The Wolf Magazine

Issue date: 3/12/10 Section: Fine Arts and Culture

Media Credit: Courtesy of Logan Napoli Spread from Adriama Genualdi's book of remedies.

Media Credit: Courtesy of Logan Napoli Thumbnails from Logan Napoli's thesis.

Senioritis may be in full swing, but students in the graphic design departments are working hard.

It's that time of year again for students to showcase their senior thesis project, which students spend months working on. This show gives students a chance to build an impressive portfolio for potential clients or employers. The creative process leading up to the show is just as important as the show itself.

When professors assigned the final project, they told the graphic design students to come up with three possibilities over Christmas break. Then, over the first few weeks in the semester, graphic design professors Daniela Marx and Tom Varisco helped the seniors select their best thesis idea.

"The students must find the best possible solution to the problem that they want to solve," says Varisco.

The class meets twice a week to discuss and critique each other's progress. Marx and Varisco advised their students to find their passion and work on something or an outlet they can enjoy. They both agree that the best part of assisting their students in their work is watching students grow and produce better work than students thought they could.

Hope King started the semester with plans for a project to teach children about elements of typography. It evolved into planning a typographic-based dream room for her 4-year-old pseudo-self. She is currently researching and doing sketches, and is considering the final project presented as either a web or a motion piece, perhaps including some printed plans. She finds looking at design inspiring.

"[The professors] are good at pushing us to have strong concepts and the people in the class are really encouraging," she says.

"Our classmates and teachers are there to keep us on track, and to tell us when we're screwing up," he says.

Spadoni is documenting each of his four years of college through a CD medium. He plans to include his thoughts on topics like graphic design, God, and friends. To spark and inspire his creativity, he looks to successful artists and musicians. Spadoni, also a rapper, chose this project because he felt that he was blocking out his music and wasn't bringing his designs outside of class. Right now, he is busy formatting booklets and covers for the CDs. Although he is currently employed, he is keeping his options open. So open, in fact, that he has an interview for an internship at NASA. However, his dream employer would be himself, he says.

"I hope to get my own collective together and have a studio on top of a screen printing shop," he says.

Logan Napoli's project focuses on her love for music. She enjoyed several types of music growing up and now explores her passion for indie, alternative, folk, and electronic genres. Napoli describes graphic design as a "stressful, love-hate relationship."
"[The best part about graphic design] is you get paid to create art and work with other passionate people," she says. Role models often help motivate her, she says. A major source of inspiration for her is graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister.

All three students seem to feel excitement and nervousness about the senior show.

"I feel nervous and stressed in a good way," Napoli says. "Our junior show last year motivated me because I really enjoyed it."
Spadoni agrees. "[The show] is a really good thing for us because we get to show the rest of the school what we can do," he says. "The Loyola community mostly has no idea about graphic design. The show can provide them some understanding of what we do."

King thinks the show is bittersweet.

"[It's] a huge step, since it's the last design work we do before we graduate, " she says. "We get to show everything we learned to people, especially the professionals that attend."

Professionals that attended past shows hired some students on the basis of their exhibited work, says Marx.

"Four out of nine students were hired from [a previous] show and another three got jobs within the next few months, which is fantastic."

Marx and Varisco hope their students will continue to design independently on the side while they are employed.
"You have to work hard and love every moment if you want to be successful," Marx says.

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