79NM

// GOLDEN GATE NATIONAL PARKS EXHIBITS ACADEMY OF ART UNIVERSITY STUDENT WORK

Academy of Art University students in Mauro Cavalletti's Digital Design Studio class will be given the opportunity to showcase their work, in both print and digital formats, throughout the upcoming summer, continuing a partnership with Golden Gate National Parks called Design Volunteers In Parks.

"Students in my class volunteer their work to GGNP, designing mini sites for events. This is the second season we have participated.  This year GGNP will be showing our students' designs on panels installed at Alcatraz where they will have a large exposure to an international audience of visitors," says Cavalletti.

Last year, students from Cavalletti's class designed posters for the 100th Anniversary of Muir Woods (see above photo), and later developed advertisements about Global Climate Change, both of which can be viewed in the Design Volunteers In Parks section of GGNP's website.

// COMBINED BFA/MFA ONLINE TOWN HALL MEETING WEDNESDAY APRIL 1

The combined GR BFA Town Hall meeting will be held online Wednesday, April 1st at 5:00pm PST (No April Fool's!), for a chance to speak directly with Mary Scott, Phil Hamlett, as well as Anitra Nottingham and Jeremy Stout from the Online School of Graphic Design. Sign up through the link in your online class now!

// ACADEMY OF ART UNIVERSITY ALUMS MICHAEL OSBORNE AND CODY DINGLE WIN HOW POSTER CONTEST

The Crane Lettra, a poster designed by Academy of Art University Alums Michael Osborne and Cody Dingle, of Michael Osborne Design, was chosen from 1,600 entries as a winner of HOW Magazine's first poster contest. 

Osborne and Dingle worked on the launch of Crane Lettra, naming the brand, designing the promotional Lettra poster, the swatchbook and three separate broadsides

HOW poster contest winners receive a year's subscription to HOW Magazine, $150 worth of design books from HOW's online bookstore, and promotion in HOW's online gallery of winners.

 

// ACADEMY OF ART UNIVERSITY ALUM CHRISTOPHER CORTEZ LAUNCHES MASON FISK WEBSITE

Academy of Art University Alum and dubbed as "The Next Great American Designer" on Tommy Hilfiger's Show "The Cut," Christopher Cortez of Cortez Groupe, launched a new website for the revitalization of 72 Berry Street, Williamsburg, New York.

As Creative Visionary, Christopher Cortez was charged with the task of developing a brand identity for 72 Berry Street. Cortez recognized Williamsburg itself as an "epicenter of art, culture, business, and home." Though other developers in the area were tearing down dilapidated brick buildings and constructing new high-rises where they once stood, Cortez wanted to blend the cultural character of old and new by reusing the building's original brick and beams along with modern elements and technology. The identity of the building, Mason Fisk, comes from the "reverence for the long-lost art" of masonry and the celebration of the people who came first to Williamsburgh when it was still a fashionable place to live, such as the railroad magnate James Fisk.

Cortez's resurrection of the Mason Fisk building is "putting the (h) back in Williamsburgh" by restoring its heart; creating "something with meaning that extends beyond the building itself," and the allowance of customization of the floorplans to create a personalized home.

// PHIL HAMLETT PROFILED IN WHAT THE *#&! IS SOCIAL DESIGN? EXHIBIT

Academy of Art University School of Graphic Design Graduate Director Phil Hamlett was one of social design's "hottest names" profiled at The SoftSpot's first exhibit, "What the *#&! Is Social Design?" Profiled for "sparking the conversation," Phil Hamlett's accomplishments also include founding Compostmodern, and annual conference which explores the range of design thinking necessary to create a socially and ecologically responsible society and co-chairing the AIGA Center for Sustainable Design.

Phil Hamlett's parents are proud to see their son's achievements on a wall.

// SOFTSPOT MAGAZINE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE

The first issue of SoftSpot magazine is now available for purchase for those who couldn't make it to the opening of the WHAT THE *#&! IS SOCIAL DESIGN exibit at the Academy of Art University's 79 Gallery. 

SoftSpot magazine relates directly to the exhibition, exploring what social design is, and talking to some of the top players in this movement of designing for social change.

The magazine is oversized and pulls apart to make posters. The purchase of the magazine also includes a set of five postcards that serve as trading cards for social designers.

// THE CROWD OUTNUMBERED THE ICE CREAM CONES AT WHAT THE *#&! IS SOCIAL DESIGN

WHAT THE *#&! IS SOCIAL DESIGN opened its doors last night to a crowd in wait. The exhibit's opening reception drew at least 450 people (we're counting by the number of ice cream cones on hand that quickly disappeard after the first hour). Check out the faces in the crowd in this time lapse video.

This exhibit surrounding the idea of social change by design has garnered tremendous media attention.  Check out what Core77 or the SF Art Examiner had to say.

Creators Mike Jeter and Asley Ciecka, MFA students in the Academy of Art University School of Graphic Design, developed the exhibit as a thesis project. They scored interviews with some of social design's hottest names for the exhibit profiles. Photography and Videography for the exhibit were provided by Jonathan Snyder and Joshua Cuoto. If you didn't make it to the opening (and therefore didn't get any ice cream) get in to see it before it comes down on March 31st. If you can't make it to San Francisco at all visit www.thesoftspot.org for more information. The SoftSpot publication that accompanies the exhibit will be available for purchase soon through the SoftSpot website.

Exhibit co-creator Mike Jeter was one of the 450 people who did get an ice cream cone. 

// METROPOLIS FEATURES SOFTSPOT'S WHAT THE *#&! IS SOCIAL DESIGN ONLINE

Mike Jeter and Ashley Cieka's WHAT THE *#&! IS SOCIAL DESIGN exhibit opening was featured on Metropolismag.com today.  See the full story here metropolismag.com.

// ACADEMY OF ART UNIVERSITY STUDENT PROJECT IN HOW MAGAZINE

HOW Magazine selected Mundane Saves the World, an Academy of Art University student publication, to receive editorial merit in their April 2009 International Design Annual issue. Mundane "originated from the need to teach print production skills to design students before they enter the working world," says Phil Hamlett, Academy of Art University School of Graphic Design Graduate Director. 

Under the instruction of Michael Sainato, the collaborative project was a unique experience for the students. It forced the class to work to create a real-world type of environment and work together to complete the project while staying true to its objective.

Cover spread of Mundane Saves the World.

Mundane Saves the World is self-described as "a publication that celebrates the normal." The student designers of the publication wanted to create a magazine that combats popular culture's obsession with success and inauthentic beauty, and instead exposes "the beauty and wonder of the seemingly mundane."

An example of the interior spreads from Mundane Saves the World.

// BFA TOWN HALL MEETING WEDNESDAY MARCH 11!

The GR BFA Town Hall meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 11 at 3:00 p.m. in Room 520 at 79NM, for a chance to speak directly with Mary Scott, executive director of the School of Graphic Design.