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Students Shine at Department of Design Annual Student Show “Chroma”

Three Students Share Their Experience Displaying Work in “Chroma,” the Department of Design’s Annual Student Show

Guests View Brett Hilton’s Work “Astronomical Women of History” in the “Chroma” Student Show
Photo by Josie Coleman/CFAC External Relations

“Chroma” is the Department of Design’s annual student show where students can submit work to be displayed in Gallery 1313 at West Campus. Creating work and having it displayed in a gallery is an important educational tool for design students and helps prepare them for their careers after graduation. This year’s gallery featured many students’ works including that of Brett Hilton and Mireya Lavender, who are both seniors studying graphic design, and Emma Olson, a junior studying photo and lens-based design.

Hilton and Lavender both created a typeface, a facet of design focused on fonts. Hilton had two pieces displayed in “Chroma,” one titled “Astronomical Women of History” which was a set of custom playing cards featuring historical female astronauts, and one titled “Isotextura,” which was a typeface inspired by the black letter scripts known as “textura,” but built entirely on an isometric grid.

“I’m not much of an illustrator, so creating 12 unique face cards from these women’s likenesses definitely stretched me,” Hilton said. “Designing a typeface is a lot of work, but also super rewarding.”

Lavender’s piece was titled “Bit Script Animation” and was a script font built for an alternate world where computers “speak beautifully.” “Think space age meets the 18th century. 2001: A Space Odyssey meets Bridgerton,” she said. “This font reflects the duality of a beautifully human script and the (supposed) limited capacity of computers and robots in an alternate cybercentric world.”

Chroma allows for a wide variety of mediums to come together. Alongside playing cards and typefaces rested Olson’s black and white photo “Urban Jungle,” which was taken during her black and white film class with Paul Adams as part of a class competition, which she won. “I absolutely loved the Intro to Black & White Film class, especially learning how to print in the darkroom,” she said. “I feel that some of my best work has been on B&W film and I was so excited when it was accepted into the show.”

Emma Olson’s Photo “Urban Jungle” On Display in “Chroma” Student Show
Photo by Emma Olson

All three students felt that having their work displayed in the gallery was an important step in their education. “Having work accepted and displayed in shows is one of the best ways to build up your curriculum vitae, so I love that the design department gives us the opportunity to submit work,” said Olson.

Luke Gibson, the Department of Design faculty who runs 1313, said that it is important for students to consider the viewer's experience when creating and displaying their work and that gallery 1313 and shows like Chroma help them do so. “I have learned that, for better or for worse, this business model values how something is presented at least as much as its actual substance,” he said. “Even when a project appears finished, a huge amount of work can be done to enhance an audience’s experience.”

“You spend so much time with a piece that it can be hard to see it objectively so it feels validating to have it recognized in a gallery,” said Lavender. “It was great to be able to share that with so many people and get so much feedback on it.”