Featured Alum! Andrew Cygan

Where are you currently working? (location & company)
EY Design Studio PHL, Philadelphia, PA

What are you currently working on?
Building dashboards and data visualizations for an international healthcare company.

What’s your favorite recent project?
Designing a treatment and tracking app for patients suffering from a rare skin disorder.

How has your job changed with COVID?
I’ve been remote since March 2020. My role and responsibility hasn’t changed, we’ve just had to adjust how we tackle certain design activities, like brainstorming and whiteboarding sessions. Luckily, there are a lot of online resources that allow us to continue those activities. But personally, I miss the camaraderie of a hands-on, in-person whiteboard session.

What was your favorite KUCD project? What class did you make it in?
My favorite KUCD project was a non-profit ad campaign to help teach children (and adults) the concept and importance of ‘consent.’ Working with my partner, we created 30-second animated commercials showing examples of how language and actions can impact a child’s view of consent.

How did your decision to attend KUCD affect the trajectory of your career?
Attending KUCD allowed me to take my career in a new direction. Without my education at KUCD (and the reasonable price tag), I would have been much less likely to return to school and would likely still be working in a job and career I disliked.

What advice would you give your high school self about choosing a college?
When choosing a college, make sure to visit and get to know staff and faculty in the department where you plan to study. If you have a good experience with them, that’s a really great sign. Also, always consider the cost. College is a huge investment and state schools often offer both a high quality education and a lower price, allowing you to pay off loans earlier.

What is the best part of KUCD?
The faculty! The professors truly care and are invested not only in your success as a student but in your success as a graduate and young professional.

Any advice for current KUCD students?
Don’t hesitate to reach out to KUCD alum via social media (LinkedIn) for advice or other opportunities. Most all would be happy to help! We were all once in your shoes!

Featured Alum! Mary Kate Henry

Where are you currently working? (location & company)
Pentagram, NY

What are you currently working on?
With my team, I just finished branding a theatre in Omaha, a non-profit helping create more equitable workplaces called Coqual, and a soap company called Dally. I get to work on everything from logos, packaging, print, web, and sometimes signage. I also do a personal project where I redesign the covers of books I read.

What’s your favorite recent project?
coqual.org (identity / web) – I always love doing work for clients that work to make a difference.

How has your job changed with COVID?
I work from home full time until at least summer 2021.

What was your favorite KUCD project? What class did you make it in?
I loved The Magazine Feature project in Graphics with Prof. Cunfer. This class was when design really started to click for me.

How did your decision to attend KUCD affect the trajectory of your career?
KUCD gave me the opportunity to attend an incredible design program while going to a liberal arts school where I could meet people with all interests/backgrounds. The professors gave me the all the tools I needed to enter the field, and they supported me in finding internships exactly where I wanted. Kutztown is between New York City, Philadelphia and the Lehigh Valley, all areas with great design opportunities (and where we often went on trips). And of course, I have significantly less student loans from going to Kutztown than I would if I had decided to go to a private art school in a big city.

What advice would you give your high school self about choosing a college?
Choose a college that feels exciting and that just feels right when you visit.

What is the best part of KUCD?
KUCD is one big family. You know everyone by the time you leave, and your classmates and professors will be in your life long after you graduate. I’m forever grateful for them!

Any advice for current KUCD students?
Don’t be too hard on yourself in COVD times. Otherwise, make work you love, and always try to make connections in the field. If there’s a studio or designer you really love, ask them to get coffee instead of just asking for a job. Build relationships and learn from people. They will remember you, and they might help you out down the line.

Featured Alum! Connor Green

Where are you currently working? (location & company)
R/GA Los Angeles

What are you currently working on?

The latest project I worked on was for Verizon’s Super Bowl collaboration with the NFL and battle royale video game Fortnite. With work environments becoming remote over the last year due to COVID-19, Verizon teamed up with Fortnite builder influencers to show off the powers of Verizon 5G. These Fortnite builders worked together online via video chat to build an in-game replica of Raymond James Stadium, the location for this year’s Super Bowl in Tampa Bay, FL. During the week leading up to the Super Bowl, Verizon livestreamed gaming influencers and various NFL superstars who battling it out in Fortnite, taking part in the various different game modes within the stadium. The public could even get involved by joining the same games as the NFL players, searching for easter eggs around the stadium to win a handful of prizes, including meet and greets with these same NFL players.

What’s your favorite recent project?
The current Verizon Super Bowl project is definitely my favorite as well. Below I added a few links to tweets showing off the work.

https://twitter.com/Verizon/status/1356301433335918595?s=20

https://twitter.com/FNBRInGame/status/1356330313488756739?s=20

https://twitter.com/saquon/status/1356678836696547328?s=20

https://twitter.com/TeamJuJu/status/1357358314800242688?s=20

How has your job changed with COVID?
Since going fully remote back in March, collaboration amongst your team has definitely been different. I’m sure like many others, Zoom calls is how all work is crafted and reviewed, whether its internally or with client. But allowing yourself to be nimble and open to new ways of working in this even faster changing work environment, is super important.

Any advice for current KUCD students?
Two pieces of advice to current KUCD students about to enter the field:

1) If your goal is to work at a big-name agency or big-name design studio, don’t be bummed to take an internship (paid of course. no free work) there after graduation to get your foot in the door, if you can’t get a full-time gig. I took an internship at R/GA and was lucky enough to get hired at the end of the summer. And even the friends I interned with who weren’t able to get hired at R/GA that summer, made incredible connections that lead them to other awesome opportunities at other agencies.

2) If possible, be open to the idea of moving for a job. I had never been to Los Angeles before accepting my internship at R/GA but knew this job opportunity had huge potential. It was a giant proponent in my career growth as well as my personal growth. It helped me put my career on a different trajectory and I’m forever grateful I was able to make it happen. That being said, when it comes to location, cast a wide net when looking for jobs. You won’t regret it.

Griffin Macaulay. Designer. Illustrator. Level 5 Half-Elf Cleric. KUCD Grad.

Griffin majored in Communication Design at KU with concentrations in Illustration, Graphic Design and Interactive Design. His first year out of school Griffin began working with the Neo-Pangea Society and began working on designs for the web and games, most recently jumping into UX design.

Some of Griffin’s works can be found in games like Dungeons and Dragons, Pokémon Go, and Dr. Pol: Vet Rescue, to name just a few.

Watch the recording:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcSJ7kzM8QA&feature=youtu.be

!!VIRTUAL!! DESIGN DAY CAMP

KUCD held a VIRTUAL hands-on design camp that introduced sophomore, junior and senior high school students to design as a career and raise awareness of design’s possibilities. We had 38 participants attend our Saturday morning camp. We discussed job possibilities with a BFA in Communication Design, campus life, and the amenities in the KUCD department. In the morning we gave the students a hands-on graphic design challenge! They were tasked with creating a collaged Album/Spotify cover! There were a set of parameters to follow and supplies (mailed home to them).

The second half of the day walked attendees through what work to include in their portfolio and how to present it.
KU Visual Arts Programs require a portfolio for first year students. These students received the ‘inside scoop’ from the Portfolio Committee.

Joey Strain, Illustrator, still in College.

An Illustration Blog by Kevin McCloskey

I bought a copy a new kid’s book illustrated by Kutztown University student Joey Strain. The Little Wolf Who Howled at the Moon is written by Dr. Curtis Herr of the KU English Dept. Not every college student can illustrate a high-quality hardcover children’s book, but Joey pulled it off with distinction.

I wrote to Joey to ask about the project. Below is our lightly edited Q and A.

read more…

The “Think Method…” it still works!

Harold Hill, that charlatan professor of music in Meredith Willson’s wonderful play The Music Man, exhorts his young music pupils to learn to play their instruments, not by any formal or even informal instruction, but to simply think they’re playing, and then they’ll be able to do it. The Think Method actually worked. If it hadn’t, Professor Hill would’ve been run out of River City, Iowa, tarred and feathered by the city council!

Maybe there just are some things we learn best by the Think Method…an effective blend of common sense, some practice, and maybe even a few therapeutic failures. Who really teaches a newly-married husband and wife what to do on their wedding night? Who really teaches soccer-playing children how far to bank the ball to score a goal instead of putting it out of bounds or sending it squarely to the goalie? Life is experimental.

The other day I watched my second semester juniors in Production Processes nimbly navigating quirks of Quark and peculiarities of Photoshop. Who really teaches them how to get so good at software? Miles Decoster, a fourth year temporary who teaches high tech courses and manages our computer lab, has a theory…they’re young people who’ve learned to be deft with design software from growing up playing computer games where there are often no instructions given by the manufacturer or the other kid who loaned the cartridge. And avoiding sudden death or gaining new powers for your little virtual action figure only comes through common sense, some practice, and a few failures. It’s the Think Method!

Frustration is part of the act, to be dealt with as a matter of course. “Game Over,” while a real pain, simply means try again and maybe you’ll do better next time, just as crashed software means rebuild your file…it’s always easier next time because your own brain’s memory stored the necessary functions.

We older designers who’ve had to learn the new skills without the benefit of growing up playing computer games, not to mention the benefits of fast reaction time, still get to learn by the same Think Method…challenging but entirely possible. At any age, as long as we’re willing, we gain great powers from common sense, practice, failures, and trying all over again. Even River City’s bickering town fathers learned to get along with each other that summer after Harold Hill came to town.

-John K. Landis

KUCD Marketplace

The KUCD Marketplace is an online catalog of student & alumni work, shops, books, jewelry, and other products. It is designed to showcase and support the hard work, creativity, and small businesses from our department.

Add you name to our list! Click here.

See the full Marketplace!

Click Here

A case for the generalist

In Communication Design we often discuss whether we’re doing the right thing in education our students to be “generalists” rather than in some very targeted specialization the way some art philosophies dictate. But, I think I’ve got it resolved in my mind now…we’re doing the right thing. This era of specialization that the world is in often means people have blinders on: they’ve learned to do one thing and one thing only. While they may do this one thing well, they’re not broadly educated.

The industrial history of the United States abounds with stories where the brakeman ascends to become the president of the railroad or the linotype operator goes on to become the managing editor. These people could think in addition to doing their early skill; when the opportunity arose to advance, they were able to take advantage of it. They weren’t so locked in to their original skill that they couldn’t see beyond today. With the current trends toward extreme specialization, are those examples relegated to the past?

I think not, as long as there are schools that believe in a broad educational background with a significant amount of general education credits so that one is not just trained in an area but instead broadly educated.

What if the exact job description you hoped to get isn’t available to you upon graduation? Without your abilities to think, to adapt, to change your plans, you’d be lost. The illustrator who finds that she must do design work in addition to the illustration jobs; the designer who finds that it’s really advertising that can best use his talents; the art ed graduate who finds a rare business opportunity in buying a boutique; the B.F.A. General student who finds his real challenge is in college teaching. This cross-discipline thinking is to be commended and is quite impossible had specialization set in and done its job too effectively to constrict lateral thought and movement. We’re doing the right thing. Specialize later if you wish, but being a generalist in college will be an asset for your future.

-John K. Landis

Print Peppermint

I have been teaching at KU for more than 17 years. One class that i have consistently taught has been Print Media Production. Anyone that has taken that class with me can attest to my LOVE of paper, ink and all things printed. I could spend hours geeking out over paper, fawning over different print processes and fan-girling over printed special effects.

When I worked full time as an Art Director, my favorite part of the job was going on a press check. The point in the project when the final design is complete, approved by the client and the next step is to copy it thousands or even millions of times for the world to see. The smell of fresh ink, the rhythmic sound of the offset press, the cool mist in the air to keep the paper at the perfect humidity and the repetitive output of the design that you created as it piles up at the end of the press is an intoxicating experience.

I think the real reason I love to teach PMP is it give me a reason to hoard paper samples, printed promotions and beautiful examples of printed materials. The only thing better than collecting paper goodness is sharing paper goodness. Exciting and inspiring students by sitting around a table passing dozens of paper treasures, while explaining the intricacies of texture and the magic of special effects such as metallic ink and spot varnish is a hallmark of my course. I think the magic happens when the students can touch and feel the paper and examine the processes up close.

In the world of COVID, I was struck with a dilemma on how to teach this class online in a way that would continue to foster the love of paper an ink. Without the hands-on component, the information may be boring or at best a bit cold and detached. I began to reach out to paper companies and printers and asked them to send samples to support student learning and engagement. I was overjoyed when boxes of paper swatch books and printed samples started to arrive at my home.

While searching the web for printers that would be willing to send samples. I came across Print Peppermint, a fun online print service with quirky illustrations as part of their brand. I sent an email with the request and quickly got a response from the founder Austin Terrill. Austin offered not only to send a multitude of printed samples but also provided a link to their online videos and offered to be a guest lecturer for the class.

I was super excited that the printing gods heard my call and led my web browser to Print Peppermint. Austin hooked me up with a teacher sample pack and provided almost 200 samples for me to share with students in the class. When the samples arrived at my house, I was almost giddy reviewing the high-quality assortment of paper treasure. The samples included various paper stocks, finishes, effects and printing techniques. They ranged from professional and polished to fun and funky. I could not wait to get the samples in the hands of the students.

Very happy to report that with the help of Print Peppermint and other vendors, I was able to provide individual packs of print media morsels to each and every student enrolled in my class for the “rona” semester. Although the zoom classes are not ideal, the students still got to experience the tactile qualities of premium paper and dazzling special effects. They discovered the beauty of a rosette pattern under a printer’s loupe and transformed a sheet of paper into a 16-page booklet with only a couple of folds. Whether we are face to face in a classroom or socially distant because of a global pandemic, I hope that my love of ink and paper offsets to my students and gives them new appreciation for the beautiful world of print.

Looking for a truly great print partner who loves ink and paper as much as I do? check out printpeppermint.com

-By Vicki Meloney