Graduating students in the Graphic Design program at St. Clair College are showing off their talents to the world with IMPRINT - a virtual exhibit of their portfolios.
IMPRINT is a collection of 17 unique galleries hosted on a website (www.stclaircollege.ca/imprint/) that showcases graduating students' skills, personalities, and brand of art. Program Coordinator Michael Lovell said the Graphic Design Grad Show is typically a gala-style event that unfortunately had to pivot into a virtual exhibit the past two years.
“Since we can’t see everyone in person this year, we thought we’d bring our work to the community,” Lovell said. “We opted to go the virtual route again this year but going forward the website is something we are going to keep in place. It’s accessible to everyone from almost everywhere and it’s a great way to get our students work out into the community.”
Lovell has been a professor in the Graphic Design program at St. Clair College for 19 years and said the IMPRINT virtual exhibit also gives potential employers the opportunity to observe a variety of unique portfolios that showcase different talents.
“Depending on whoever’s portfolio you click on, you might find a different emphasis. You’re going to see all kinds of different styles, a lot of different approaches,” Lovell said. “At the core, we’re still graphic designers but that landscape changes from year to year and we’re continually seeing that evolution, so we try to reflect that with the program.”
Lovell said credit for the crisp final product displayed on the IMPRINT virtual exhibit website can be attributed to a collaborative effort between faculty and graduating students. Third-year student Chelsea Dalton is credited with creating the IMPRINT brand itself and classmate Kristin Cochrane has created and monitored its social media channels, pumping out various marketing materials to promote the virtual exhibit. Lovell also praised Professor Glenn Evans for his work as the driving force behind what people see on the IMPRINT website.
“We are a program that is much greater than the sum of our parts, and this virtual exhibit is a product of that,” Lovell said. “The work is done by the students; they conceptualize a number of the approaches you see on the website. The rest of us just try to make sure the puzzle pieces fit together.”
Anyone interested in browsing through the IMPRINT 2022 portfolio collection can view them at www.stclaircollege.ca/imprint/.
Interested in studying Graphic Design? Check out www.stclaircollege.ca/programs/graphic-design.
- Brett Hedges