VCD students open resource site

by Meghan Caprez

Two Kent State University Visual Communication Design BFA seniors recently started their own online design resource business called The Warehouse.

The recently engaged couple, Jesse Snyder and Brittany Deighton, opened their website to the public earlier this fall, selling a package of icons Deighton designed. The site also offers two free texture packages for other designers to use as resources for their own designs.

Snyder and Deighton have been designing together since they were in high school, and they noticed there weren’t many resources offered in their price range when they were starting out.

“One of the things we noticed is that a lot of the students early in the VCD program don’t have a lot of access to inexpensive or free things,” Snyder said. “Most of these things cost a lot of money, and there aren’t a lot of resources available. We’re trying to make it inexpensive for people who are just starting out.”

“We wanted to make a place for them to go,” Deighton said. “When we were younger, we didn’t have a lot of people guiding us in regards to resources.”

As the business expanded, Snyder and Deighton implemented a “pay what you want” policy in lieu of set prices.

“For younger students who might not have money, if they want these resources for free, they can do that,” Snyder said. “If they want to pay, they can do that, too.”

Many people have downloaded their texture packages, Snyder said. They are most popular within the Kent community and abroad.

“We’ve gotten a lot of international downloads from places like France and Brazil,” Snyder said. “For some reason, those are the countries we get the most from.”

In the future, the couple hopes to add additional products to the website, such as vector packs and patterns. Upon graduation, they plan to open the website up as an online design studio where they can work on designing for their own clients.

“We’ve just been doing this in our spare time,” Snyder said. “It hasn’t taken too long. We’re pretty efficient. We’re always busy with design, though. We don’t usually take much time off to do anything else.”

“We have no party life,” Deighton joked. “Strictly design.”

Snyder and Deighton were inspired by VCD professor Jillian Coorey and her Graphic Design II course to pursue their own side project.

“Jillian’s class really pushed us to keep us thinking conceptually and out of the box,” Deighton said. “I think that’s how we thought up a lot of the website stuff.”

Snyder encourages other students to take on personal projects to enhance their learning experience. He said the projects are a good way to attract attention to a student’s portfolio.

“It makes you unique if you’re filling a niche that some people haven’t,” Deighton said.

For more information about The Warehouse, visit the website at http://thewarehousedesign.com/.

VCD Preparing Students for International Design

Visual Communication Design and Photo Illustration students at Kent State University have an exclusive opportunity to study design abroad. The School of Visual Communication Design (VCD) proudly announces a 12-day study abroad learning adventure in Berlin and Prague for students in March 2013. Junior, senior and graduate level students enrolled in Graphic Design 2 or Graphic Design Field Experience will meet design professionals, international students and experience the global design community firsthand. The courses will meet weekly during the spring semester, travel during the spring recess and complete a studio project upon their return. Assistant Professors Gretchen Rinnert and Jillian Coorey are leading the program.

Graphic Design Field Experience focuses on problem-solving methodologies employed in visual communication design, in the context of the cultures of Berlin and Prague. In the design-abroad course, students will apply narrative and storytelling methods, design research, analysis, documentation and implementation in their studio projects. Students will grasp European design perspectives and aesthetics while building a more attractive portfolio and resume that demonstrates international design experience.

Students in Graphic Design 2 are charged with a Visual Narrative and Mapping Assignment to document an event or experience through visual narrative using photography and typography.

When: March 15 – March 27, 2013
Cost: Approximately $3,200 plus tuition

For questions regarding Design Abroad please email designabroadvcd@gmail.com or call Gretchen Rinnert at 330-532-8690. Find more information at http://www.design-abroad.com/.

VCD Alumnus Mikey Burton to Speak on Kent Campus Thursday

School of Visual Communication (VCD) Alumnus Mikey Burton, a Designy Illustrator, will speak on Sept. 27, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. in the FirstEnergy Auditorium (340 Franklin Hall, Kent State University) in a visit organized by the AIGA Kent chapter. Students and professionals from the community are welcome to attend the presentation, which is free.

Burton, Master of Arts graduate, has be been recognized with awards from Communication Arts, Graphis, HOW, Print and ADC Young Guns.

Burton is an Ohio native that currently resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Photo credit: Joe Wathen

For more information check out the event Facebook page or the VCD graduate student blog.

Inspire Camp Concludes With Reception

Story and Photos by: Emily Horne

Inspire Camp Follow-Up

After five days of camp, Inspire: A Summer Creative Camp for High School Students concluded with a parent and camper reception Friday, July 27 from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. The parents and campers gathered to mingle and view the artifacts created throughout the week.

A student works on a stop motion animation project.

A total of 23 high school students from Ohio and Pennsylvania took part in Inspire. They were exposed to design, photography, and illustration within a higher education setting. The students were also given the opportunity to build friendships with other creative students in the region.

Co-directors Jillian Coorey and Gretchen Rinnert developed the camp for students who have completed their freshman year of high school, are between the ages of 14 and 19, and have an interest in design, photography, illustration, and creative thinking.

Rinnert said Inspire was very successful. “The students produced various design artifacts. They developed portfolio work that can help them as they enter a design program,” Rinnert said. She continued to say that “parents and campers were delighted by the work and many expressed their excitement and appreciation.”

Inspire is an annual event and will take place again next summer. To stay up-to-date on next year’s camp, regularly check the website: http://www.inspirecamp.com.

Students and parents view work from throughout the week at the reception on Friday.

VCD Professor Honored by International Organization

By: Emily Horne

David Middleton, Associate Professor in Kent State University’s (KSU) School of Visual Communication Design (VCD) is the recipient of the 2012 Distinguished Member Award from SEGD, the Society of Environmental Graphic Design. This was awarded during the SEGD Annual Conference at the Marriott Brooklyn Bridge.

This award honors Middleton for his “outstanding volunteer efforts while significantly contributing to the direction, growth, and excellence of SEGD programs” and recognizes his leadership and “many contributions to the board’s work, as well as many contributions to SEGD’s efforts in EGD education and the establishment of educational programs.”

About six years ago, Middleton was invited to be on the board for SEGD, a small international organization with about 2,000 members in professions such as graphic design, architecture, interior design, and urban planning. Middleton said the group houses many “high-level” people. To Middleton, SEGD is “really about communication and place.”

Over the last ten years, Middleton has made a number of significant contributions to SEGD through his teaching, volunteer work, and board presence. With a high student interest in the organization and its focus, Middleton taught a course for three years in which he brought in professionals as guest lecturers. This interdisciplinary course, with work both in person and through videoconference also included architecture students from the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and real estate M.B.A. students from DePaul University.

Throughout those three years, he received grant funding to teach the course and immerse the students in significant learning opportunities. Many of Middleton’s students have won awards for their outstanding work and have been published in two books. He said VCD is “really recognized in the field as one of the top schools in this area.”

Almost two years ago, Middleton took a sabbatical in which he began the development of a peer-reviewed journal called Communication and Place. Produced by SEGD, Middleton is the editor. His mission in creating this journal is to share meaningful information that professionals can use. Launching this summer, Middleton hopes this journal will be an opportunity to get graduate students involved as editorial assistants.

Middleton has also contributed to SEGD as a board member. He helped to develop a new position – the Education Director. This position is in charge of managing an interrelationship between all of the roughly 25 academic schools within the organization. This position oversees segdDESIGN, The International Journal of Environmental Graphic Design, and helps to manage the summer conference. In addition, Middleton helped to develop the Education Summit held once a year. This year, the one-day annual conference took place on June 7 in Brooklyn, NY.

Middleton has already been recognized from SEGD in the past for his meaningful contributions. A few years ago he won the “Angel” award for the educational work he has done. Being awarded the Distinguished Member Award is an honor awarded by the board that cannot go to a board member.

“For me it’s a real honor to get this award,” Middleton said, “It’s sort of a humbling thing.” He went on to say that he left the board and received the award the first year.

Currently, Middleton teaches a variety of senior and graduate-level VCD courses and still serves on the academic advisory board for SEGD education. In addition, he is the resident faculty member for the SEGD-Kent Summer Program, now in its eighth year. Typically a two-week program for advanced design students and young professionals, this program features high-level professional designers and researchers.

Middleton hopes to develop an exhibition design course for next year and plans to continue to push educational programs and research. He believes these opportunities show “the reach of college and the range of what visual communication really is.”

VCD Grad Continues Senior Project After Graduation

By: Emily Horne

Renee Volchko, a December 2011 B.F.A. graduate from Kent State University’s  School of Visual Communication Design (VCD) is continuing her senior project, even after graduation. Volchko’s 2-D concentration with a minor in Web design and programming has gone to good use as she continues to tweak her project for use by the Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring organization.

Volchko’s final project consists of three “ad spots” or roughly 30-second videos. In order to create these videos, she interviewed many different kids. From her 25-30 minutes of footage from each kid, she narrowed it down to about 30 seconds for each video.

She says she chose to work with Big Brothers Big Sisters because family has always been important to her, as she has a sister eight years her junior. “I think that everyone deserves to have a sibling relationship,” she said. She also said she believes there is something special about having someone like that in your life.

One of Volchko’s biggest challenges with completing this project was adhering to a strict schedule. Between utilizing a green screen, rendering, animating, filming, setting up lights, and making sure each of the small technicalities were in place, it was a challenge to balance that with executing an overall message to her chosen audience.

“It was such an accomplishment, not only for me to get it done, but to get it done with success,” she said. She began thinking about this project in May 2011 and began executing it in October. She says there was “a lot of thinking and planning” before she began tackling the actual project.

After contacting the Big Brothers Big Sisters headquarters in Philadelphia to show the executives her project, she got in contact with the art director. The organization is now in the process of integrating its logo and an existing slogan into the project so it can be viewed by the public. Volchko said she hopes Big Brothers Big Sisters will use the spots as viral videos or ads on its Youtube channel and website.

“Completing this project gave me a little bit more confidence in my abilities,” Volchko said. She went on to say that receiving responses and praise from people who have viewed her work is a great reward.

A self-proclaimed driven and inspired designer, Volchko said she finds inspiration very easily and very quickly. “Graphic design has been my way to communicate with people,” she said “art is a language everybody speaks.” Volchko said that she has her heart set on “making something happen someday.”

Volchko recently coded and launched a new personal website to showcase her work. View it at www.hellorenee.com.

VCD Alumnus Jeramie Selders says “That degree will take you anywhere.”

By: Emily Horne

Jeramie Selders, a 2005 Visual Communication Design graduate, now works at Trek Bicycle as the Director of Retail Design and Environmental Design.

Trek Bicycle, located in Waterloo, Wisconsin, about 25 miles East of Madison, started in 1976. A family owned company, there are about 2,000 employees globally. Selders has worked with the company for five years.

Trek Bicycle provides customers with any and all of their bicycle needs and provides subcategories within the merchandise based on the specific type of riding a customer engages in from road to town to mountain riding. Selders said he helps the customer “experience the brand within an environment.”

The company puts much of its focus on advocacy revolving around riding such as trails and sustainable paths and wants to support the growth of the bicycle.

The company’s creative studio, where Selders works, houses approximately 50 designers and is divided into teams: interactive and Web, visual, product graphics, and Selders’ team, retail and environmental. His team handles the design and execution end of branded retail stores, corporate interior design, special installations, environmental design, events, trade shows, and high profile product launches.

One of the things Selders admires most about his experience at Kent is the discipline aspect of the education he received. He thinks that what students learn in the VCD program is incredibly transferable and prominent in the design field.

“A note to undergraduates now,” Selders said, “[this degree] is such a great base for everything that you do in your life. It just makes you so much more marketable and you can apply what you’ve learned to anything down the road.” He continued to say, “that degree will take you anywhere.”

For more information on Trek Bicycle, visit the Web site at http://www.trekbikes.com.

CCI is now on Pinterest!

By: Emily Horne

Pinterest, a virtual bulletin board, seems to be the new “it” Web site and social media outlet that many people are talking about. While it has not entirely reached the business and organization audience, Kent’s College of Communication and Information (CCI) is now on Pinterest. Like some other universities, CCI has been researching the best ways to utilize Pinterest. There seem to be mixed opinions on whether universities need to be on Pinterest yet or not but why shouldn’t Kent’s College of Communication and Information be one of the first?

What other universities are doing:

1. Contests
2. Showcasing its Personality
3. The Student Experience
4. Study Abroad Destinations
5. Dorm Room Decorations
6. Artwork Created by Students
7. Achievements from Alumni

What can students gain from CCI’s Pinterest profile?

1. CCI Student, Alum and Faculty Successes: Many people with connections to CCI go on to do great things during or after their time with the college. On this board, followers can see what these people are doing.
2. School of _________: There is a board for each of CCI’s four schools that showcase information about the school and stories that relate. Pay attention to these boards if you are a prospective student, a current student, or a former student!
3. Facilities: This board showcases the great facilities each of CCI’s programs are housed in. From the recently renovated facilities in Franklin Hall to the Resource Room in the Art building, CCI’s programs offer their students the best.
4. Study Away: CCI offers a variety of study away programs. Here, we are pinning information about various programs.
5. Why CCI Kent Blog: Here we are reposting blogs posted here on our Why CCI Kent blog to reach more students.
6. For Future Students: Students interested in CCI, whether current college students in other majors or current high school students, can look to this board for basic information.

Send us your work:

We would love to begin showcasing student work (artwork, photography, research, Web site design, etc.) on Pinterest. If you are interested in seeing your work on our page, please send an E-mail to ccikent@kent.edu with your work, a caption, and a link (if applicable) to attach to the pin.

Follow CCI Kent State:

Follow us on Pinterest to keep up on the latest information.  http://pinterest.com/ccikentstate/ Also, please help us to promote our Pinterest account. Share it on Facebook, Twitter and repin our pins that interest you!

VCD Graduate Specializes in Clothing and Décor for Children

By Emily Horne

Alex Rodgers

Alex Rodgers, a December 2009 graduate from Kent State University’s Visual Communication Design program, is now a successful business owner, specializing in printing trendy and affordable clothing and décor for children. His company, Lil’ Burritos, is a Northeast Ohio based design boutique that both sells items online and in a few specialty shops in the Cleveland and Columbus areas.

While Rodgers may not have always aspired to start his own business, he did always want the opportunity to work for himself. He began Lil’ Burritos in October of 2010 with his girlfriend Stephanie Rericha, also a Kent State graduate. At the time, Rodgers was working part-time at the American Greetings World Headquarters in Cleveland but unsure if it would result in a full-time position so he decided to start his own “passion project.” Now he works full-time with both companies.

The business stemmed from Rodgers’ passion “for creating cute, whimsical illustrations” and Rericha’s knowledge of kid culture. Though it started as a hobby, the business has turned into so much more and Rodgers says he couldn’t be happier with the result.

The name of the company was inspired by a term of the same name used to describe newborn babies as they were swaddled. Late in the planning stages, however, he had what he calls a “eureka moment” and decided to wrap the onesies in foil, like burritos. He says both he and Rericha have “an unhealthy love of Mexican food” and continued to say that the name fits on multiple levels.

The company began with onesies but has grown to include prints, tote bags, and night-lights, in addition to some adult shirts in their line of Big Burritos and dog shirts in their Doggie Burritos line. Most of the products fit into one of three categories: Regional Pride, Lil’ Animals, and their Swell Series. With Rodgers and Rericha both being from the Stow/Kent area, they admit to having an attachment to Northeast Ohio. Rodgers says the regional items seem to be most popular and are sold to many customers outside of the state.

Lil’ Burritos has grown into something Rodgers and Rericha never anticipated but they are still just a two person team. They love watching it grow and are simply along for the ride.

Look for Lil’ Burritos at the Kent Heritage Festival and Kent’s Art In The Park festivals this summer. For more information on Lil’ Burritos or how to purchase products, visit the Web site at www.LilBurritos.com.

Inspire: A Summer Creative Camp for High School Students

By Emily Horne

Jillian Coorey and Gretchen Rinnert, both Assistant Professors in the School of Visual Communication Design (VCD), have developed a summer creative camp called Inspire that will take place this summer. The day camp is for students who have completed their freshman year of high school, are between the ages of 14 and 19, and have an interest in design, photography, illustration, and creative thinking. There is no requirement of previous experience, transcripts, or a portfolio to attend this program.

Gretchen Rinnert

Taking place the last week in July from Monday through Friday, this camp will provide students with an overview of graphic design disciplines such as 2-D print, 3-D print, image making, motion, and interaction. With covering a different discipline each day, Coorey said they want to keep each session fresh and exciting for the students.

The idea for this camp has been in the making since 2009 when Rinnert began planning it with a former faculty member, but since this past summer, the planning has been in full swing. Coorey and Rinnert have high hopes for the success of this program. With only a handful of similar design camps in the country and nothing similar in the area, the directors hope this camp will become an annual event, eventually turning into an overnight camp with multiple sessions in order to reach out to more than just the local community.

Not only will students in attendance be able to either add to their portfolios or begin creating one, they will also be able to learn about careers in the field.

“So many students come to college and change majors,” Rinnert said, “the earlier students can learn about programs, it’s such an advantage for them.”

Jillian Coorey

Coorey added that the camp will act as both an introduction to the field and serve as a college experience for the students.

“Some people don’t understand the impact that graphic design has,” she said. “The term ‘design’ is an umbrella for so many things.” Rinnert added that the term design is “so overused.”

In addition to the knowledge students will gain, Coorey and Rinnert want to begin creating a community that involves high school students and VCD students and faculty. Helping with the camp is “a great tool for our grad students” as they will lend a hand during the workshops, said Coorey.

For more information on camp details, how to donate or sponsor students, or to register for the program, high school students should download an application on inspirecamp.com. Applications are due March 1, 2012 and are on a first-come first-served basis.