOW.
We hope to see everyone and their supporter there.
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:
- DIGITAL ILLUSTRATION (21%)
- POSTERS (18%)
- LAYOUT (13%)
- TRADITIONAL ILLUSTRATION (12%)
- LOGOS/ IDENTITY/ CAMPAIGN COMBINED CATEGORY (~9%)
- EDITED PHOTOGRAPHY (9%)
- UNEDITED PHOTOGRAPHY (6%)
- 3D/ PACKAGING (5%)
- MULTIMEDIA/WEB (4%)
- PHOTO MANIPULATION (3%)
WELCOME to the 2023 District Wide Student Design Show
The Website for the 2023 Student Design Show is now live, and student work has been hung in the S.C. Johnson iMET CENTER in Sturtevant, Wisconsin for the show launch 4/17/23.
An OPENING RECEPTION and AWARDS CEREMONY is slated for TUESDAY, APRIL 18th , at 6 – 8pm.
Hors d’ouevres will be served and the event will feature the recorded music of DJ SPUNKSHINE.
The event is open to the general public and the greater business community. Invitations have been extended to area high schools, and our collegiate and business parters in the region.
To view the 2023 Student work, please look undertake main menu for the STUDENT DESIGN SHOW WORK CATEGORIES. This years show will feature work in ten categories.
April 14th, 2023… (three days until the RECEPTION)
The 2023 STUDENT DESIGN SHOW IDENTITY
Students in the ADVANCED CLASSES submitted their proposals for the 2023 edition of GATEWAY TECHNICAL COLLEGE’S DISTRICT-WIDE STUDENT DESIGN SHOW back in October and November of 2022.
The event has been scheduled this year on April 18th, at the SC Johnson iMET Center in Sturtevant.
Members of GTC Administration team have helped us each year in the selection of the Show Identity and Direction for this year’s show identity.
The DESIGN SELECTED for this year’s design show (the item that received the most ordinal vote points) is:
Mr. Heller’s Show Identity Design uses 3D imagery and plays with concepts related to: materials, technology, transparency, reflection, opacity, as well as lights and darks. Congratulations to Ron!
The SECOND PLACE SELECTION
(there was a tie for the second most number of points received)
Mr. Hespel’s Show Identity Design uses vector artwork with a deco-period historical theme, and Ms. Noble’s employs a scholastic photographic-style collage.
The FOURTH PLACE SELECTION
(the third most number of points received after the second place tie)
Mr. Hansen’s Show Identity Design uses a strong Icon-driven 2D graphic approach, playing with ideas of luminance and color. Congratulations to Sam!
The Graphic Design Department would like to thank all of the Administrators who helped us select this year’s identity, and congratulate all of the students who participated in this year’s competition.
We look forward to seeing everyone at the show in April!
The 2022 STUDENT DESIGN SHOW “BY THE NUMBERS…”
from Peter Pham
As I process the work for each year’s Student Design Show, I am always pleased at the QUALITY of the submissions. I am also quietly observant of the trends in the submissions each year.
In the early 2000’s (when the analytics were not as easily processed) there was a preponderance of Layout and Illustration student work.
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.
Once again, there is a slight change in the distribution of the categories of work submitted.
Future analysis will show us potential reasons for the trends.
A few facts about this year’s show:
- About 170 pieces were submitted
- Qualifying student work was to have been created between Spring of 2021 (post show)
through April 20, 2022. - We had more Alumni Judges this year in the rank of our professional Jury.
- This year’s categorical submissions
(from MOST submissions per category, to the least per category) were:
- LAYOUT (~21.1%)
- DIGITAL ILLUSTRATION (~16.3%)
- LOGOS and IDENTITY (~10.8%)
- PHOTOGRAPHY WITH POST TO ENHANCE (~9.6%)
- PACKAGING and 3D (~7.8%)
- PHOTOGRAPHY (Straight Out Of The Camera) (~7.2%)
- TRADITIONAL MEDIA (~6.6%)
- COMPREHENSIVE CAMPAIGNS (~ 5.4%)
- PHOTO MANIPULATION, MULTIMEDIA, and POSTERS combined accounted for approximately 15%
The 2022 Student Design Show Awards!
Once again, we get an advanced “SNEAK PEEK” of the 2022 STUDENT DESIGN SHOW AWARDS.
Students whose work has been selected as Best in Show and Honorable Mention for each category
in the 2022 Design Show will received these awards,
A VERY SPECIAL THANKS goes out Mr. John Mizer for his professional expertise and hard work in fabricating this year’s awards in collaboration with the designer of the 2022 show’s identity, Ms. Melody Warner.
Thanks also to Mr. John Zehren and his support crew out at the Gateway Technical College / S.C. Johnson iMET Center’s FAB LAB.
SPECIAL THANKS also to our Divisional Administrative team:
Mrs. Sherry Bubel for obtaining and ordering the materials, and Dr. Tracey Isensee for purchasing.
AWARD RECIPIENTS should receive their awards by the Fall Semester.
We will mail awards to distance students, and get them to students in the classroom as we are able to.
If any students have not received their 2022 SDS awards by the end of September in Fall 2022 semester, please contact your instructor.
GTC STUDENT HANDBOOK DESIGN CONTEST
Computer Illustration and Drawing students participated in the Gateway Technical College Student Handbook Project, coordinated by instructor Laura Laznicka, and Gateway Marketing Department Coordinator Mary Jo Jiter.
Gateway Technical College’s branding standards were established, strategies outlined and the design work began. Students executed the design process; research, creative brief, concept layout sketches, digital rough layouts to the final comprehensive.
After, peer collaboration and revisions the final layout designs were ready to be submitted to the Gateway Marketing Department.
We congratulate all the students who participated in the Student Handbook Project and we are proud to announce that Jasmine Wagner’s design will be used for the upcoming 2022–2023 Student Handbook.
click on any thumbnail to open a
larger-sized image in a new browser tab.
Virtual Color Theory Project
We all know how the GTC Student Design Show has pivoted its delivery and adjusted its presence in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. The previously catered gala-style events and live celebrations at facilities throughout the district had to be shifted mere weeks before they were scheduled to occur in 2020.
We went from a harried, yet greatly successful Facebook Live delivery with our 2020 District-Wide Student Design Show, to an even more successful YOUTUBE™ Live event the next year!
But in addition to events like the SDS on a departmental scale, on a broader institutional scale, all instructors had to innovate and integrate new ideas…once again ‘pivoting’ out of sheer necessity… and relying on innovation and dedication to continue to provide learning activities to our students.
In the FALL of 2021, we continued offering O-Sync sections ensure quality delivery and safety.
These sections can sometimes be challenging, with some students in the classroom socially distanced (and wearing masks), combined with others ZOOM conferencing in from a distance.
A popular communal collaboration exercise had to adapt to these changes as well, and wound up adding a new flair to the activity. The “color quilt” was a metaphorical quilt activity where a randomly generated color swatch
[ #ED243E] was selected for an entire class section in Peter Pham’s DesignConcepts class.
Each member of the class (a class that teaches the fundamentals of color, typography, design composition, and computer basics as they pertain to design) had to then design an eight by eight inch section for the quilt around an individually assigned color scheme utilizing the assigned color swatch.
In previous incarnations, the students would physically assemble in a space and put their sections of the quilt together into a whole that both worked as a whole, while still allowing some degree of individuality based around a basic set of rules.
Assembly day saw students in prior years gathering in a common space with masking tape loops in hand.
The “virtual quilt” of 2021 saw students crafting digital files of their pieces to be assembled into a mockup that could ‘hang’ virtually in a variety of environments. Jokingly some mentioned “The Great Wall of China.”
Student off-site as well as on-location waited to see the final product.
Without further ado… the FA2021 virtual color quilt to those students who participated.
Members of the 204-100-2RHA/2RYA O-Sync section that participated in this activity were (L to R, top to bottom):
C. Brunkle [Split complementary] , J. Tisch [Analagous] , A. Lindsey [Clash], V. Bass [Analagous] , C. Arrendodo [Clash], G. Lee [Clash], J. Rodriguez [Triadic-Primary or Tertiary], (placeholder), L. Najera [Split Complementary], R. Gomez [analagous], K. Kosterman [Triadic- Primary or Tertiary], G. Gauthier [Split Complement], S. Hansen [Monochromatic ], J. Haubrich [ Triadic], S. Campbell [Complementary].
Graphic Design Students Participate in GTC’s REDHAWK REVIEW
Several students from the Graphic Design Department have participated and contributed to this year’s GTC RED HAWK REVIEW. Click on thew link below to see some of the literary and visual contributions by GTC students!
