Design Seniors Make a Clean Sweep

By Sarah Pratt

Graphic Design Student


In the Fall Semester Chapman University’s BFA in Graphic Design seniors enroll in in Art 430, Advanced Graphic Design. This course is one of the capstone courses for the program, and features three client projects, which are worked on individually and in teams. The program prides itself on giving students real world opportunities, to present their work. Fall 2015 students designed the annual commemorative poster for President Doti, collaborate with the Orange International Street fair to re-brand the 2016 event, and finally, for a company called Perspective Branding, who provided a creative brief to create a cleaning product.

Perspective Branding
is an independent, branding, and packaging firm based in the San Francisco Bay area. Their clients include Cheetos, International Delight, Lays, TGI Fridays, and many more. When Diana Goldberg (BFA GD ’14) graduated and looking for work in San Francisco, she discovered Perspective Branding and was hired. They were so impressed with her work shortly after she began; they reached out to Chapman to start a partnership.

This particular project was to create and design a line of multi-surface cleaning products targeting young people living away from home for the first time. They had to create a brand and product name, packaging for three-scented sku’s, and a product store display. One representative from each group then present the design solution to Perspective Branding.

The timeline from creative brief to delivery was very tight. Students had two weeks to thoroughly research, design, and mock up their product line. Typically projects for students last anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks, and in a professional agency maybe 3 to 5 weeks. This timeline challenge pushed students to work quickly, efficiently and as a team.

The pressure to create so

mething with out a backstory is great. Student designers can sometimes get caught up in making a design look nice, but loose sight of the function it needs to have. The students create many projects and presentations during their time at Chapman, but this one carried weight that some students have not experienced before.

The day of the presentation, 6 selected students arrived at Chapman at 4:45 am, and set off for the airport, travelling to Perspective Branding office in Emeryville, NO. California. Simon Thorneycroft, co-founder and Creative Director, was the main contact for the presentation. He gave our students a tour of the design studio, introduced them to his team, and after a quick breakfast, began deliberations of the presentations
.
After each of the six presentations, feedback was given. It was constructive, and well accepted. They brought an industry prospective to students who would not have considered it in their designs. Diana was able to attend these presentations, and offer her advice. It is a very special and rewarding time to have a graduate working in the field, be able to give input on designs.

After the presentations, students visited Brick Design, and spoke with Brian Jacobs, founder. Mr. Jacobs offered great advice about working and finding jobs after graduation. From his office, the students made their way back to the airport and flew home.




Overall, our students had a great time, and brought back a variety of lessons learned. Because of this opportunity they are armed with more appreciate knowledge to make changes to their projects and designs, including adding this experience to their portfolio. This opportunity would not have been possible without the generous support from the Chancellors office.

Sophie Lerner, Diana Goldberg, Sarah Pratt, Lindsey Meyer, Simon Thorneycroft, Dominique DiPilla, Page Kastner, Melanie Wells, Jared Woods.

“Thank you to everyone who made the trip to Oakland possible for the Advanced Graphic Design class. It was an extremely valuable experience to hear feedback on our projects from working professionals in the design industry. They helped us to think critically about how our design concepts would realistically compete in the market environment. We were there only for a day, but we learned so much!”

– Melanie Wells (BFA GD ’15)