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// ACADEMY OF ART UNIVERSITY ALUM EMILY LEMMER LANDS AT NIKE

Emily Lemmer, School of Graphic Design 2008 MFA, has been working on and off with Nike over the past year as an independent contractor, assisting Nike designers with everything from concept brainstorming to the actual designing of posters for various campaigns, like the ones shown below. Just a few weeks ago, Lemmer was promoted to a full-time designer position, and couldn't be happier. "I'm so excited to finally have a job with benefits, stock options, 401K, access to the employee store - the whole bit - as a full Nike employee!" she said in an e-mail to us.

 

Lemmer credits her success with the education she received at the Academy. "My portfolio continues to impress when I go into interviews. I am so thankful for all of the guidance and everything I learned at AAU. I definitely would not be where I am now without that experience." 

For a better look at some of Emily Lemmer's work (both in and outside of the Academy), check out her personal website, emilylemmer.com.

// ACADEMY OF ART UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRAPHIC DESIGN ALUMS FEATURED ON THE DIELINE

Founded in 2007 by Andrew Gibbs, Creative Director of Power Brands, The Dieline is the world's #1 package design website. The site's purpose is to define and promote the world's best examples of packaging, and also provides a place for packaging experts to review, critique, and stay informed of the latest packaging trends. It also serves as a place for up and coming design students to display their work and receive feedback from industry professionals. Naturally, we were honored to hear that two of our School of Graphic Design alums, Erik Gomez and Adam Mulyadi, had recently been featured on The Dieline for projects they developed in instructor Tom McNulty's Packaging 3 class.

Erik Gomez, 2009 BFA graduate, designed the packaging for these Clos Du Val wine bottles and was featured on The Dieline shortly after. "The design objective was to pick a winery and redesign three of their varietals," says Gomez. "One Cabernet Sauvignon and one Chardonnay Carneros at a $20 price point and one Cabernet Sauvignon at a $120 price point. The Clos Du Val winery is located in the famous Napa Valley in northern California where the soil is rich and the weather is just right. In my research, I visited the winery and tasted the wine. I took notes, pictures and experienced the atmosphere just like a tourist so I could translate the experience into the redesign of the labels. This is a revolutionary design direction for Clos Du Val."

Adam Mulyadi, also a 2009 BFA, asked himself, "what if BMW designed skincare?" It would be very expensive, that's what! The above image is Mulyadi's conceptualization of the BMW's fictitious skincare line, PURE.

"The name PURE is derived from the idea of the Angel Eyes headlights that every BMW has," said Mulyadi.  "The Angel Eyes represent heaven which is an expression of purity, innocence, and perfection, hence PURE, the new and sophisticated BMW skincare line."

Two more of Mulyadi's packaging designs have appeared on The Dieline, including a fictitious pet supply company called "Noah's Dogs" and a line of interior paints named after industrial designer Russel Wright.

 

// ACADEMY OF ART UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRAPHIC DESIGN WINS TWO AIGA (RE)DESIGN AWARDS

The Academy of Art University School of Graphic Design has been working hard to impress the importance of sustainability on their students, and in the design community at large. New sustainable projects designed by Academy students and instructors are being introduced constantly, and two of them stand out as having recently received AIGA (Re)design Awards.

R3: Products Reimagined placed second in the "sustainable organization" category. The project is a collaboration between students at the Academy and California Lithographers, which promotes ideas on sustainable design. R3 (which stands for Rethink, Reimagine, Reuse) began in one of instructor Tom Sieu's classes, when he asked his students to think less about design as decoration and more about the "big picture," which began as discussions about the life cycle of a product, but quickly moved to explore topics such as consumer dependencies, renewable resources, and human rights.

R3: Products Reimagined is a set of books, designed by Academy students, each of which explores the life cycle of a specific product (some include a hairdryer, ink-cartridge, refrigerator, tire, and audio speakers) and its redesign. Going far beyond raising awareness of sustainable design, the books offer viable design solutions to improve the life of the product and make it more environmental.

WHOLE, an fictitious eco-friendly clothing brand created by graphic design student Katy Liao, received second place in the "student environmental sustainability" category. Liao's mission was to enlighten consumers about the one million tons of textile waste that goes into landfills each year and challenge them to wear their clothing for as long as possible. When buying a t-shirt from WHOLE, the consumer is provided with a mending kit to prolong the shirt's life. And when it is finally unwearable, the clothing fibers can be recycled into journal.

Both R3 and WHOLE also received awards in the AIGA cause/affect design competition, which we wrote about here.

// ACADEMY OF ART UNIVERSITY ALUM MICHELE RONSEN USES HER DEGREE FOR MORE THAN DESIGN

Michele Ronsen, Academy of Art University School of Graphic Design 1995 BFA, says her graphic design degree has led her to “think bigger and broader than graphic design.” Ronsen explains that her design knowledge has opened up many doors in the creative field, and has provided her with a foundation to manage the entire creative process.

In her current position as Creative Director of Wells Fargo, San Francisco, Ronsen manages not just a team of designers, but also strategist and writers, guiding them through the creative process on a daily basis. A few accolades that Wells Fargo has received under her direction include a GDUSA American In-House Design Award, two Ragan Awards for magazine design, several platinum and gold MarCom Awards for marketing material and interactive design, and the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Gold Quill Award for excellence in employee communications as well as HR and benefits communications.

Ronsen's work experience also includes serving as Vice President and Design Director for Wells  Fargo Advantage Funds, Founder and Principal of Martin Paul Partners; Senior Vice President and Design Director at Bank of America; Art Director at Nordstrom;  Designer at Michael Osborne Design; and intern at Pentagram Design.

//THE SOFTSPOT RECEIVES SAPPI IDEAS THAT MATTER GRANT

Ashley Ciecka and Michael Jeter, both 2009 MFA School of Graphic Design graduates, received a Sappi Ideas That Matter grant for their joint thesis project, The SoftSpot.

The SoftSpot is an initiative that seeks to inspire and inform graphic designers of their role in social change by strengthening the collaborations between designers, the community at large, and their involvement with design for the greater good. Ciecka and Jeter's first step was to create a publication and hold an exhibition in which they highlighted and interviewed some of the social design frontrunners, such as John Bielenberg, Project M, Phil Hamlett, Compostmodern, and Emily Pilloton, Project H Design. The exhibition, which drew at least 450 people, asked and answered the question, "what the *#&! is social design?"

Sappi's Ideas That Matter is the only grant program aimed at helping designers contribute their talents to the charitable activities that they care about most. Sappi believes that the creative ideas of designers can have an impact beyond the aesthetic and that those ideas can be a powerful force for social good. To date, Ideas that Matter has awarded $9 million worldwide in grants supporting causes that range from youth centers and health care awareness to wildlife protection.

View all of the 2009 Ideas That Matter grant recipients.

// ACADEMY OF ART UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRAPHIC DESIGN STUDENT RECEIVES HOW STUDENT PROMOTIONS MERIT

JungIn Lee, Academy of Art University School of Graphic Design BFA 2008 alum, was recently featured in HOW Magazine's October 2009 Self-Promotion Design Annual for a project she completed in Michael Osborne's Packaging 4 class. Lee received a student promotions merit for Chocōcafe, a yummy packaging design for a fictitious chocolate company

Lee describes Chocōcafe as "a combination retail store and cafe where people can hang out and enjoy Chocōlate related food and products for art and chocolate lovers who are artistic, free and passionate." Chocōcafe provides four different product categories: Chocōmake, Chocōgive, Chocōdrink, and Chocōeat.

Chocōmake products include the brand's signature muffin mix, cupcake powder, cookie dough as well as the tools to make these deserts at home.

Chocōgive is a custom prepared wooden gift box containing both Chocōcafe baked goods and branded products, such as a giftcard and a t-shirt.

Chocōcafe, the cafe itself, serves Chocōdrink and Chocōeat, which are a variety of hot and cold chocolate drinks, bakery items and ice cream.

"Hand-drawn illustrations are used in every aspect of the packaging, which is printed on canvas paper, presenting each package as individual artwork," says Lee. "This unique hand-drawn motif expands into the cafe's interior design, so that customers can enjoy the artistic atmosphere and their chocolate at the same time. I want customers to feel as if they are in a gallery as well as a cafe when they are in Chocōcafe."

...If only Chocōcafe were real!

// ACADEMY OF ART UNIVERSITY ALUM ANTIONIO MAH SENDS WARM WISHES MARY SCOTT

Antonio Mah, 2009 Academy of Art University School of Graphic Design BA, attended the AIGA Design Legends Gala not only to celebrate excellence in design, but also to congratulate former instructor Mary Scott on her 10 years at the Academy. "I want to thank you for putting together such a great program at the Academy," said Mah in a video to Mary Scott. 

But, the celebration didn't stop there. Mah, newly graduated from the Academy this spring, had also acquired a position as a designer for Gensler just before attending the Gala. What a day!

// ACADEMY OF ART UNIVERSITY ALUM LEAH HO GIVES BIG CONGRATS MARY SCOTT

Celebrating her tenth year as the Academy of Art University School of Graphic Design Chair, Mary Scott was in good company during the AIGA Design Legends Gala Thursday, September 17 at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. Leah Ho, a School of Graphic Design alum who moved to New York, attended along with seven other New York-based Academy alums and former Mary Scott students. Leah Ho gives a "big congrats" to Mary Scott and says, "you've done so much for the Academy and for me."

After receiving her BFA in Graphic Design from the Academy in 2004, Leah Ho moved to New York to pursue a career with Gensler & Associates, a global architecture, design, planning and consulting firm. Her favorite project so far has been her work for Christine Dior, in which she created a fresh temporary Christian Dior store while their flagship is being renovated. The design approach leveraged Dior’s history and rich image archives to complete a scheme that was a nod to the past but contemporary by execution.

// LANDOR'S CHRIS LEHMANN PLAYS TO A PACKED HOUSE

Last Thursday turned out to be a jam packed, busting out into the halls, kick off for the School of Graphic Design's first 79DESIGNSPEAK event. Chris Lehmann, Executive Creative Director for Landor and Academy of Art University alum, held a captivated audience of students, alums and faculty in the 79Auditorium.

 
(Phil Hamlett introduces Chris Lehmann)

According to Mary Scott, Chair of the School of Graphic Design, "Chris really put a face on the strategic thinking behind the creative. The range of projects he presented was terrific, from big corporations to socially responsible clients. Our students were rapt at his stories and examples of how things work in the real world and his acknowledgment of his former instructors, Tom McNulty and Michael Osborne gave the students something to directly relate to."

 

(Phil Hamlett, Mary Scott, Chris Lehmann and Michael Osborne kick off the first 79DESIGNSPEAK event)

// ACADEMY OF ART UNIVERSITY ALUM RICHARD LJOENES THANKS MARY SCOTT

The AIGA Design Legends Gala was a great day for design, and an excellent day for Mary Scott, Academy of Art University's Director of Graphic Design. Surrounded by eight New York-based Academy alums and former students, one of which was Richard Ljoenes, Mary Scott celebrated her 10 years with the Academy that night as well. "Mary sent me to the ADC portfolio review, where I landed the job I had today," said Ljoenes, who is currently an Art Director for HarperCollins Publishers.

As an Art Director for HarperCollins, Ljoenes, 2002 Graphic Design BFA, has had his hands in many of the publishing company's book jacket designs. His favorites include his design for Amanda Little's Power Trip and The Financial Lives of Poets by Jess Walter.