2022 Graphic Design Student Showcase

For their senior project, the BFA graphic design students at Villa Maria College produce a comprehensive body of work. It represents the culmination of the visual communication and technical skills acquired throughout their undergraduate studies. It may include the branding and/or rebranding of both original or existing products, services and businesses with materials ranging from business systems to integrated marketing campaigns that include packaging, print advertising, and website design.

This is the 14th year that seniors have celebrated the completion of their projects at PRELUDE, our annual year-end gallery exhibition. This very popular event provides students the opportunity to showcase and display their work in a gallery setting. The venue inspires an energetic atmosphere where they meet, greet and share their successes with family, friends, classmates, college administrators, Villa alumni and area design professionals. We’re also showcasing our students’ work in an online gallery format and thank you for viewing the contributions of the 2022 Prelude Exhibition.

We wish to take this opportunity to congratulate and commend Alyssa, Colt, Hadyn, Jonathan, and Karion on their incredible accomplishment. We’re so very proud of the dedication and commitment you’ve shown during this past year. We hope all of you take pride in all that you’ve achieved, especially this semester and throughout your time at Villa Maria. We know the future will be bright as you pursue your goals and further develop as designers and individuals. You’re forever part of our Villa family and we wish you all the best!

Bob Grizanti
Associate Professor, Graphic Design
Chair, Fine Arts & Design Department

Julie Zack
Associate Professor, Graphic Design

Karion Carter

Alyssa Hagedorn

Colt McAndrew

Jonathan Murtha

Hadyn Otwell

Karion Carter

Say Yes Buffalo

I chose to rebrand Say Yes Buffalo for my senior project. Say Yes Buffalo is a nonprofit organization that provides educational service and workforce attainment service to improve Buffalo’s future and economy. They aid families of k-12 students and provide tuition program that push student to complete their postsecondary education. Their vision is for Buffalo to become more equitable and have a thriving economy.

Signifying growth, the words ”Say Yes” are staggered in an upward manner, while the bold italic typeface conveys the notion of strength and movement. The bright blue and green color scheme is reminiscent of the brand strength Say Yes has built in the community. The orange accent color provides contrast and visual interest throughout the branding while adding warmth and youth. Photographic Imagery is used to connect the audience to Say Yes’s message of hope and prosperity.

Artist Bio

Karion’s interest in graphic design grew out of her love for drawing. As a child, she would do her best to recreate pencil drawings from books covers, video gamebooks, and movie posters. As a result, Karion decided to study graphic design at Villa Maria College. She enjoys creating bright, colorful, witty designs and illustrations. She spends her spare time enjoying high-energy games, riding her bike during the summer, drawing, and watching TV. Karion wishes to work as a graphic designer after graduation to produce clear, meaningful and engaging creative work that serves a purpose and function in the world.

Alyssa Hagedorn

Grouphug

Grouphug is a non-profit organization dedicated to the development of learning and understanding the mental health of adults and young adults through the aid of a welcoming and warm community. Grouphug is an online safe space to connect with others close by or around the world that have similar mental health disorders and life experiences. In addition to communicating in a forum, Grouphug allows access to an altruistic team of helpful counselors, satirical content organized by admins to boost the user’s mood, journal entry prompts to provoke thought, and meditational breathing exercises to release stress. The mission is to provide a wide range of options allowing a sense of comfort and clarity to all individuals navigating their mental health journey.

Artist Bio

After winning an art award at the age of eight, Alyssa knew she wanted to pursue creativity. She continued to dabble in fine arts and mixed media until her senior year of High School when she took her first graphic design class. Since then, Alyssa has developed an appreciation for typography, branding, creating visual identities, and editorial design. She hopes to foster a career in illustration or type design working with a close-knit team or independently as a freelancer. Alyssa is an open-minded and thoughtful designer who believes her resilience to learn and connect with others will pave the way toward achieving her endeavors.

Colt McAndrew

RAW

Raw is a WWE pro-wrestling show that is currently the longest running weekly episodic television show. It airs Monday nights at 8pm on the USA network. As of late Monday Night Raw has become lackluster. What was once a must see show in the late 90s and early 2000s is now predictable and mundane. The roster is partially responsible, but blame could also be placed on the aesthetic and production quality. Raw once had an edgy, rough feeling to it, and that’s best suited for the audience and category. For this project, I created a new logo that is a throwback hybrid of multiple Raw logos from the past with an updated twist. I wanted to bring retro and modern aesthetics together. After the logo, multiple poster, social media ads, billboards, ticket designs, and commercials were created to refresh the brand. Along with posters and logos, I created designs for the in-arena production of Raw such as ring designs, stage designs, logo graphic packages, and a show intro. The newer aesthetic of Raw borrows inspiration from the show in the early 2000s during what was called the “Ruthless Aggression Area.” This includes rough textures, fiery colors, and sharp edges. My main goal is to make Raw look and feel more like a pro wrestling show. I want the competitive, rough, and “raw” feel it deserves.

Artist Bio

Colt has always had a fascination with art and design. As a child, Colt could draw all the NFL logos before he could count his ABC’s (well maybe). Colt thrives best when designing anything sports related. His passion can be seen in much of his work and freelance projects. Many celebrate football, wrestling, and yeah…basically masculine stuff with the occasional surprises such an integrated marketing campaign for Lego. Colt likes to incorporate clean, bold graphics and sans serif fonts in his work, reminiscent of the Swiss style of design. In 2022, Colt began interning with the Buffalo Bisons and is very excited to see what the future holds. He would love to one day design full-time for the Bisons, Bills or another major sports team.

Jonathan Murtha

Void Crew

Void Crew is a tattoo-inspired clothing brand that combines my passion for graphic design and drawing traditional tattoos. I chose to develop the Void Crew brand as a way to provide those in the tattoo community with realistic clothing options and to connect like-minded people through creative expression. Simplified bold lines, a limited color palette of strong muted colors, streamlined graphics, bold sans serif typefaces and the use of varied textures help support Void Crew’s brand essence. Tee-shirts are made to order and silk-screened by hand for an authentic look and feel.

Artist Bio

Jonathan is a Buffalo native who has always enjoyed being creative. Starting his higher education at the University of South Florida to escape the cold and snow, he majored in architecture until he realized he hated drafting and college-level mathematics. Jonathan started drawing traditional tattoo designs as a hobby and considered becoming a tattoo artist. However, researching creative careers exposed him to graphic design and he knew the concepts aligned with his interests and abilities. He then moved back to Buffalo where he enrolled at Villa Maria College and found a true passion for visual communication. He is excited to see where his passion and creativity take him as there are endless opportunities in the design field.

Hadyn Otwell

IDEAL CLEAN

I personally love detailing cars, whether at work or at home. I’ve been working at Delta Sonic for almost 3 years now and as a detailer, I’m surrounded by cleaning products all day, so I know them very well. With my experience as a car detailer, it was an easy decision to brand a detailing product line for my senior project. My intentions were quite simple. I wanted to create a premier and “Ideal” product line for at-home car care consumers. So I named the product line IDEAL CLEAN. I chose to utilize bright and fully intense primary colors of blue and yellow and created the logo using one continuous line. The bright colors create a neon light vibe and a sense of movement and motion. The use of a thick and thin sans serif typeface helps support the dynamic nature of my overall design.

Artist Bio

From a young age, Hadyn has been curious about the world around him. Anything from simple products to elaborate designs would hold his interest. Growing up in Buffalo, he was surrounded by small businesses from landscapers to pizza shops and was especially drawn to their logo designs, which sparked his interest in graphic design. In high school, Hadyn pursued art and design courses and his passion for visual communication grew and he enrolled in the graphic design program at Villa Maria College. During this time, Hadyn was also detailing cars at Delta Sonic, which sparked an idea to combine his passion for graphic design and knowledge of auto detailing. His goal after graduation is to open an auto detailing shop that specializes in custom made vehicle wraps.