Graphic Design at Hampshire

It would be deceptive to say there is a concentration in graphic design at Hampshire – there is not. However, several people have studied graphic design here, and if you're self-motivated enough, there are a few ways to forge that path.

How to study Graphic Design at Hampshire

 * 1) Independent Studies or Mentored Independent Study (MIS) – this is the most straightforward way to begin studying design on your own. A great way to structure this (or an independent study on any topic) is to look at syllabuses from classes at other schools similar to what you want to do. There's a book called Teaching Graphic Design that's made up entirely of syllabi from various design classes in both undergrad and graduate programs; there are fun project ideas, exercises, and reading lists that are a great place to start.
 * 2) Design a lot of stuff – There are ALWAYS campus offices and student groups looking for posters, logos, and the like. Design as many things as possible to get experience. Also, they often don't care what do you, they're just glad they don't have to do it themselves, so you usually have a lot of creative freedom to experiment with different styles. Keep an eye out in the daily digest for people looking for designers – if you don't see much, just put out an ad in the digest yourself, and you'll without a doubt be flooded with commissions. Theater productions, Student Services, and Housing Operations are groups often needing designers and they tend to have larger budgets so you can do larger color posters. And, if you see a poster somewhere that makes you cringe, ask the group if you can design their next one!
 * 3) Design your essays and class projects – Make your ethnography look like a journal article, with columns, pull quotes, nice page numbers, etc. Professors love this, and it's fun.
 * 4) Teach! – Once you have some experience under your belt, teach an EPEC class! Don't feel like you have to been an expert... [Molly will write some lesson ideas and teaching suggestions here].
 * 5) Graphic design-ish classes – There are some design classes at UMass, sometimes. See list below.
 * 6) Work Study at the Publications Office – There is a graphic design work study position both during the school year and the summer. Work with Hampshire's on-staff designer Kim Holloway to design materials for Hampshire and learn about prepress and production aspects of design.

Featured Faculty Profiles

 * Thom Long
 * Donna Cohn

Sample Courses

 * Public Typography
 * Fundamentals of Graphic Communication, at UMass
 * Computer-Aided Graphic Design, at UMass
 * Information Design, at UMass
 * The Book: Theory &amp; Practice, at Smith

On Campus Facilities &amp; Resources

 * The computers in the Advanced Media Lab in the basement of the library all have Adobe Creative Suite 4, as do the computers in the ASH Lab
 * DART (Design, Art, Technology) Program – DART website

Current Students interested in design

 * Molly McLeod – Molly's Porfolio/Blog
 * RJ Sakai – RJ's Porfolio/Blog
 * Tharanga Yakupitiyage
 * Parimal Satyal – Parimal's Porfolio/Blog
 * Ian McEwen
 * Brianne Zulkiewicz
 * Liz Boyle
 * James Eberhard
 * Elise Trelegan
 * Aaron Engelman

Graphic Designer Alums

 * David Jonathan Ross - David's Font Portfolio; read about David's Div III, Digital Type Design and Typography
 * James David Morgan - Groundswell Collective
 * Colin Sagen - Quilted, web/graphic design coop
 * Ben Mauer - Quilted, web/graphic design coop
 * Colin Urbina
 * Richard Smith - Richard's Design Porfolio

Websites, Blogs, and Resources

 * Design Observer
 * Smashing Magazine
 * I Love Typography
 * Information Aesthetics