In a year overshadowed by a pandemic, schooling from home and the general stress of 2020, UNLV’s graduating graphic design seniors are making the best of a difficult situation. There are 16 students in the program that will be graduating this December without any pomp or circumstance. Traditionally, the students would be hosting a 250-person industry targeted event to promote their capstone graduating projects, but like most events this year, the networking showcase was cancelled. Nevertheless, that has merely caused the students to be more creative and nimbler in their brand promotions. This December the showcase will be presented as an outdoor art installation on the windows of UNLV’s Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall.
Each graduating senior was tasked with creating a business concept, marketing plan and strategic creative campaign for their product. Some of the varied concepts include: addressing the new problem disposable masks are making by polluting the environment due to Covid. Another is creating a personalized children’s book company to learn about family members that passed while they were young or before they were born to learn about ancestry or deal with a traumatic loss of a parent. And a few others involve a sustainable clothing brand concept, toxic masculinity in the fitness world, and a zine to address negative self-talk.
The graphic design seniors decided upon the theme of “Bloom.” Bloom is a theme apt for our time. While we are currently in lock down and approaching the colder months of winter in the Las Vegas valley, we are looking forward to the spring. This spring, even more so, as we hope for a vaccine and end of the pandemic in 2021. Likewise, the seniors are looking to be applying for opportunities in a job force that has been impacted locally in Las Vegas by the pandemic, but hopeful that there is still room for their careers to blossom this spring with an uptick in the local Las Vegas economy.
Located on UNLV’s campus situated at 4505 S Maryland Pkwy, Las Vegas, NV 89154, the art installation will be able to be viewed outside the Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall anytime from December 2nd to January 3rd, 2020. Each of the student’s projects will be promoted with a QR code that will launch to their websites and brand concepts.
Campus is currently at 20% occupancy on site but is still open to the public. The students’ hope is that everyone will be looking for an excuse to get out of the house and enjoy some fresh air this holiday season and why not enjoy a winter walk through UNLV’s campus, have a picnic nearby on the grassy lawn outside the Student Union, schedule a free ticket at Marjorie Barrick Art Museum and stop by the Bloom art installation outside of Artemus Ham Concert Hall and make a day of it.
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