Jessica Curran (left) and Maja Keefer.
Associate
professor Jessica Curran went with graphic design and communications student
Maja Keefer to Pacific Printing Industries’ annual Print Rocks! competition in
Portland this past September, hoping her student would win an award. Instead,
they both walked away winners.
Curran was nominated
for and received a 2018 Printastic Educator award for her extensive work in
education while promoting and teaching print production at Salt Lake Community
College’s Visual Art & Design (VAD) department. Keefer, her student, entered
a poster and infographic into the Print Rocks! competition and earned a Best of
Graphic Design – Student award.
“It is important
to me that we continue to educate students on the core principles of graphic
communications so that they are prepared to fill positions in an industry that has
an aging population,” Curran says. “The printing industry is one of the largest
industries in the United States via volume of sales and number of employees.
Many jobs become available on a yearly basis due to retirees. It is my opinion
that we, SLCC, can help fill that gap.”
Curran, who holds
a bachelor’s degree in graphic design and a master’s in graphic communications,
has worked to make SLCC’s program more in line with industry standards by
reorganizing classes to be more rigorous and comprehensive. The college now
teaches both traditional print and newer digital publishing technologies. She also
works with other specializations in the VAD department to explain how graphic
communications is the “foundation” of many of the areas taught in SLCC’s VAD
program.
“I like to
describe graphic communications as the technical side of graphic arts,” Curran
says. “We work in a creative world, but our job is to figure out the how for
every artist’s idea. How do we get the artwork from a computer screen to a
giant billboard? How do we take a logo and apply it to a hat? How can one
design be translated for a website, print brochure and an app? How do we get the
color on screen to match the color when it is printed?”
Curran has worked
at SLCC since 2011. Keefer, her student, won a Print Rocks! award with a
tropical-looking poster, inspired by Utah’s mild winter last year, advertising SLCC’s
Student Art Showcase. Keefer is originally from Sweden and plans to graduate
from SLCC with an associate’s degree in graphic design and then pursue her
bachelor’s degree at the University of Utah. She is still uncertain, however,
where it all might lead.
“I’m keeping my book
open, mainly because I’m interested in so many things,” Keefer says. “I would
love to become my own boss one day.”
