Graphic designs surround us. It’s everywhere and essential to life, with graphic designers communicating ideas, concepts, messages and information in visually engaging ways to connect with us all.
This Wednesday (28 November), the 2018 graphic designers from CIT will open their final exhibition showcasing a diverse range of work from branding concepts to illustrations. Glitch: Decoding Design, at Design Space f15, includes exciting and inspirational work by this year’s graduates studying the Advanced Diploma of Graphic Design.
Viet Ho Hoang, an international student, has several works in the exhibition, including a brand, sleeve tag and labels he designed for a company he created called ‘Haruno Aesthetics’. In Glitch: Decoding Design, Viet will also showcase a record label and a mockup for Imaginefx Magazine.
“I didn’t know much about graphic design until I started the course, thinking it was mostly about logos and pretty pictures,” says Viet. “I now realise that everything we do is somehow related to graphic design because it’s everything visual.”
CIT has a solid reputation for teaching the essential skills graduates need to move to further study pathways, such as at the University of Canberra and Charles Sturt University, or to meaningful employment in many fields and specialisations. Graphic designers also work collaboratively with other design professionals in fields such as advertising, photography, press publishing, exhibition design, web design, video graphics, television and fashion design.
Adrienne Walls-Nichols graduated from CIT in graphic design several years ago. She has now come full circle and is back as a lecturer. “This year’s students are fantastic,” says Adrienne. “As a group, they’re quiet, shy and reserved, but they’ve experienced tremendous growth. They all understand that their role as graphic designers is as much about communications as anything.”
Adrienne says students like Viet have developed a broad range of skills and are great examples of how this CIT diploma can open doors to exciting opportunities.
Viet says at CIT he learned the important principles of design, how to use design programs and about the business side of the industry.
The design principle Viet has found himself most drawn too is ‘simplicity’. “I like my designs to be simple and easy-to-understand,” he says. “I want people to look at my work and understand right away what it’s meant to be. But simplistic doesn’t mean easy. Sometimes this style of design is the hardest to create.”
Odette Cheers is one of this year’s top students, says Adrienne: “Odette has loads of control around her style and she’s really well rounded, solid and dedicated. She performed well in her internship at one of Canberra’s major design studios and is well suited to move into a design job in a studio as soon as she graduates.”
Odette says she’s amazed by the possibilities in the design world. “I love that every project will teach me something new, improve my skills and showcase my designs in places I never thought they would appear,” says the soon-to-be graduate.
Karen Widdowson, another top student, says graphic design began for her when she was hanging up a poster and had a revelation that someone had actually designed it. “Since then, I’ve devoted my studies to graphic design and can honestly say it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made,” says Karen. “My strengths lie in photo manipulation, vector art and photography. I pride myself on my eye for colour and my ability to achieve balance within compositions.”
Previous graduates of CIT’s graphic design diploma course are busy creating everywhere.
Ash Stewart, for example, now works for Bandit Design Group which operates in Canberra and Sydney helping businesses get locked and loaded on all things brand, web and marketing. Juliette Dudley is going great guns operating her own independent creative studio, Poyo, specialising in graphic design, branding and illustration. Sarah Forrester is now the Studio Lead for Canberra and Senior Executive Designer at ThinkPlace, where she exercises her skills as a highly creative thinker and problem solver. ThinkPlace has centres of excellence in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Kenya.
Glitch Decoding Design opens to the public at 6 pm, Wednesday 28 November, Design Space f15 (F Block), CIT Reid campus, Constitution Avenue. Follow the exhibition on Instagram: @welcometoglitch