Fort Lewis College art and design professors Shawn Meek and Paul Booth encourage students to submit designs to shows and competitions while they are still undergraduates. This provides undergraduate art students greater opportunities to get noticed by employers and to make a name for themselves.
Better to Start Now Than Later
Many people may think that college is preparation for a career, but Booth and Meek encourage students to start their careers now.
Whether design students are interested in submitting work during college or not, it is a requirement for students to enter work into a competition or show during a semester course.
It is a requirement for students in the upper division courses to submit a design piece, which counts towards 10 percent of the overall grade for the class, Meek said.
"Being published or winning a design award looks great on a resume. It shows an employer that other designers like the work," Booth said.
This requirement allows students to get a sense of what employers are looking for in designs as well as constructive criticism from judges on pieces that need improvement.
Competitions and Shows
In order for students to get designs noticed, many of them submit designs in competitions and shows.
Five FLC students won awards for their designs in the Graphis New Talent Annual 2015 competition. Graphis is an international journal that publishes top quality work in communication design.
"It validates that the projects we work on in class are projects that students need in their portfolios," Booth said.
FLC design students also competed at the Design Slam Competition in Denver last fall, where one of the students won first place for a design. One of the competitors that FLC was up against was the Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design.
Interview With Students and Professors
As a part of getting work, students have to learn how to receive criticism and rejection in order to get closer to success, Meek said.
"Rejection is just as good as success," Meek said. Rejection and criticism teaches humility.
For students that may feel hesitant about submitting work, "The work isn't personal,” Booth said. “It's about the client.”
Students need to be aware that people are going to criticize their artwork. Letting other designers judge their work can also show that they appreciate their work.
FLC design student Andrew Althage is one of the winners from the Graphis New Talent Annual 2015. Since the competition, he has teamed up with Illuminarts in Durango and is currently building their new site.
Althage is also rebuilding the website for DC Kayak, a site that presents flow data about the rivers in Washington D.C.
Do not let the publication of works get to your head, Althage said.
“The biggest impediment to success is a big ego,” he said.
"Rejection and criticism are the most important parts of progressing as a designer,” Althage said. “You'll never get any better if all you hear is, 'Nice' or 'Good Job' and the worst, 'The colors really pop!"
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It is a requirement for Art & Design students to submit at least one piece of work to a show or competition.
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Published designs look great on resumes and appeal to employers.
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FLC students have been recognized and awarded for designs by Graphis: The International Journal of Visual Communication and AIGA's Design Slam competition.
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Professors Shawn Meek and Paul Booth encourage students to not be afraid to show their work.
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FLC design student and Graphis winner Andrew Althage shares some words of advice about getting designs noticed and what he is currently working on.
Images are submissions from FLC art and design students' typography assignments