Before our Spring semester starts, BFA’s and MFA’s of the graphic design program have the chance to sign up for winter practicum classes – two weeks of intensives and workshops, allowing students to delve into specific interests and niche practices. Additional to our on-campus instructors, every year a couple of visiting designers teach courses as well.

This January, Erik Buckham and Caelin White of Palaceworks, INC. taught a class in their professional metier – film marketing, and more specifically, movie poster design. Both Caelin and Erik are CalArts alumni, and today their practice is based in Highland Park (CA), which has been responsible for seminal projects involving A24, HBO, TNT, Disney and more.

For five consecutive days, students sketched, planned and finalized a poster design for a movie of their imagining. Starting off with exercises to dream up a realistic and believable movie plot, along with its genre, audience, tone etc., the workshop’s participants were able to design for a variety of film types and aesthetics. Under the instructors’ supervision, they each produced designs which coincided with industry guidelines and usability standards.

Scroll down to view a selection of the final results.

Visiting designer workshops of previous years included instruction by Sonnen Zimmer, Eike König, and Vier5, amongst others.