Graphic Design Majors Take Top Prizes at Student Design Competition

Graphic Design majors Melanie Egan and Michelle Reynolds were awarded 2nd and 3rd Place in the Denali Home Collection Fifth Annual Design-A-Throw competition, respectively. Their designs were selected from 506 submissions from 21 higher education institutions from across the United States.

The Denali Home Collection is a division of Monterey Mills, a major manufacturer of high-quality pile and fleece products for over 60 years, and their products are made in the U.S., with plants in North Carolina and Wisconsin. The Design-A-Throw Competition is a nationwide pattern design competition open to college and university students enrolled in a graphic design, fashion, interior design, textile or any other related field. Every spring and fall semester, students can submit unlimited designs that fit the competition’s themes.

The theme for this year’s Design-A-Throw competition was “Vintage” and was open to interpretation by the entrants. Students in Professor John Luttropp’s Graphic Design, Beginning II class created initial concepts as part of a bi-weekly one-hour design challenge he had incorporated into the course. After the one-hour session, students were given one week to refine and prepare their designs for submission.

Sophomore Melanie Egan’s design is a black and white composition combining vintage elements of Art Nouveau and Vienna Secession styles. Transfer student (Junior/Senior) Michelle Reynolds created a warm pastel-colored pattern of antique skeleton keys against a yellow background, referencing vintage 1890s Victorian design themes.

Melanie won a $500 award for her 2nd Place finish, and Michelle won an award of $200. The Graphic Design program was also awarded a prize of $500 from Monterey Mills for meeting the deadline for early entries, and the prize will will be awarded to a sophomore graphic design major at the CART Convocation ceremony in May 2016.

Learn more about the Graphic Design program and the Department of Art and Design at the College of the Arts by visiting their webpages.