Since 2010 the cover of the College Night brochure, which is passed out during the shows, has been designed by students in professor Min Sun Lee’s fall semester section of Intro to Graphic Design. The College Night committee works with each class to find the best designs.
This year’s brochure was designed by senior Mehgan Crawford.
The idea of having the design process of the brochure cover integrated into a class came from Graphic Design professor Min Lee when she first joined the College College Night committee in 2010.
“They weren’t getting a lot of designs when they opened the competitions to everybody and they were getting like really bad designs from different majors… so when I got on College College Night committee I suggested, what if we introduce this project as first client work for our intro class,” said Lee.
“It’s greatly improved the quality of the covers,” said one member of the College Night committee and art history professor at UM, Dr. Kelly Wacker.
The brochure serves as an experiential learning project for graphic design students. The process of designing the brochure is helpful to students because it is set up to simulate what it’s like working in a professional capacity outside of school. For the student each year whose design makes it the official brochure, this project serves as a great resume builder.
The designs are done in several drafts and then critique by the client, which are the members of the College Night committee.
Lee described the steps of the process.
“Students work on 40 different sketches per person. Then they come into their rough sketch, critique and clients pick out five potential designs for each person to move onto computer sketch. Then they come in again and talk to them about what they needand the client picks one design from the five sketches they did, and then they do final presentations.”
In each of these steps, students are able to consult with the client in order to create a better finished product.
“The client gives them feedback, what they need to change,” said Lee.
This year, Crawford’s starry design will grace the cover of the brochure. Her interest in illustration is apparent in the brochure cover, which is a purple College Night sky with gold constellations and lettering.
Crawford’s busy schedule never allowed her to work on College Night before, so she feels very happy to be involved through the design of the brochure.
“Doing this let me be involved with it without having to spend a whole lot of time outside of class,” Crawford said.
Her main intent behind the design is to promote a message of unity and peace between Purples and Golds.
“Everybody goes to the same school, we’re all friends, so I don’t see the point in like a lot of people fighting,” said Crawford.
Through both Lee’s Graphic Design class and this specific project, Crawford found a greater interest in graphic design and a greater understanding of her own skill within the medium.
This year, Lee, Crawford, Wacker and the entire College Night committee worked together to create, as Wacker said, “a cover that’s reflecting the spirit of College Night.”
Anna Grace Askelson is a writer for The Alabamian. She is a second-year art major with a passion for writing, fashion and design.
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