The final reviews of Spring 2020 finally came to the end. (You did it!!!) All the students including the BFA4/MFA2’s who reached the final milestone should be proud of what they have gone through under the difficult circumstances for the past few months.
In the previous post, we looked at some of the works produced by the MFA2’s. Now it is time to show you the incredible BFA4’s works. The Fall 2019 topic was water and they made work aabout and around the topic of water. For their spring graduation projects, everyone worked on unique projects that pursued individual interests and passions.
Let’s take a look at some students’ work along with their interviews.
[Interviewees are as follows: Gian Montes, Jessica Peng, Alex Cerutti.]
All Star-Posters by Gian Montes
GIAN MONTES
1. Can you briefly introduce yourself?
My name is Gian Montes, I’m a designer born and raised from San Francisco, CA currently working in Los Angeles. My interests include but are not limited too: Basketball, Sneakers, and my dog Brixen.
2. What is your current thesis about and how did you come up with the idea at first?
It’s a full branding package for an All Star Game (Basketball) hosted in San Francisco, which hasn’t been hosted in SF since 1967. Branding Design for All Star games have become extremely commercialized and templated, because the NBA doesn’t feel that it needs to look nice in order to bring in money, so I wanted to take a crack at it.
All Star Logo Process by Gian Montes
All Star Patches by Gian Montes
3. Do you feel your thesis is personally connected to you? If it is, what is that connection?
I’ve been a sports fan all my life, and I love incorporating design and the sports world whenever I can. This is a project I’ve wanted to do since before attending CalArts, but I didn’t believe I had the skills or the knowledge to do it successfully.
4. What was your biggest challenge?
Believability and Volume. How can I make this convincing and how much “stuff” do I need to produce?
There’s a lot of moving parts when it comes to branding aside from just a logo and t-shirts. The challenge was to make it seem real, something that could be believable and that multiple design studios were commissioned to design everything. But in reality, one little kid in his desk in Santa Clarita made it all.
A project by Jessica Peng
JESSICA PENG
1. Can you briefly introduce yourself?
I’m Jessica, a newly graduated student of the CalArts graphic design department. I’m really interested in narratives and the intertwining of the personal and political.
2. What is your current thesis about and how did you come up with the idea at first?
My final project was inspired by a trip to China over the summer of 2017. My grandpa had passed away that year, and during my visit, my grandma gave me a notebook of photographs he had taken of my mom and her brother as young children. Photography was very rare for the average citizen in China back then and it was the first family heirloom I had ever received. From this, I started thinking of creating an archive of family photos, which developed into an expansive research project on my family history.
3. Do you feel your thesis is personally connected to you? If it is, what is that connection?
I definitely think so. My project is about my family, and that’s incredibly personal. But at the same time, the thing about family history is that it’s incredibly tied to our world history. Both are really directly influenced by the other.
4. What was your biggest challenge?
Time! And, obviously, the whole Covid-19 situation. Being at home definitely cut down many of the resources I normally have at CalArts. But also, this project is incredibly expansive and I’m pretty new to coding, so it was definitely challenging to try and find answers to everything while feeling quite alone.
5. Any last words?
Yeah I guess! CalArts has really given me the opportunity to grow in so many ways, and this project really showcases the many facets of that. Also, it’s been nice knowing everyone! See you on the other side!
A project by Alex Cerutti
Hey! Yes… I was born and raised in LA’s creative atmosphere and, from a very young age, had a spark ignited inside of me that fueled a passion for art, design, and screen printing. During high school, I was lucky enough to be involved in a phenomenal art program that pushed me beyond my limits and ultimately led me to CalArts. And since then, it’s been nothing but full steam ahead—>
2. What is your current thesis about and how did you come up with the idea at first?
My current thesis project is a complete focus on my personal art/design practice; Change The Game. It includes a wide range of facets, but overall, it was about establishing a new visual direction and outlook moving forward. What’s peculiar, is that I actually started Change The Game about 6 years ago during high school, but I never truly felt deeply satisfied with some of my outcomes; I also kind of dropped my own engagement with it as a medium over time, it’s been kind of a rollercoaster to make it short…
However, after 3rd year I knew I was fed up with not giving it what it deserved and so I set out to develop something that was more cohesive, that had a bit more specificity, and most importantly, something I really felt really good about. This involved developing a completely new visual language, system for color, form, composition, voice, language, website, clothing, photography, and everything in between.
As of now, I’m the happiest with it that I’ve ever been. And it’s all still a work in progress, but that’s how I like it — something that is ever-evolving and that isn’t afraid to change, mold, and adapt whenever it feels it needs too in order to move forward.
3. Do you feel your thesis is personally connected to you? If it is, what is that connection?
100% — as I mentioned in the previous answer, Change The Game has been a part of me for a while now. I see it as an extension of who I am, of my personality, and of my life in some ways. It’s not my entire self-being, and I think that’s important to address, but it is a big chunk and I only hope that chunk only gets bigger.
4. What was your biggest challenge so far?
I’ve always been a very multifaceted individual, so Change The Game kind of followed suit… the biggest challenge over the years has been refining it into something more cohesive, understandable, and digestible for an outside viewer. In that sense, it’s been about letting go, honing it in, and making some tough, but important sacrifices.
5. Any last words?
Of course,
In life, you’ll always have ideas, goals, and aspirations… whatever it may be, you need to work hard af for it, do whatever it takes, do things that work for you, and work in weird ways…
Change The Game has always held this spirit closely, and in fact, the name is a constant reminder to think differently, to break from conventions, be self-expressive, and also simply be creative in everything one can do. We all hold the power to make life more interesting for ourselves and for those around us, so why not take advantage of it?
Change your game, Change The Game.
