Designed to Win
Every year a graphic design class is tasked with creating a holiday card for the college. This year, the students were instructed to work with a partner to create an illustration and a motion graphic. Their work was critiqued and reviewed by President Susan Stuebner and a panel of judges from Advancement and Marketing & Communications.
An illustration created by Sierra Lemieux ’23 and Jordan Weaver ’23 was chosen as the image that would be used for the holiday card that will be sent out by President Stuebner. The image of the back of Colgate Hall featured beautiful colorings with twinkling lights and icicles on the building. Lemieux and Weaver chose a script font for the “Warm Wishes” greeting.
With no prior knowledge of creating motion graphics, this was the most difficult part of the assignment for Lemieux and Weaver. They had a difficult time matching things up as they sent the assignment back and forth to each other to work on it. Weaver said, “It was hard working on the animation, but I’m proud of the way it turned out.”
Lemieux added, “It was great working with Jordan. Working with a partner is a huge accomplishment — and getting the motion graphic to work.”
Lemieux has recently begun the pre-art therapy track and hopes to go to graduate school to pursue a career in expressive art in the mental health field. Weaver hopes to attend graduate school in either England or France for interior design.
Dylan Carlson ’22 and Orland Plagata ’23 were chosen as the winners of the holiday motion graphic that will be sent as an email holiday greeting to alumni, donors, and friends of Colby-Sawyer. The graphic includes an illustration of the fireplace in the Lethbridge Lodge with candles and trimmings, and it has holiday music in the background.
The two students worked on this project together, with Plagata creating the animated motion design first, then Carlson cutting out pieces of cardstock to create the illustration. The pair planned the entire project out and used holiday specials such as Charlie Brown’s Christmas as the inspiration for their work.
Carlson majors in graphic design and hopes to pursue a career in digital design. Plagata has decided to stay another year at CSC since he lost a year of playing volleyball during the pandemic. He will stay for a fifth year, play volleyball and dual major in studio art and graphic design. After graduation, Plagata hopes to go to graduate school in Europe or Japan for motion design.
Carlson said it was an honor to be chosen for the motion graphic design. He said, “I always like people to see my art.”
A final design was chosen by the Colby-Sawyer Advancement Department. This illustration was created by Devyn Nelson ’22 and Kennedy Moore ’22. Excited to be paired together for this assignment, Nelson and Moore based their design on an illustration that Moore had created previously. The image of the front of Colgate Hall was used as a base, and from there Nelson and Moore sat down together and worked on the final project.
Moore said, “We wanted to do something classic. We looked at banners and winter photos. We wanted to do something timeless.” The result was a beautiful nighttime image of Colgate Hall with fluffy snow falling gently in the background.
Moore said, “It’s a good feeling having our work out there and noticed.”
Nelson added, “Being able to create something that will be used by the college is a heartwarming feeling.”
After graduation, Moore hopes to find a job working in information design. Nelson hopes to work for a marketing agency or nonprofit organization to intertwine her passion for marketing and graphic design.
Check out the winning motion graphic design here