Senior Seminar presentations were made into an event for high school students this year. The Exposition (The Expo, for short) was for high school students interested in graphic design to come to La Roche and have questions answered as well as see how a major in Graphic & Communication Design at La Roche prepares you for the real world.
The Senior Seminar presentations took place November 15 in Kearns Spirituality Center. Senior Seminar (or Senior Design as it's called in the books) is a semester long course with the class dividing into six groups. There are three real-world clients that come in to partner with La Roche for this class and two are from the Small Business Administration in Pittsburgh. Each client has two groups competing against each other to win the client after all the work has been done and presented at the final presentations. Family and friends of the students are invited to come to the presentations, as well as prospective students this year. Oftentimes, other professionals and recent graduates join us for this event.
This year, the clients were Positive Space, Equita, and Artemis Environmental. Positive Space is the annual art and design show at La Roche. It is a juried show, which means that La Roche brings professional designers and artists in from the community at large to judge the pieces that are submitted. Only the best pieces are displayed in the Positive Space show. From that selection, there are approximately 3 winners per category. Positive Space takes place in the spring semester, but the planning starts now. This year, to add a twist to things and to show how environmentally conscious La Roche is, Positive Space is going green. Both groups had a different idea of how to accomplish this and both did it successfully. For a look at Positive Space last year, check out its Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/positivespacelrc. The next client, Equita, is an environmentally and socially conscious shop in Lawrenceville with a high emphasis on chic design. Equita sells fair trade items from all around the world and is very fashion forward. Check out their site here to learn more about them and fair trade: http://www.shopequita.com. Artemis Environmental was the last client this year and it is a green building company. Artemis carries a wide variety of building materials for home owners as well as contractors who want to keep their homes or buildings green. To learn more about Artemis, visit their site here: http://www.artemisenvironmental.com/Home.aspx.
My group's client was Equita and we developed various solutions for them. The biggest emphasis for our client was on a website design and an event booth. The design solutions varied for each client. For example, for Positive Space, the groups designed everything from the logo to posters for the categories and proposing entertainment for the night. The Artemis groups were provided a logo that they were encouraged to "tighten up" and then use to create stationary, as well as a website and promotional items such as brochures and mailers. The requirements were relatively minimal, but many groups chose to create and provide extra materials to win the clients over as well as generate more portfolio pieces.
The professors were very proud of the presentations and the prospective students who attended said that this solidified their desire to come to La Roche for graphic design. It was a very successful presentation night and fun was had by all! The following Monday after the presentations, the clients returned to our Senior Seminar class and gave us feedback on our designs. At the conclusion of class, winners were chosen for each client. Now the winners have time to work with their clients for the rest of the semester and everyone has a bit of a chance to finally breathe. For more information about The Expo, visit its website: http://www.laroche.edu/expo/home.htm.
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