Students go to Dallas for graphic design conference

The members of the American Institute of Graphic Arts attended the Dallas Society of Visual Communications  National Student Conference in Dallas, TX Thursday.

The AIGA members were able to travel after raising funds with various bake sales and hosting events like the “Black Light Affair” party earlier this year.

The trip was suggested by assistant professor of graphic design, Casey McGarr, who hails from Dallas.

Shanshan Ai, a senior graphic design major of China, said she was excited about going to Dallas with her class.

Ai came back to Jonesboro with a camera filled with photos.

She said the art displayed at the conference was very good.

It inspired her to work harder to be at the same level as the other artists she met there.

The conference was made for Graphic design students.

The keynote speaker for the conference, Danny Yount, a motion title director, spoke and shared his work with the young designers.

Yount’s work can be see in movies such as “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang”, “Iron Man”, “Tron”, “Sherlock Holmes” and many more.

Students were also sent to breakout sessions where individual logo design competitions were set.

Kimberly Head, a senior graphic design major of Malvern, said she was impressed with the different illustration styles she saw.

She said it was interesting to see the different kinds of style.

AIGA president, Whitney Stephenson, a senior graphic design major of Germantown Tenn. also attended the road trip.

Stephenson said going to a prestigious conference like this is very beneficial for all who attends.

“The best part about the DSVC National Student Conference were the portfolio reviews. Each student was allowed to get their work individually critiqued by professionals.”

Students had the choice meet with representatives from The Richards Group (RBMM), Fossil, Caliber Creative and other design firms.

“Although the critiques were harsh, the employers’ honesty helped to strengthen our portfolios and helped us to realize even more that design is a competitive career.”