Assessment for new students

Answer the following questions in at least 250 words and email your response to jenny.rhodes@stevenshenager.edu. Spelling and grammar should be correct.

Choose one

1. Why do you want to become a graphic designer? What do you know about the field and what about the career interests you?

2. Write about an artist or designer that inspires you.

Freelance Design Project

Occasionally, I get requests from the business community for students to take on design projects which gives them the opportunity to have published work in their portfolio. Right now I have a project from 350slc.org Climate Action Day, which is an event coordinated by a coalition of about 20 local non-profits, in an effort to raise awareness towards climate change. They need an 8.5 x 11 one-page flyer designed that could also be used as a poster.

Project Objective & Client Information:
To gain attention and entice art students to enter a poster-creating contest. The contest revolves around 350slc.org Climate Action Day, which is an event coordinated by a coalition of about 20 local non-profits, in effort to raise awareness towards climate change. The winning entries of the art contest will be used as promotion for the event, which will be held October 24th, 2009.

Project Requests:
Create an original and eye-catching flyer inviting students to join the art contest. The flyer should follow the theme “World Unity Towards Climate Justice”. Flyers will be distributed to classrooms ranging from kindergarten to 12th grade, therefore images must be appropriate for all ages.


Client Preferences:
Flyer must include
Entry Due Date: September 25th, 2009
Theme: World Unity Towards Climate Justice
Event Name: 350slc.org Climate Action Day Art Contest
Prizes: 1st and 2nd place- new bicycle presented in classroom by Mayor Ralph Becker. 3rd place- $100 in art supplies.
Website: www.350slc.org
Brief explanation that winning entries will be used as posters for the event.

Client likes
Colorful, positive images/artwork.

Client Website: www.350slc.org
www.350.org

There is no compensation for submissions and they need posters by Monday, August 31st in order to be considered. Posters can be designed in any program but will need to be submitted as .pdfs at 150 dpi for digital printing. You can submit multiple designs and please email me at nnydesign@yahoo.com for any questions or for the complete creative brief.

Good luck and remember that taking on pro bono work is a great way to expand your portfolio, to network and to practice your skills.

Awards Ceremony

It's time for our quarterly awards ceremony recognizing excellence in education. There are 3 lists that students can achieve recognition for which are as follows.

Honor Roll - 3.5 & up G.P.A.
Dean's list - 3.8 - 3.99 G.P.A.
President List - 4.00 - G.P.A.

These awards are handed out 4 times per year so come to the awards ceremony to be presented with your award.

Day students - ceremony is at 11:00 a.m. in the auditorium
Night students - 7:00 in the auditorium.

You must have attended 3 consecutive mods to be eligible for any of these awards. The lists are posted outside of the Student Services office if you have any questions. Even if you are not receiving an award, please come and support your classmates.

School starts Monday, July 20th

If this is a newsflash to you - you are in grave danger of being dropped from school for non-attendance! If you do not attend your classes in the first week of the module - YOU WILL BE DROPPED FROM SCHOOL!

So what does this mean to you? It means that you are not enrolled in school any longer, are in danger of losing your school loans and funding AND that your computer must be returned immediately because it is on loan to you as long as you are a student! NOT GREAT! You can come back to school the following module if your Associate Dean (me) allows you back in school and your financial aid is all squared away. But it is at the discretion of the school if we want you back as a student - so don't put yourself in that position.

School starts every 4 weeks - no breaks - no exceptions. As the module is ending, check your schedule in Angel to see if your classes are scheduled. If they are late posting, don't assume you don't have a class. Be pro-active - come to the campus to double-check. Every module in the 2nd week, I get a list of students that were dropped due to non-attendance - don't be on that list!

In other news - the new module is under way and classes are going well so far. See the previous post for a list of what is being taught on-ground starting yesterday.

Happy Designing!

Last Week of School - Hang in There!

So, it's the middle of summer and IT'S HOT OUT THERE!! It's natural this time of year to want to lay in the sun and forget about work and school while you work on your tan. This is the final week of this module so I encourage all of you to stick with it and get your homework done. Which reminds me, we do this again starting next week - July 20th.

Classes taught on ground at the Salt Lake Campus:

Day classes
1st period - DES 104 - Photoshop Basics - Peter Shultz
2nd period - DES 241 - Web Design Basics - Brad Joiner

Night classes
4th period - DES 104 - Photoshop Basics - Peter Shultz
5th period - DES 242 - Logo & Identity Design - Brad Joiner
5th period - DES 250 - Portfolio Design - Jenny Rhodes

These are on ground classes so online schedules will vary. You are always welcome to audit classes if you need to review any material.

Also - CS4 is available on campus from either myself or Sean Pace.

Student Night at the Arts Festival

Friday night is student night at the Arts Festival. Show your student ID and get 2 for 1 tickets. Tickets are $10.00 so find a friend and get in for $5.00 on Friday.

The Arts Festival starts today and runs through Sunday at Library Square in Salt Lake. Students are meeting at the AIGA booth (find it on the festival guide/map when you get there) on Friday night at 7:00 to meet up and experience the festival - everyone is invited.

The Arts Festival is an amazing event for music, art, food and entertainment and is well worth attending - see you there : )

Click here for more information

New Module Starts Today - June, 22

School starts up again today.

Here is the schedule for on-ground classes at the Murray Campus.
1st period - DES103 - Illustrator
Peter Schultz - room 216

2nd period - DES240 - Information Design
Jenny Rhodes - room 216

4th period - DES103 - Illustrator
Peter Schultz - room 216

5th period - DES215 - Web Design
Brad Joiner - room 216

Make sure to check your schedule in Angel to verify your schedule and remember that you must log-in to your online classes and attend classes during the first week or you will be dropped for non-attendance.

We're on Facebook

We officially have a facebook page dedicated to Stevens Henager Graphic Arts students - this will be an extension of my blog where you all can post comments, upload photos and keep connected.

So check us out on facebook - Let's be Friends!!!!

Volunteer at the Art's Festival

The AIGA is running a booth at the Art's Festival next weekend and will give you a free ticket in exchange for helping out with their booth. The festival runs Thursday - Sunday, June 25th - 28th and the shifts start at 11:00 a.m. and run until 9:00 p.m. in 2 hour increments. I am volunteering 2 days and the AIGA would love to have you help out.

If you are interested in volunteering - email me the date and time you want and I will let you know if it is available - send me a 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice. You will need to pick up your ticket at the Murray campus and I will let you know more details as the event gets closer.

Even if you can't volunteer, you should definitely get to the Arts Festival. 4 days of music, art, food and entertainment at beautiful library square. Cost is $10.00. I know summer is officially here when the arts festival comes to town!!

Click here for AIGA booth

Click here for link to the Arts Festival

Graduation 2009

Graduation was on Friday, June 5th at the Capitol Theater. Here are a few pictures from the event - hope to see more of you there next year. It's all about graduation - - keep your eye on the prize and CONGRATULATIONS!!

Graduation is June 5th

The light at the end of the tunnel is finally here for some of you. Graduation is June 5th at 7:00 pm at the Capitol Theater and there are a number of graphic arts students graduating on the Salt Lake Campus.

Graduates with an Associate of Occupational Studies in Graphic Art:
Bill Andrus
Taylor Christensen*
Kenyon Curtis**
Kodi Ellis
Donna Glen***˜
Michael Haygood***˜
Austin Heath
Kristina Holder
Brian Lee*
Chad Ludwig*
Dan Markosian**
Jenny Sean Pace*
Manuel Rangel***˜
Katherine Schmidt
Kelie Scoville
Laurie Tanner*
David Wade

*-Cum Laude **-Magna Cum Laude ***Summa Cum Laude ˜-Alpha Beta Society

I am so proud of all of the graduates - great job and I will see you on Friday.

Graduation is open to the public so you are encouraged to come and show support to your friends and classmates.

I will also be graduating with my MBA so I will be leading graduates and graduating with you. Be there or be SQUARE!!

Classes being taught on-ground next module

The new module starts on May26th - Don't forget that Monday is a holiday!Even though we don't need one right?

I would also like to welcome a new instructor - Peter Schultz. He has a MFA in Media Design and a BS in Graphic Design from Portland State University. He brings a lot of real world experience as well as an outstanding portfolio. He will be teaching DES109 4th period starting next week. I am looking forward to what he will bring to the graphic arts department on our campus - Welcome Peter!

Mod 6 Schedule
Day
1st period - DES109 - Graphic Design 1
8:30 - 10:50 am
Room 216
Instructor: Jenny Rhodes

Night
4th period - DES109 - Graphic Design 1
6:00 - 9:50 pm
Room 216
Instructor: Peter Schultz

Also - if you are scheduled to take DES250 - the portfolio design class - via elluminate in the next 2 modules and would prefer to take that class as a directed study with me on campus, let me know. I am currently taking inventory of students that still need DES250 so that I can offer a class time that will work for you and I am also willing to work with you on a directed study basis. You can send me feedback at 'nnydesign@yahoo.com'

Poster Contest

Thank you to everyone who submitted poster designs for this project. The winner is Kevin Beckstead who is a new graphic arts student in the day program. He received a 2gb flashdrive and a very VERY stylish SHC T-shirt. The posters are currently on display in the lobby and in the cafeteria.

Congratulations Kevin!




Honorable Mention
Dante Johnson

Jordan Butler

Living Traditions Festival this Weekend

Living Traditions is a 3-day festival at library square that celebrates all cultures. It's free with 3 stages of live music and dance combined with great food. Check out the website below for more details.

"Local ethnic artists – craftspeople, dancers, musicians, and chefs – are at the heart of Living Traditions. They teach us about the techniques, styles, tools and materials that are used in their respective artforms, many of which are centuries old. We build on our diversity by bringing featured guest artists to perform, presenting music that might not otherwise be heard in our community, contributing to the overall celebration."

Click here for more info

Design posters for the Salt Lake Campus

We need posters made for the Salt Lake campus and we would like to give the graphic design students the chance to design them. The poster needs to say 'Welcome to Stevens-Henager" and will be placed in the sign display case in the front lobby. The size needs to be 11 x 17 and should be designed in Illustrator or InDesign. It can have photos or graphics on the poster but the focus on the poster should be the Stevens-Henager Logo so keep it easy to read, eye-catching but simple.

I am including 2 jpegs here of the logo but I also have the .eps versions and will email them to you if requested.

If the school chooses your poster, it will be displayed in the school lobby at all times and will count as published work. We will also give you a 2gig flashdrive and a Stevens-Henager T-shirt. I would like to make the selection by Monday, May 11th.

You can submit .pdfs of your designs to nnydesign@yahoo.com.

Thank you for playing!

Logos

Spring Colors on the web

Here is a link to a collection of great websites inspired by color.
Spring is here!

Click here for more

New Classes Start Monday

Are you enjoying your spring break yet? 3 days and we start class all over again so rest up! I will be teaching
DES105 - Page Layout Tools starting Monday, April 27th.

Day program
1st period: 8:30 - 10:50 Monday - Thursday
Room 216

Night Program
4th Period - 6:00 - 9:50
Mondays and Wednesdays
Room 216

My classes are always open to students to audit as well so if you want to brush up on your InDesign skills, see you in class.

Happy Designing!

Student Spotlight

This is an assignment from my beginning Photoshop class. The assignment is to take the original room and give it a makeover. Here are a few samples of the best work.

This is the original image

Iunaite Lalomilo

Alicia Fairborne

Keith Jackson

Kevin Beckstead

Job Fair on Wednesday

There is a job fair being held on Wednesday, April 8th at SLCC at the Redwood road campus.

9:00 - 2:00
4600 S Redwood Road
Salt Lake City, UT 84130

It's the one by our school - lots of employers will be there and come prepared with multiple resumés and dressed professionally and ready to interview. I know a lot of you are looking for work right now so this should be a good opportunity to meet a lot of potential employers.

You can call 801.957.4660 if you have any other questions

Free Sundance screening downtown salt lake - Today!

The short films are screening at the Rose Wagner theater today only and it's free. This also includes a Q & A with the filmmakers including Jared Hess who directed Napolean Dynamite.
Click here for more information

Cool Designs

Happy Thursday everyone! Did you get all of your assignments for your first week of school? Of course you did!

I am posting links to some inspiring brochure design as well as a list of great portfolio sites. Remember, your portfolio is a living project that you should be working on every module - don't wait until you are ready to graduate to scramble to put a portfolio together. You should have a presence online immediately as well as printing off your school projects to go in your book.


Click here for more portfolios


Click here for more brochure designs

Cheap Date - Get Inspired

Multi-artist show tonight!
Friday, March 27th 6 - 10

This is a great opportunity to see a lot of great art all in one space. This studio only opens its doors twice a year so it's always a good time - and it's free! Impress your date with something new to do - or just come with a friend and mingle. See you there.
Click here for the website

Designer's After-School Special

Some great advice for design students about how to get http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifthe most from your educational experience from the AIGA. Click here for full article

Student Spotlight

So, this module I am teaching DES103 - Illustrator Basics back in the classroom and I am seriously blown away by the talent I am seeing from new students. This assignment is a postcard advertising a local zoo and students can utilize any of the tools in Illustrator to draw 4 original animals. I always love seeing the creative approaches each student brings to the project Great work!!


Keith Jackson

Ian Layton

Allyson Hensley

Eleanor Burson

Dante Johnson

Bachelor Degree Program is Official!!!

I have great news - Stevens Henager has received the official go-ahead to start offering a Bachelor's degree in Graphic Arts. This has been in the works for over a year now and I am so excited that we can move forward on this. Although an Associate's degree is great, A Bachelor's degree is even more valuable to your career. The Salt Lake campus can start taking applications starting March 30th through David Cowsert in Student Services.

I encourage all of you to enroll in the Bachelor's program and stop by to see me if you have any questions.

Also - there is a student advisory committee meeting on Thursday - Here's the information:
The meeting will be held this Thursday, March 12th, 2009 at 5:00 PM in the Auditorium.

This is an opportunity to make your voice heard and make change happen! Your input is important and will be taken seriously. Light refreshments will be served.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

See you then!


Holly Andrews

Phone: 801-281-7600 ext 3051

New Module starts today!

Hi students - did you enjoy your break? (ha)

So, we're back at it again and module 3 starts today. The classes I am teaching on ground this mod are:

Day:
DES105 - Illustrator Basics
1st period 8:30 - 10:50
Monday - Thursday

Night:
DES105 - Illustrator Basics
4th period
6:00 - 9:50
Mondays and Wednesdays

My office hours this module are 9 - 6:00 Monday - Thursday and you can always call to set up an appointment. 801-262-7600 ext. 3038

Have a great module everyone!

Movie night Thursday - Come watch 'Helvetica'

February 26th Thursday night - 6:00 pm room 217.

I will be showing 'Helvetica' which is a great documentary all about the font (which is much more interesting and entertaining than it sounds - I promise). The movie is a "Who's Who" of contemporary graphic designers including Paula Scher, Stefan Sagmeister, Neville Brody and David Carson just to name a few. It also examines the role Helvetica has played in graphic design for decades.
Click here for more information about the film

This is just a fun night to get together with your fellow students. There will be food at 6:00 and time to socialize and the movie will start at 6:30. I will have light snacks but feel free to bring something to share if you want. If you are interested in coming, please shoot me an email at nnydesign@yahoo.com so I can get an idea of how many of you will be there. You can bring a friend - non-students welcome - no kids.

Census Needs Part-time Workers

This isn't a job in graphic design but I know a few of you are looking for anything at this point. Read below for more information.

The US Census Bureau is preparing for the 2010 census. To do this, they have a need for a large number of employees in a variety of areas.

WE INVITE YOU TO REFER FRIENDS AND FAMILY AS WELL.

The jobs pay $10-$17/hour. They are temp jobs several weeks but you can renew the contract with the possibility of working 30-40 hours per week for the next year and a half. The Census Bureau will be using our facility to test and train.

The next testing times are on February 24th at 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. at Stevens-Henager in Murray. If you are interested in testing, please visit www.2010censusjobs.gov and complete the application prior to attending the testing. You should also bring the required ID.

We are delighted to have this partnership with the US Census Bureau and hope it will be of help to you. There are brochures at the front desk at our college.

Wellness Fair on Tuesday

The Salt Lake/Murray campus is having a special event tomorrow - See the flyer for details.

Inspiring Brochure Design

Who knew you can be inspired by a simple brochure? Well, me... There's such great talent out there and I always love to see what designers are doing with marketing materials. This is a post from youthedesigner.com which is a great blog all about graphic design. Here is a link to some samples.
You can click on a brochure to see all of the pages.

Remember - No classes on Monday - President's day

2 job opportunities

I received this job posting from Amy White, a former student who is successfully working in the field of graphic design and wanted to post this for other stevens-henager students - that means you guys!!

"Our company is www.eharborinc.com and we do logo and website design as one of the many things we do. We are located in Orem at 1600 north but might move to a bigger location in provo in a few months. We are looking for someone who has a nice portfolio, and has some "experience" with logo design, (school work is cool).

Email your portfolio and resumé to Amy White awhite@eharborinc.com Make sure to let them know that even though they are still in school, we look at the portfolio and resumé and want it to look good and unique.

Graphic Design Internship
This came through our student services department:
CAO Group, Inc in West Jordan, Utah is a worldwide distributor of technological lighting and dental/medical electronic solutions. Get more information about us from our website www.caogroup.com. Intern employees/students will work directly on advertising and promotional projects allowing for creative input to the design work as well as hands on working experience with the production and distribution of visual arts materials.

Moderate level of supervision and input from Division Director. Constant cooperation and job input from other full time Graphic Design and Marketing team members will be provided.

Job Summary:
• Prepare flyers, brochures, spec sheets and other similar documentation related to products and services provided by the company.
• Design, update, and maintain company profiles and literature such as folders, promotional, trade show fixtures, and websites.
• Take promotional photographs of product for literature. Interact with printing houses on the creation of literature.
• Assist with company security through Photo-ID maintenance.

Send resumes through email to bob.perry@caogroup.com.

Building your portfolio - Student Spotlight

We are in the 2nd week of a new module and I've said it before, I'll say it again. Getting a job in the field of graphic design is very competitive and many students will only have their student projects to put in their portfolio. I challenge all of you to bring your A game for every school project. There is a big difference between getting the assignment done so you can get an OK grade on it and approaching the assignment as if it's a portfolio piece. The students that do great work in school are the ones that will get jobs upon graduation.

I just finished teaching print production and color theory last module which is a class that focuses on understanding color and how to use it in printing and design. The midterm project was to design color palettes for various interior spaces. Students had to write about the business, list the color by pantone number and represent graphically how the colors would work together.

Jordan Butler is a student on the Orem campus and he approached each of the pages as a piece for his portfolio. Here are some examples of his midterm project.



The final project was a presentation on a color which included marketing, packaging, global meanings of a color etc. I suggested powerpoint or InDesign as a multiple page document. Again, Jordan took the assignment to a new level and created an actual book on the color yellow. Below are some of the pages.





Great work Jordan!!

Design a label contest - Ends Wednesday

Whether or not you drink beer is beside the point. Squatter's is releasing a new beer and are having opening the design of the label to the public. There are prizes involved but the best one is if you win, your label is printed on the bottle. So for that reason, I feel responsible to share this opportunity with you. All the details, specs and marketing verbiage are on the following website. Even if you don't win, send me your labels and I will post them here. Wednesday is the last day to submit designs so HURRY!!!

Good luck!
Click here for details

Mac Training Class starting Feb. 2nd

I am teaching a Mac training lab at the Salt Lake campus starting Monday, February 2nd. It is specifically for new students just getting their computers but anyone who wants to learn more about their Mac is welcome to come. It will be held 2nd period (11:30 - 1:50) in room 217 during the day and 5th period (Tuesdays & Thursdays at 6:00 pm) for the night classes. It is a free class and will be a chance to network with graphic design students and learn how to fully utilize your macintosh computer. I will specifically be covering the System Preference panel, how to customize your computer, create file folders, burning CDs and also introducing the programs in ilife which include itunes, imovie, iphoto and garage band.
If you want to come, just show up!

Please contact me if you have any questions at Jenny.Rhodes@stevenshenager.edu

Photoshop Brushes & Job Tips

These articles are credited to one of my favorite design blogs "youthedesigner.com"



Here are 25 new splatter brushes for Photoshop to download

Here are some great tips you can do now to prepare for getting a job when you graduate - or before you graduate! Click here

itunes & Sundance

I Just got an email that itunes is offering 10 short films to download for free that are showing at the Sundance film festival. Go to the website and scroll down to the link that says 'Shorts - 10 Shorts/10 Days' and it will open up the download page in itunes.

I went to my first movie of the festival on Saturday - Wounded Knee. It was a documentary about a standoff on an Indian Reservation in the 70's. Very interesting and the director and producer where there to take questions. That is my favorite part of seeing movies at Sundance is that the filmmakers and the actors are often there and talk to the audience.

As I said in my post last week, you can try to get into any movie even if it's sold out, which every one is at this point, by waitlisting for tickets. I am going to try to get into a movie tonight that's written by one of my favorite authors - Nick Hornby. He wrote the books High Fidelity and About a Boy which were both made into movies. It is a long process of getting waitlist numbers and then waiting some more - wish me luck!