Maryland Institute College of Art

Congratulations to all the 2011 winners of Sappi Paper’s “Ideas That Matter” grants.

Andrew Shea (GD MFA 2010)
Project for the Children’s Tumor Foundation

Mike Weikert (Director, MICA’s MA in Social Design, GD MFA 2005)
Project for MICA’s Center for Design Practice

Silas Munro (MICA faculty)
Project for Housing Works

Inna Alesina is the creator of a unique design thinking process that has been employed in numerous public programs at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York City. The museum has created a video and PDF instructions for use by educators.

In Spring 2011, a team of first-year GD MFA candidates developed work for submission to the competition Autism Connects. The goal of the competition was to engage students in research and design innovation around issues in the autism community. Faculty member Brockett Horne guided a team of students in this project aimed at innovative thinking and design research. See more MICA project submissions here.

Out of 126 submissions, two MICA GD MFA students, Noel Cunningham and Cameron Zotter, won top prizes in this prestigious competition, organized by Autism Speaks (the world’s largest autism science and advocacy organization) in partnership with Core77 (the leading international information source and advocate for product design). Both students will travel to San Diego, May 12-14, 2011, to present their design concepts at the annual IMFAR Technology Demonstration session sponsored by Autism Speaks.

• Second-Place Winner: Noel Cunningham/weSYNC

Autism Spectrum Disorder affects many different people in many different ways. Because the spectrum is so broad, it is important to evaluate each person’s needs on an individual basis as we determine their care options. It is common for a child with an ASD to have a rigid schedule and work with several different people on a daily basis. Doctors, therapists, and teachers may communicative with the child’s parent regarding their care, but not necessarily with one another.



• Third-Place Winner: Cameron Zotter/Visual Watch

Visual Watch is a time management and picture exchange communication system (PECS) tool designed specifically for people with Autism. The concept tackles two complex issues: Sense/Management of Time and the need for portability of the picture exchange communication system (PECS). With this product, my goal is to increase autistic children’s communication abilities and ultimately to ensure better inclusion into society.

Visual Watch from cameron zotter on Vimeo.

Web typography by Christopher Clark

The GD MFA program is launching our latest book project: a practical and theoretical guide to digital typography called Type on Screen. The book will be published by MICA and Princeton Architectural Press in both a print and an electronic edition. Over the coming two years, GD MFA candidates will produce a variety of studies and exercises in the areas of screen typography and digital book design.

To begin our research, MICA has created four 8-week research fellowships, employing a team of top graduate students in guided research during summer 2011. Fellowship recipients are Chris Clark, Noel Cunningham, Jin Hwan Kim, Cameron Zotter, and Alice Hom. Each research fellow will pursue visual and technical research on one of the book’s core topics: CSS Type, Animated Type, Logotype, or Type + Code. Each fellow is responsible for thoroughly researching a topic; we will hold weekly group meetings to share and critique results. Fellowships supported by MICA’s Center for Design Thinking.

Image from Chris McCampbell's thesis: proposal for an iPad app

GD MFA candidate Chris McCampbell 2011 has won a $1,000 award in a national competition for his thesis work. The grant was awarded by a design firm fittingly called Thesis. “Thesis recognizes the inherent challenge of being a student with ideas bigger than your wallet, so we created a grant program to help make finances less of a barrier to brilliance.”

Thank you Thesis, and congrats to Chris!

Twenty teams from eight design schools were challenged to visualize the impact of humanity’s footprint on Spaceship Earth at the inaugural Visualizing Marathon: a 24-hour student data visualization competition. MICA sent fourteen students to New York City to compete in the event. MICA swept the competition, winning first place and honorable mention.

MICA’s winning visualization, “One Day Cause + Effect,” was lauded for its personal narrative and striking design and received the Jury’s top score for ‘understanding’ – the ability to help the reader better understand the impact of humanity’s footprint on Earth. An honorable mention was awarded to MICA’s Team #3 for its coherent analysis of data and effective storytelling in “What Kind of World Do You Want?”

Supisa Wattanasansanee and Chris Clark on site at the competition

First Place design: Christina Beard, Christopher Clark, Chris McCampbell, Supisa Wattanasansanee.





Honorable Mention: Melissa Barat, Bryan Connor, Ann Liu, Isabel Uria.

See more, see it bigger

Ann Liu, GD MFA 10, has published a review on Designers Review of Books. Now we know that Ann kept up with her summer reading!

A variety of work produced in MICA’s GD MFA studio will be featured in the forthcoming book FINGERPRINT, available for pre-order on Amazon. Thank you Joe Galbreath for helping get our name out there.

Baltimore’s Daily Business Record reported today on a public-service ad campaign created by a team of Graphic Design MFA students and alumni. Read the whole story at Daily Business Record.

The ads are displayed on 14 bus shelters and 90 bus interiors. They promote Baltimore HealthCare Access Inc., which helps citizens get access to health care and to understand what is available to them.

“We used to only get a handful of calls a week,” said Kathy Westcoat, president of BHCA. “Now, we get about 20 calls a day.”

The campaign was generated by MICA’s Center for Design Practice, directed by Mike Weikert (GD MFA 2005) with Joe Galbreath (2009) and Christina Beard (2011), Beth Taylor (2011), and Supisa Wattanasansanee (2011). The team came up with the slogan “My health is important because I care about my _______. It’s your health. It’s your call,” paired with five different images, representing family, career, baby, future and community.

“The process is research heavy,” said student Christina Beard, 28, who was the photographer on the project. “We were spending a lot of time with the clients and [learning about] what speaks to them.”

“Trying to figure out what language — verbal and visual — would best convey [how they felt],” said Taylor. “We needed to steer away from being heavy handed, condescending or cheesy.”

The campaign also features 716 radio slots. MICA developed the script.

Lauren Adams (GD MFA 2011) has published an essay about the life and times of the typeface Archer on AIGA Voice. She began the piece in Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson’s fall writing course, and now it’s real!

Ryan Shelley (GD MFA 2011) has published a Q&A with designer Rodrigo Corral on metropolis.com. This piece started in Elizabeth Dickinson’s fall writing course. Shelley has delved into how the designer thinks.

The storm of the century (or so they say) hit Baltimore this week. Grad students got plenty of time to focus on their work and experiment with alternative media. Try snow: it’s modular!

(via Elizabeth Herrmann)

MICA GD MFA student Chris Clark has published an info graphic on “The History of Loudness” on NPR.org. Project was developed in Callie Neylan’s course Visualizing Information (Fall 2009).

History of Loudness, Chris Clark

Exhibition identity designed by Wesley Stuckey

The first-year students in MICA’s GD MFA program created a public exhibition at the Maryland Art Place in Fall 2009 on the theme of Instant Messages. The project features a 75-foot-long installation in MAP’s hallway as well as over a dozen works of art and design created by individual students.

MAP exhibition featured on Radar.

>> Read more

Stewonit, fundraising dinner

Andrew Shea, GD MFA 2010, is now a “clogger” or contributing blogger on Core77.com, the industrial design supersite. Shea, who came to MICA with a background in creative nonfiction as well as design and visual arts, has been actively developing his craft as a writer. His posts for Core77 focus on social design and sustainability initiatives. Recent posts address topics such mobile furniture for farmers markets and grassroots fundraising strategies.

GD MFA had a great workshop with Peter Buchanan-Smith last weekend. A whirlwind of productivity struck the studio for 54 hours. We’ll continue to develop the results over the coming weeks.

See more on Flickr photos by Ann Liu.

GD MFA student Virginia Sasser has published a review of Green Graphic Design on Designers Review of Books. This piece was written in conjunction with Elizabeth Dickinson’s Design/Writing/Research course. Sasser concludes, “With Green Graphic Design designers will not only be well equipped to make more sustainable decisions on their future projects, but they will also know how to convey that conscientiousness to their clients and audiences. Dougherty successfully disentangles much of the abstract eco-information floating around today and reinvigorates a weary discussion with excellent, concrete examples.”

CDP team in Hale County, AL; photo by Luke Williams

MICA’s Center for Design Practice pursues real-world projects with not-for-profit clients in Baltimore and beyond. The CDP is directed by Mike Weikert (GD MFA ’06). Here, a team of graduate and undergraduate students, including Ryan Clifford, GD MFA ’09, is at work in Hale County, Alabama with Project M. The Center’s work is discussed in the current issue of Urbanite magazine. Read the full article by Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson.

[presentation notes for Richard Stanley's undergrad Branding course]

Inventive Typographic Brand Identities
A brand is not just a logo. Although a word mark or symbol may be at the center of a visual brand identity, designers build systems that extend the visual language to print, the Web, packaging, and environmental applications.
The Express Local packaging, by Haik Avanian
Kunstvermittlung identity, by Lorenzo Geiger
Utrecht City Theater, designed by Edenspiekermann
Gil Vicente identity, designed by Martino and Jaña Design
Thymes packaging, by Duffy and Partners; one brand, many packages
IBM, “Smarter Planet” campaign

Re-Branding and Counter-Branding
Brand New, the blog about corporate identity and visual branding
Softer Soft Drinks
Re-Branding Social Services in the Netherlands
Redesigning the Dollar Bill

I think this is an interesting idea for our Repurpose Project, I wish I could have found it earlier. Multiple meanings and cycles (more than just recycling!). It makes my skin goosebump. It’s clever, and a bit creepy.

http://www.nadinejarvis.com/projects/carbon_copies

Go check it out. It’s worth a look and a read. -Isabel.

Ok. So after Monday’s class, I had a few inspirational ideas for the Repurpose Projects that some of you are doing. But I think all of these can be interesting things for everyone to look at. Enjoy!

Ann, you were talking about typography and words, and it made me think of this artist’s work I saw in a book called Vitamin D.  I found the artist’s name: Dominic McGill. Here’s one of his pieces.

His work is here.

Supisa, you were talking about blotches and splatters that sort of form into shapes. You are also interested in typography. This might not be precisely what you were thinking, but it’s a fun mix of elements, the splatter paint/blood and the word.

This was made by Lippa Pearce Design, in London. I don’t know if it helps, but it came to mind as you were talking about your project.

Lauren, the video I mentioned of the short stop-action animation is here. It’s called Western Spaghetti. PES is the company or group that makes them. There are a bunch of them here worth looking at. Some cater to product advertising and branding too.

Finally, I would like to mention, if anyone is interested, Veer is having daily and weekly contests, giving away subscriptions, money, etc. They’re also having one large contest at the end for a Mac laptop I believe. If interested, go check it out:  http://ideas.veer.com/skinny.

Here are some examples of graphic designers who have developed distinctive visual languages. We’ll discuss this work in relation to the Repurposes project.

http://www.fromkeetra.com/
http://www.deannecheuk.com/
http://www.antoineetmanuel.com/

This is an interesting example of how to exhibit graphic design.

http://www.etapes.com/actus/retour-premiers-jours-festival-de-laffiche-graphisme-chaumont

We just started a visual exercise called “Swatch,” where students are articulating their own personal graphic language by assembling imagery and marks on a 2-d surface. The project is not about pattern design per; instead, we are using the idea of pattern to assemble imagery that may come from diverse sources yet holds together around a common vocabulary. Here are some examples of work by artists and designers that works along these lines:

Murakami painting/print

Read the rest of this entry →

Virginia Sasser, Andrew Shea, and Mark Alcasabas were invited to present their paper, “Designing for Social Change in the Baltimore Community,” in May 2009, at the National UCDA Design Education Summit. This annual conference is in its fifth year, and it provides a platform for dialog among design educators around the country. This year’s theme was “Designing for the Common Good” and it was hosted at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama.

Read the rest of this entry →

At the end of last semester our last visiting artist Mike Perry came for a long weekend to lead us in our first independently published project. We decided on the theme of Science. What resulted was a 36-page, tabloid format zine print in 3 beautiful colors.

If you would like to purchase a copy you can get it directly from us on-line at : MICA GD MFA PROJECTS

To our advertisers, we will be getting your complimentary copies out very soon. We could not have done it without you.

Banner installed at the Walters Art Museum for the upcoming exhibition Beyond the Compass Beyond the Square, designed for the EDS class. Designed by John P Corrigan, spring 2008.

We were all excited about Andrew Blauvelt’s recent seminar presentation for MICA’s GD MFA program. There’s a short summary of his talk on the Walker Art Center blog. Thanks to Tony Venne for the lead.

And here’s the text on Design Observer.

Kit of Parts project by Virginia Sasser

View ongoing work of the MICA GD MFA program.

• Visit our Flickr group!

Helen Armstrong just got back from the CAA conference, a professional conference for college-level educators in studio art and art history. Some schools who are hiring new faculty conduct interviews at CAA. Most interviews are set up in advance, but there is some spontaneous networking as well. Here are Helen’s notes:

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MICA’s Graphic Design MFA program was featured in the April 2009 issue of Print Magazine as one of the top general-interest graphic design programs in the U.S.

• download hi-res pdf of Print article
• download hi-res pdf of Print cover

An army of Joe Galbreath’s paper robots appeared on Minneapolis TV news this week, threatening to overwhelm the Twin Cities.

• watch the news
• visit Pink Hobo Gallery, Minneapolis

L to R: MICA letterpress guru Kyle Van Horn, Joe Galbreath, Globe Poster owner Bob Cicero, Jim Sherraden and MICA GD/MFAer Ryan Clifford

The head of Hatch Show Print, Jim Sherraden, had a few hours to kill before his AIGA Baltimore lecture and stopped by to check out Joe Galbreath’s thesis exhibition about Globe Poster Printing.

Our conference web site is live, thanks to the hard work of the whole first-year team (okay, especially Kristian). Check it out at www.socialstudiesconference.org. Logo designed by Tony Venne.

Joe, Tony and Ryan received greetings from the small island nation of Mauritius from our friend Michele who we met at the Option Shift Control conference at North Carolina State University. Thanks Michele for the lovely postcard. We can’t wait to visit. — Tony

The web site for our book Graphic Design: The New Basics is live. Special thanks to Viviana Cordova for designing and building the site with Ellen, and to Yeohyun Ahn for the wicked interactive logo. The book, which features work by dozens of MICA students and faculty, debuts at MICA on Thursday, May 1, with a smashing party in the Leidy Auditorium, Brown Center. And it all started right here in the GD MFA studio.

Here’s a gorgeous group shot of us with Laurie, and our work! — Kelley

A few photos from our workshop with Laurie Rosenwald. We got really into making our trash bag outfits. — Kim

It’s back to school week, and Laurie Rosenwald will be speaking on campus and conducting a workshop with GD MFA students. Come hear her lecture on Thursday, January 24, 3:30pm, Brown 320.

Laurie Rosenwald is an illustrator, graphic designer, artist, and author who conducted a two-day workshop at MICA in Spring 2008. The workshop involved making and using found imagery. Laurie forced us to think so fast, we were barely thinking at all. She made us put aside strategy, concept, and personal habits, and plunge into a new process and a rough, raw way of working. The experience was intoxicating, exhilarating, and at times exasperating.

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Students in the GD MFA studio created these posters for submission to New Views 2, an international conference held at the London College of Communication in July 2008. The poster exhibition travelled to Melbourne, Australia and opened at Melbourne Museum, November 15, 2008 – February 15, 2009.

• Project brief
• See the New Views international poster exhibition online

Read the rest of this entry →

At the end of the semester Mike Perry came for a long weekend to lead us an independently published project. The group decided on the theme of Science. What resulted was a 36-page, tabloid format zine print in 3 beautiful colors.

Read the rest of this entry →

Here is the Michael Bierut interview by the Atlantic, shot at MICA before the end of the semester critiques.

• Michael Bierut from Atlantic.com

Well, I never finished any cardboard tables that were worth anything, but I did build this cardboard tree. Hurray! Decorated with several of Joe’s robot creations! A little late for direct holiday wishes, but belated are better than none at all. Happy new year! — Kristian

Results from our evening of robot-making. — Kim

This motion piece is about places that I had been visited or stayed for a period during my life.

Please review at http://student.mica.edu/ytuo/my_path.

The Letterpress and Book Arts class took a trip to the Walters Art Museum with the instructor Kevin Auer. He is a conservator at the Walters and got us the back room tour of the manuscripts and conservation lab. Thanks Kevin.

If you like what you see then come and purchase these beautifully designed chairs at the MICA ART MARKET, December 5th-8th. An edition of four were exclusive built for this sale. Designed by Michael Grider and MICA GD MFA Candidate, Tony Venne.

Here are our products.

My friend Nick Zdon was given a copy of Paul Rand’s 1994 interview to edit for Steven Heller’s recent visit to AIGA MN. He will be sending me a copy soon. He found some gem quotes in the video. We should get together and watch it some night.

From YouTube

Excerpt from an interview of Paul Rand by Steven Heller. Filmed at the Fitzgerald Theater (formerly known as The World Theater) in downtown St Paul, Minnesota, 1994. Presented by the AIGA, organized by John DuFresne and Sharon Werner.

Links

• Paul Rand interview
• Steven Heller Lecture

— Tony

This is a face called Granite from Formatt that I’m using for my robot packaging. Since the experimental type folks have been talking numerals of late, I thought it would be of interest. I also really like the exclamation point. — Joe

Different color option for the piranha leaves. I think I’ll include both versions in the entry proposal. — Kim

Here’s my tentative sketch for the Urban Forest project. I’m still playing with the type, but the birds make me happy. — Kelley

Here’s another entry from the KB2 team. — Kim

Here’s my Urban Forest banner idea. — Kim

Hey all, Kim and I have been hard at work on our trees-as-CO2-cutter ideas, and this is the final I’ve brought to the table… look for more to come from team KB2. — Kristian (and Kim, kindof)

Here’s my submission for the Urban Forest project. It’s a painting of a tree, reproduced at life size. — Ellen Lupton

Case bound books created in Letterpress class tonight. If you look closely, you can see some of the colorful endpapers we used inside the books.
-Kim

The GD MFA class meets up Edgar Allen Poe to discuss thesis and BUY*PRODUCT ideas at Pulp, Ink and Hops 2007.

My modular type from Experimental Type class, cut out of dough and baked into cookies. I used an xacto knife to cut the dough and filled it with crushed jolly ranchers which melted really nicely.
-Kim

Adam Palmer, GD MFA 05, published yet another illustration in the NY Times yesterday, in the Sunday Book Review. Palmer began doing freelance illustrations for the Times when he was a grad student at MICA. (He met NY Times art director Nicholas Blechman when Blechman was a visiting artist to our program. Palmer has freelanced for the Times ever since.)

Some Letraset tomfoolery from Joe.

After 6 different rounds of designs and dozens of individual iterations, the authors, editors, and publishers of Graphic Design: The New Basics have agreed on a cover. It features art work by Yeohyun Ahn, GD MFA ’07.

As part of Joe Galbreath’s thesis research, Globe Poster Printing of Baltimore designed and printed a poster commemorating the GD / MFA thesis exhibition. Supplied only with a column of text and a single instruction, “GD/MFA—make this big,” Globe laid out the poster using their trademark color palette. Like most of their work, these posters lived in the streets for a few days until they were torn down, blown away or covered up.