These Posters Rock

My Capstone class recently created designs for an upcoming production by the Colorado Mountain College Theater Department. The play is Tom Stoppard's "Rock-N-Roll," which is set in Eastern Europe during the cold war and alludes the political and social force of rock music in the resistance movements during that period. The design on the far left (created by Nicole Lucas) was selected for the marketing materials for the show, although it was a difficult decision for the theater staff, as each of the submissions was strong and effective. I was very pleased with the efforts of my students, and look forward to the work they're doing now on the promotional poster campaign and website for the Graphic Design Department.

In other classes, my Typography & Layout students are learning about grid systems. My Adobe Illustrator® students are exploring the new artboard function, and advanced layer control.

I just received some new textbooks to consider for the Fall semester. Of particular interest is a recent edition of, "Conceptual Drawing" by Koncelik & Reeder, published my Delmar Cengage Learning.  It does a nice job of presenting the essential skill of rapid visualization, which is the manner by which practicing designers develop and present concepts. I'm also selecting texts for the Adobe CS4 courses, including Illustrator®, Photoshop®, and InDesign®. Selecting the most effective text is always a challenge, as the technology is constantly changing, and a particular publisher or author who did a great job of presenting an earlier version, might not hit a home run on the current one. A reviewer has to consider each edition from point zero. This is not an unimportant decision, as the demands of learning modern computer technology far exceeds the time available in the classroom, requiring students to expand their learning on their own. Providing them the best textbook resource available is a responsibility I don't take lightly.