The BYU Department of Design wrapped up this year’s Graphis awards with 19 of their 21 entries selected to be featured in the Graphis magazine.
Graphis, the International Journal of Visual Communication, has been around since the 40’s. Graphis’ prestigious award for New Talent Annual acknowledges some of the best and brightest up-and-coming graphic design artists. Each year, designers from all over the world submit their work to be featured in the journal. This year, BYU had 21 entries and 19 of them were chosen.
“There’s an index in the back of each annual and it lists the schools and how many awards they have listed,” said associate professor Brent Barson. “Each year a couple of schools tend to submit hundreds of entries and if they’re lucky they maybe get 20 of them. For us to submit 21 and get 19 is huge for the program. It helps with our name recognition, prestige and it looks great for both the students and faculty.”
The faculty focuses on teaching their students hard work and tries to help develop the talent that they have in their program. For the students, it is quite a feat to get into such a competitive program, but once admitted they have the full support of the faculty.
“Our role as faculty is to encourage and critique our students,” said Barson. “If that means students are re-doing and re-doing and hardly getting any sleep the week before something’s due, so be it. Many of our students might tell you that they’re stressed and exhausted, but pushing them to the highest level of quality that they are capable of is how we best prepare them.”
For the students that received a Graphis award, this is a major accomplishment and is a great boost for their resume and portfolio.
“I think that it’s important that students get recognized for their work, not just by their professors, but by professionals currently working in the industry,” said BYU graphic design student Emma Vidmar. “Winning a Graphis also helps set us apart because we have been judged by our peers and they recognize our talent and skill.”
BYU faculty and students featured included Adrian Pulfer, Tyson Cantrell, Bomi Lee, Sam Wood, Nicolina Brown, Kristen Rogers, Emma Vidmar, Kaeli Wood, Eric Gillette, Rachel Asplund, David Bowman, and Hayden Davis.