A Look Inside the Summer for a Graphic Design and Interactive Media Student

While summer might be a break for some, the dog days are packed with incredible events, cool collaborations, guest speakers and augmented learning opportunities, for students in the Graphic Design and Interactive Media Diploma program at Toronto Film School.

From field trips to the capstone project, Pheinixx, the coordinator of the Graphic Design and Interactive Media program, said since the diploma is an accelerated 12-month program, her students don’t slow down in the summer, but that’s not to say they aren’t having fun.

“Due to the compressed time of our program we go to great lengths to ensure they have a very real picture of what being a creative professional is all about,” explained Pheinixx. “And that means bringing the real world to them in the classroom, as well as taking the students out into the real world.”

Among the highlights in store for budding graphic designers this summer is a trip on July 30 when students in Term 1, Page Layout, will visit Laser Reproductions to see first hand the printing process from file to finished.  Then on Aug. 13, the Identity Design class will receive that day’s lesson at Yorkdale Mall, where a scavenger hunt will be the catalyst to a lesson in brand implementation.

Web I and Web II classes will visit the auber-cool Jam3 web designs studio and speaking to the designers on Sept 8, while students in History of Design will visit the Bata Shoe Museum to explore industrial design throughout the ages on Sept. 11.

Finally for this term, Elements of Design will be visiting the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) to see the fundamentals of visual communication utilized by artists on Sept. 17.

As always at Toronto Film School, students are also venturing into some cool collaboration with other TFS programs this term. Specifically, Identity Design students will be designing the visual identity for a game being created by the Video Game programs. Also, Typography students will work with the Acting Diploma program in the creation of the director’s pitch packages that will be presented in Week 9.

For graduating students, work has already begun on their Capstone project. This is a thesis project of sorts that gives students in their final term the unique opportunity to work with a real world client. Through a mixture of lecture, specialized instruction and one-on-one design mentorship students work through a major topical project.

This term students have the amazing opportunity to work with Plutino Models and will be working to design the brand’s visual identity.

Students held their initial Creative Brief Meeting at the Plutino Group headquarters on July 14. Throughout the summer students will continue to work on creative development and will consult with industry professionals, like Joel Gregorio, Principal and Creative Director of Sovereign State Design, who will be speaking with our thesis students regarding branding case studies and reviewing their capstone logo designs on July 28.

The students will make the final presentations of their capstone projects on Sept. 18.

“Our students are passionate about being designers, and we strive to feed that curiosity and excitement with diversity in their education. We are always working on something new to bring our students…so don’t be surprised if there isn’t still another special guest or trip this summer.”

Click here for more information about the Graphic Design and Interactive Media Diploma.