brent barson

Two animated projects from BYU professor Brent Barson were recently accepted into the Communication Arts 2020 Design Annual, a prestigious graphic design journal. Out of the 2,900 total entries, just 126 were accepted. “It is a gratifying validation of all the hard work we pour into our projects,” Barson said in response to his projects’ acceptance into the journal. With art direction and illustration by Linda Reynolds, another BYU professor, and animation by Barson, the two designed and created one of the accepted projects, a short film titled “The Get.” The project was commissioned by KUER’s RadioWest Films in Salt Lake City, which presents unique stories with a focus on Utah. “There is so much satisfaction that comes from having others love a project you feel so passionately about,” Reynolds said. Read the full article at news.byu.edu.

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Communication Arts recognizes the MODE 2017 opening titles, a video by Brent Barson that highlights the technological and stylistic capacity of modern motion design. The Design Annual issue of Communication Arts magazine recognizes the best in visual art across many industries. Though Department of Design Professor Brent Barson has been featured before, he’s happy to be recognized by the publication once again. “It feels really good,” Barson said. “It is tough to get into, there are around 4,000 entrants. It’s very gratifying, makes the effort worth it.” Communication Arts honored Barson for his work on the MODE Conference 2017 opening titles video. MODE, or Motion Design Education, commissioned Barson’s work. MODE has regularly scheduled conventions and continues to “encourage, share and help motion design by providing a platform for research pedagogy,” as stated by the organization’s website. Though the organization was originally founded by three motion design educators, it has since quadrupled in size, with Barson being among the professors who have joined on. “I attended the second MODE they ever had and I asked to get involved, so I was one of the six founding members for the third,” Barson said. “It’s really exciting to see it growing.” The video has a distinct aesthetic. Though the colors were decided by the conference’s color scheme, the rest of the video is almost entirely the product of Barson (the music was done by Micah Dahl Anderson). “The project was born of my academic leave from BYU,” Barson said. “It was a deep dive into this 3D software, Octane Render. What was exciting about it to me is that it can render completely photorealistic scenes. I thought, 'That’s an interesting idea, to create reality while also filming surreality.'” A frame from Barson’s MODE 2017 opening titles.

Breaking the Class Ceiling, a College of Fine Arts and Communications interdisciplinary project, has continued on its award-winning run by receiving a gold recognition in the 45th Creativity Student Media & Interactive Design Awards. Across the world, economic and social disadvantages continue to hinder the advancement of hard-working men and women, a concept known as a “glass ceiling,” or the “class ceiling.” A group of BYU students would argue that for Chile, one of the biggest obstacles is free, quality public education. Motivated by personal connections to the people and a sense for the gravity of the situation, an interdisciplinary team of students and faculty from BYU’s College of Fine Arts and Communications, in conjunction with the Laycock Center for Creative Collaboration in the Arts, traveled to the country for two weeks and gathered information about the reform of higher education from students at Universidad Mayor, a Chilean private university. “Being from Chile, this was a great opportunity for me to cover something that I have personally been involved in,” said Ricardo Quintana, one of the students who participated in the project. “This is an important issue and society should be involved in its improvement.” Since compiling and presenting the gathered information, the project has won numerous awards and highlights the learning opportunities available to students at BYU’s College of Fine Arts and Communications. Quintana added, “Our work is significant because it shows how coveted education is outside the U.S., where it typically is not nearly as accessible. Kids and young adults are raising their voices against the government through different forms of protest because they feel they have a right to free education.” This project explicitly asks: should a college education be an implicit right for everyone? No doubt due in part for the hard questions that it asks, Breaking the Class Ceiling has recently been announced as a national finalist of The Society of Professional Journalists 2014 Mark of Excellence Awards and a gold winner in the 45th Creativity Student Media & Interactive Design Awards. “It is great to see that our work is being recognized,” said Shelbi Anderson, another student participant. “I was gratified to hear these stories firsthand, but getting recognized a year after we actually went to Chile makes it feel like we have had an impact after the fact.” These awards were given based on excellence in challenging criteria. For the Creativity International Award alone, entries came from 16 countries, 2 Canadian Provinces and 20 U.S. States. Student participants included: Shelbi Anderson (Journalist) Ricardo Quintana (Cinemaphotographer) Jared Jakins (Cinemaphotographer) Jeff Wade (Graphic Designer/Web Support/AV Support) Faculty advisors included: Brent Barson Jeff Sheets Ed Carter

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.