July 19, 2021
ArtCenter Racks Up Awards for Branding, Book Design and Writing in Global Competitions
Recruitment viewbook wins top honors in prestigious design contests
Creative work produced by ArtCenter College of Design’s Marketing and Communications team has recently won prestigious awards from multiple global competitions. ArtCenter’s 2021–2022 Viewbook, a highly-visible and important promotional publication used to recruit students, received top honors and extraordinary praise from jurors in the design community as well as from peers in higher education.
The College’s Viewbook was selected as one of 50 covers in the 50 Books 50 Covers competition which recognizes the best work in book and cover design as determined by AIGA and Design Observer. With nearly 700 book and cover design entries from 36 countries, the competition recognizes design excellence created during a year marked by unparalleled change.
Designed by ELLA, a graphic design studio based in Los Angeles, the ArtCenter 2021–2022 Viewbook was described by judges as “a beautiful, practical keepsake publication, conveying serious design skills and prestige.” They went on to say the “book conveys a strong sense of identity and the culture of this school.”
The Viewbook design team of River Jukes-Hudson and Stephen Serrato, partners who founded ELLA, are both ArtCenter graphic design alumni who teach graduate and undergraduate Typography courses at the College.
The two-volume Viewbook is one of ArtCenter’s most important recruitment tools for prospective students. The 2021-22 edition serves three main functions: it conveys the key factors that differentiate the College from its peers; it represents the institution’s core values; and it emphasizes the individual experiences of its students.
Operating from a belief that highlighting only refined final work creates a barrier for some students—by overemphasizing seemingly unattainable results—the 2021–2022 Viewbook featured an organizing theme of “process” in which text and imagery that focuses more on the behind-the-scenes steps involved in creating a project (sketching, trial and error, discussions, deliberations) was made more prominent.
Elements throughout the publication—visible printing artifacts, covers printed on uncoated kraft cover stock, Swiss binding, and exposed smythe-sewn book blocks—all reinforce the theme. Another process that receives special attention is the college’s desire to create a more equitable learning environment—an aspirational work-in-progress whose less-than-flattering history is presented transparently across several spreads of the award-winning Viewbook.
Also recognized by the AIGA 50 Books/50 Covers competition is Public Foundry , a catalogue based on work by 2020 Typographers-in-Residence Joshua Trees, Yvan Martinez, and Krister Olsson, all of whom were based at the Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography (HMCT) at ArtCenter for six weeks in 2020.
"Bold use of typography on the cover and aggressively scaled illustrations and type are the defining elements of this book," said juror Jennifer Morla about the Public Foundry catalogue.
ArtCenter’s 2021-2022 Viewbook also won a gold award in the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Circle of Excellence competition. These peer-selected and adjudicated awards honor institutions worldwide whose talented staff have advanced their organizations through their resourcefulness and ingenuity. Winners are selected based on several factors, including overall quality, innovation, use of resources and the impact on the institution or its external and internal communities, such as alumni, parents, students, faculty and staff.
ArtCenter’s Dot magazine feature story “Raising Consciousness: Diversity in Graphic Design” written by Solvej Schou, senior writer in ArtCenter’s Marketing and Communications Department, was also honored with a CASE Circle of Excellence gold award. The story focuses on the ongoing importance of diversity, equity and inclusion in graphic design and includes interviews with Black, Latinx and Asian recent alumni and a student from the College’s graduate and undergraduate Graphic Design programs.
“Well done painting a picture with words here,” said CASE jurors about the magazine feature story. “The writer brought the story alive, and caused the judges to reconsider the role of race in design at their own institutions, the obvious hoped-for intent of the writer to begin with,” they continued.
A new branding campaign for the College’s extension program won a TDC award for communication design. The TDC awards recognize typographic excellence and innovation with the art and craft of typography and design. Selected among entries from more than 60 countries, the ArtCenter Extension (ACX) identity and branding campaign pairs a new name and organizational structure with a new visual approach that embraces the theme of creative growth through play and the modular nature of the programs’ a-la-carte offerings. Elemental geometric forms and bright, bold color express purposeful play and accessibility, and a family of three geometric typefaces—developed specifically for ACX—combine in ever-changing ways, creating a consistent expression through playful inconsistency. The design team responsible for the award-winning work is Winnie Lee, art director; Scott Taylor, creative director; Alex Seth and Matt Adams, designers; and Audrey Krauss, creative production.
ArtCenter’s Viewbook 2020-2021 credits:
Creative direction and design: ELLA with Carina Huynh and Jun Lin
Project supervision: Scott Taylor
Editorial direction: Mike Winder
Production supervision: Audrey Krauss
Production assistance: Ellie Eisner
Photography: Juan Posada
Copy Editor: Mary Nadler
Writing: Solvej Schou and Mike Winder
Typefaces: Caravelle, Matthew Boyd; ACX, Matt Adams; The Expanding Grid, Gil Barel Morosco; Hampton Dunlap D&J Script, Carina Huynh; xAF, Shiang-jye Yag
Printer: Clear Image Printing Co., Los Angeles, California
Prospective students can obtain a copy of the Viewbook by contacting the Admissions Office and filling out this form or at admissions@artcenter.edu and 626 396-2373.
Limited copies of ArtCenter’s 2021–2022 Viewbook are available to journalists who plan to cover the design story of this publication.
About ArtCenter: Founded in 1930 and located in Pasadena, California, ArtCenter College of Design is a global leader in art and design education. ArtCenter offers 11 undergraduate and seven graduate degrees in a wide variety of industrial design disciplines as well as visual and applied arts. In addition to its top-ranked academic programs, the College also serves members of the Greater Los Angeles region through a highly regarded series of year-round educational programs for all ages and levels of experience. Renowned for both its ties to industry and its social impact initiatives, ArtCenter is the first design school to receive the United Nations’ Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) status. Throughout the College’s long and storied history, ArtCenter alumni have had a profound impact on popular culture, the way we live and important issues in our society.
Contact:
Teri Bond
Media Relations Director
ArtCenter College of Design
teri.bond@artcenter.edu
626 396-2385
