Every year, senior graphic design majors are able to display their work from their senior seminar in an exhibition held in the Gallery of Art and Design. This year’s exhibition will showcase works from Katie Burns, Baylee Ratliff, and Esther Escalante.

The professor leading the senior seminar, Justin Nostrala, didn’t limit the topics that these students could choose, leading to a variety of exhibitions for people to look at and ponder over. The seniors were able to use the entire semester to brainstorm topics, work on personal deadlines and create a design that was properly rendered and edited to fit their goals. Their class was entirely dedicated towards this project, making it the only assignment in the course.

Ratliff found it a, “pretty daunting task to choose what I wanted to do my project over,” due to how open the project could be. She ended up designing merchandise for Simpson Women’s Soccer team since she’s also a member. After choosing her topic, Ratliff found it easier to get going and push through her deadlines. 

Their final piece was due mid-November. Afterward, the designs were displayed in the art studio, where they plastered the walls in various forms – from posters to t-shirts. 

“It’s really cool to see them all displayed out,” Ratliff said. 

Now the seniors are working on writing a paper about their experience, as well as interviewing three people for feedback. This feedback will provide the seniors with insight as to what consumers think upon looking at their projects.

With posters and a remade football team logo, Burns focused on providing an entire team rebrand of a team that lacked uniqueness of their marketing materials: the Cleveland Browns. She focused on all aspects of design including social media ads, tickets, a tradeshow banner and football player posters to show a brighter side of what the team and city of Cleveland is all about within the NFL franchise. 

Escalante came up with her idea on her drive from Arizona. She created a fake company that aims to unite the United States of America through everyone being Americans rather than judging each other based on political ideology. Social media inspired Escalante, as she would often find herself scrolling through comment sections full of opinions that would divide friends and family. 

While Escalante believes that if she had the chance to do it again, she’d do it differently due to the skills she developed in graphic design and new inspirations striking her now. Still, she is “happy with how things came out.” She hopes that when people look at her works, they take the time to think about its message and what it represents. As her poster states: “We all bleed the same.”

The senior exhibition can be found in the Gallery of Art and Design from Nov 14 to Dec 14. There will be a closing reception and artist presentations on Thursday, Dec 1, at 4 p.m.