Take a walk through the second floor arts gallery in the Holy Spirit Library and one will see a multitude of visually pleasing projects ranging from logo designs, human rights posters, product label designs and even a digital kiosk that features web-design projects. All were created by the senior graphic design majors.
As an annual show, it is a chance for the seniors to choose some of the pieces from their portfolio and put them up for exhibition.
Don Dempsey, Department Chair and Associate Professor of Graphic Design said, “One of the things I’ve always enjoyed is the opportunity to see all of the different work. They’re all given the same project, but they solve it in different ways. Every project is the same starting out, but their results are much different.”
Jared Weidner, senior graphic design major said, “My favorite piece I used in the exhibit was my human rights poster. My inspiration for it was that religion is about love and not fighting over it.”
Offering further explanation, Weidner said expressed that his inspiration was Article 18 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is the freedom of religion.
Many other students chose to focus on topics that filled them with similar passion, often relating to social justice issues.
Mike Celucci, senior graphic design major, made use of popular characters to appeal viewers into the concept of his design.
In reference to his human rights project, Celucci said, “The goal was to bring attention to an important issue. I felt that using the Simpsons characters helped because it would be something people would recognize and draw them in to read the rest of the poster.”
Amongst other projects of his that were exhibited such as his design of restaurant logos, Celucci also exhibited a vibrant superhero poster.
He explained, “For the superhero poster, the goal was to reinterpret the work of past designers or periods of graphic design with a subject that is more modern. I wanted to keep a theme for the project and I chose superheros because they are always relevant.”
Dempsey said, “They’re building their portfolio, and their portfolio has to represent who they are and their style as designs so we try to give them a lot of flexibility. They have a variety of different projects they have to do, but when it comes down to the projects, they get to choose and design what the content and concepts are.”
Other projects shown include label designs and creating branding for fictitious companies. Rebecca Tees, senior graphic design major created a web-design project for a fictitious skateboarding company called “Barley Grind.”
Over the past four years, graphic design students spent countless hours preparing various designs for different projects and assignments. Throughout their last semester at Cabrini, these seniors spent even more hours tweaking and finalizing their designs to prepare for the exhibit and final portfolio presentation.
The work of seven graphic design majors are featured in the exhibit, with a total of twenty-one projects being shown. Amidst the work of the students, the gallery also features an interactive, digital kiosk that allows viewers to learn more about the students’ work.
Dempsey adds, “It’s a great opportunity for their friends, classmates and parents to come to a reception and see the work they’ve done over the past four years.”
The senior graphic design exhibit will be on display in the Grace & Joseph Gorevin Fine Arts Gallery in the Holy Spirit Library, 2nd floor from April 15 to June 15.
