October 19, 2020 Graphic Design Students Place as Finalists in National Typography Competition

Students from Christopher Cote’s spring 2020 Graphic Design Foundations I course placed as finalists in the 2021 Communication Arts Magazine typography competition. They are being recognized for their work titled the Quarantine Object Alphabet.

The Communication Arts typography competition is a juried competition that recognizes the best use of typography as the primary visual element in design, including typeface designs, calligraphy and hand lettering.

According to the Communication Arts website, “The finalists were chosen by a jury of leading design professionals and the selected entries will be shared across the globe in the Communication Arts Typography Annual magazine.” This issue will be distributed in print and digital as well as on the Communications Arts website.

The Graphic Design Foundations course focuses on the fundamental principles of design. Students in this course learn how to apply principles to design patterns, three dimensional forms, information design, album covers, typography and experimental lettering.

The Quarantine Object Alphabet project was an in-class assignment that required students to create typography from objects during online classes. In just one hour, the students used the collective alphabet as a typeface to write the words that reveal how they felt after shifting to online classes last spring due to the coronavirus pandemic.

”I am always impressed with what students can design and complete within a single class period. This project felt particularly relevant to the time we are living in, while we shifted to fully online teaching last spring,” Cote said.

Even in difficult times of uncertainty our students use their creativity and collaboration to produce works of design that are recognized at a national level.