A landing page for the Studio. This might be outdated.

On Friday, I was treated to a very informative orientation with my new talented art director, Ron, and my new colleagues (all classmates of mine). We’re situated in the basement of the school library, a part of Chico State’s Academic Technologies division. As we found out, the graphic design studio (as we’re calling ourselves now) is going through a bit of an identity crisis, although nothing but the name has changed. When I interviewed last fall, I was under the impression it was part of a group called IMC Productions, which it may have been at the time but isn’t any longer.

Orientation was fun, and it got better as we went along. I’m always terrible in new situations at first. I don’t know where to stand or who I should talk to. Yesterday I awkwardly shook hands with people and discussed our winter breaks. But once we got into the orientation, it went smoothly.

The Studio

The studio is awesome! It’s not a huge space, nor is it exceedingly small, but it’s just enough room for the roughly ten people that will work in there on a regular basis. State of the art printers and computers, of course, and an attached photo studio! (Although that’s not really for us). My friends who are beginning their second semester at the studio are all really talented designers. I’m looking forward to working side-by-side with them.

All the machines are named after typefaces (I love working with designers!) and there’s graphical inspiration everywhere. It’s going to be a fun place to spend 12 hours a week.

The Work

On top of all that, though, are the projects we’ll get to work on! The Studio is the one-stop shop for colleges, schools, departments, and groups within the university for design work. So we produce posters, postcards, publications, brochures, and the like for most (I’m not sure if there are exceptions) campus organizations.

That means pure graphic design work, which I’m really excited about. In my stints at two different advertising agencies and my time at The Orion, the goal has always been slightly different (which isn’t a bad thing, nor something I dislike, it’s just different). Now, at the Studio (as I’m calling it) I’ll finally have the chance to practice a more pure form of graphic design.

We saw examples of the work the more veteran designers have worked on, including two different posters and a publication project. We’ll actually get the chance to interact (and almost be the sole contact) for the clients who commission the Studio to do the design. Which is something in which I’ve always wanted experience.

And I’m pumped. It’s going to be a wonderful semester.

Like my blog? Go ahead and share it!