On the second floor of Westby Hall, more than 100 pieces of student artwork are currently on display in the Student Gallery for “The Designed Experience” exhibit, which opened with a reception this past Thursday.

The exhibit features student work created between 2015 and 2017 spanning major disciplines, including the graphic design concentration of the art program, marketing, public relations and advertising.

“It’s all the students I’ve been teaching for the last few years,” said Susan Bowman, graphic design professor and coordinator of this particular exhibit. “I really wanted to showcase their work because they do such amazing work.”

The work on display showcased a wide variety of design talent.

“It’s a really good representation of the program we have here, the graphic design concentration,” Bowman said. “It’s a great way to show everybody the great work we do.”

The pieces were projects students made for their graphic design classes, including Introduction to Graphic Design, Typography and Publication and Information Graphics. Some students with work on display include Ronald Jones, Courtney Saul, Kayla Rodriguez and Brianna Jarzyna.

Gallery • 3 Photos

Info graphic posters highlight student design skill. -Staff Photo/Maria Morales

Saul, a senior graphic design major, had a book on display titled “I’d Type That,” which features some of her favorite fonts and the histories behind them.

“I like corny, cheesy puns, so that’s what I came up with [for the title],” Saul said. “I designed [the book] based on what the font’s initial use was.”

Two of the fonts that can be found within her book are Avenir, which is used in the social media application Snapchat, and Franklin Gothic, which is used in the game Scrabble. Designing the content and making the book itself took about two to three weeks.

Andrea Jones-Jenkins, a senior art education major, was among the people in attendance. Jones-Jenkins and her family came to support her son, Ronald Jones, who is a sophomore graphic design major. The pair entered Rowan in the fall of 2016. Jones designed two album covers in his Introduction to Graphic Design class.

Jones-Jenkins noted that her son found out that his work had been chosen to be on display when he went back to school after break.

“He was very surprised, and I think because of knowing that, I can see where it boosted his confidence and how he feels about his work and himself,” Jones-Jenkins said. “I’m very proud of him.”

“The Designed Experience” runs from Jan. 16 to 23 and is free to anyone in the Rowan community.

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