George Owens is a Graphic Design Technology Major here at Hagerstown Community College. He is in his last semester and will be graduating with his degree on May 18, 2013. I asked George to submit a piece of his work and explain his design process. The project he submitted was his design for the cover of a Wet Plate Photographer Magazine.

How did you come up with your design? What was the process of creation for this piece?
“I was tasked with creating a cover for a magazine and I decided to design a magazine that was photography related. I first went to visit my friend, Del Hilbert who is a practicing wet plate photographer from Gettysburg, PA to get the main image for the magazine cover.”

Describe your design process (example: thumbnails, drafts, do you walk away for a bit and then come back to it, add to it, etc.?).
“My process was rather straightforward. Once I settled on the subject of the magazine, it was off to Gettysburg to photograph either Del or another famous Collodion photographer, Rob Gibson. After I had the main image chosen, I just added elements to support the main subject.”

Where do you get the elements that go into your design (do you create yourself or go online)?
“The elements are mine except for the lens, Arca Swiss LF camera and the book cover for the giveaway prize. Those items were downloaded from the internet. I have an account with some stock photography sites when I need an image I can’t create on my own.”

What are your goals after graduation?
“Utilize my knowledge of graphic design to enhance my portrait photography business. It’s already been a boost to selling senior announcements to families of graduating seniors as I’m able to design my own layouts. I’m also interested in a possible career as a freelance graphic designer.”

Where do you see yourself in design (what role would you like to play)?
“Given the area I live in, I see myself as more of a freelance graphic designer but there are some very good graphic design firms located in the Tri-State area so, who knows?”

Why did you choose to study graphic design?
“I’ve always been a visual person and great images and designs have always grabbed my attention. I wanted to learn more about the reasons why an image is more attention getting than another. I find it interesting that given two exact products, the one that has the aesthetically attractive packaging generally seems to sell more.”

Eric Wiles is a Graphic Design Technology Major here at Hagerstown Community College. He is in his last semester and will be graduating with his degree on May 18, 2013. I asked Eric to submit a piece of his work and explain his design process. The project he submitted was his design for the AIGA Blue Ridge Essentials Series Logo.

How did you come up with your design? What was the process of creation for this piece?
“When Cookie came to me asking me to do this project, I immediately thought of the essentials you’d pack during a zombie apocalypse. So I googled essentials backpacks and my concept was born. ”

Describe your design process (example: thumbnails, drafts, do you walk away for a bit and then come back to it, add to it, etc.?).
“I started the design with a sketch of the backpack I found on google. I took a picture of the sketch because I didn’t have a scanner handy. I loaded the image into Adobe Illustrator and began to create it using shapes and the pen tool. The backpack looked plain so I added the stripes to stylize it.”

Where do you get the elements that go into your design (do you create yourself or go online)?
“I always prefer to create my own elements whenever possible. In this case, I used an existing image as inspiration but created the backpack myself.”

What are your goals after graduation?
“Find a solid job in design, whether that be at a firm or purely freelance. After that, hopefully establish a family and travel the world a little.”

Where do you see yourself in design (what role would you like to play)?
“I just recently started labeling myself as an “Icon Aficionado”. I just love doing anything creative that expresses a message in a cool way.”

Why did you choose to study graphic design?
“Engineering sucked! My strengths were Math and Art, so I decided to give something artistic a go. I’m so glad I did.