Making Miles in the Graphic Design Department

One of Katie's recent designs: very nice!

Look away from this screen for a moment. What do you see?

Ben and Katie—graphic design graduate students on campus—introduced me to the world they see.

“Everything that’s anywhere should have a point. Just take a look around us.” Katie gestured around the room we were sitting in.

I looked. There was a multicolored shag rug hanging the wall across from us. A melting iced coffee sat on a table in the corner. A music student sat on the couches opposite of us. Had I missed something?

Then Ben pointed it out for me.

Ben's early work: a great start, but he had room to grow.

“Check out the flyers on the desk, the clothes people are wearing, the interior decorating, the graphics on that screen over there.” There was a screen announcing coming events with colors, fonts, and backgrounds, which I wouldn’t have looked at twice!

“Everything around us communicates something, and as the artist, I am responsible for the messages I am sending and how they come across to others,” said Ben.

“We’re all artists in a way, I guess.” (That was my profound plug.)

Ben and Katie did not come to PCC as accomplished artists but started from the basic courses as undergrads. They have made miles of progress in their skills and are now both working toward their master’s degrees, and they have also both won awards in this year's ADDY design contest.

Ben's senior year: wow, those additional years of training really show!

An in-depth study of graphic design has greatly influenced how they both look at and approach the world.

Katie said, “Once I began looking at small details, I would see them everywhere! I can’t walk down the candle aisle in a store without looking at the labels and seeing what each design communicates.”

“If a design doesn’t have a point,” said Ben, “it confuses us as the artist. We look and think, Why did you make that? We are constantly gathering information from the world around us and filing it away to use later.”

It was great to chat with Katie and Ben, and it was amazing to hear how far they had come and how much they’ve learned through PCC’s Graphic Design Department!

Anna Grace

Major: Performance Studies

Home town: “This world is not my home, I’m just a-passin’ through...” Also, my dad is in the Air Force.

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