Lift Off is a portfolio showcase for the graduating class of PNCA's Illustration and Design programs. Each year, it takes a new form, chosen and co-designed with a designer from PNCA’s BFA program in Graphic Design.

Liftoff 2o22: A book that can’t constrain us

SOLUTION

2021-2022 was the year we more fully re-emerged from isolation, and we were excited to put a new edition of our graduate portfolio showcase book in the hands of folks in the design community when they visited us for community events and guest lectures. Our admissions team wanted to use them to help recruit new students now that travel was safer.

The design we created was inspired by the tenuous, liminal spaces this graduating crew navigated during their time at PNCA. We asked each person to bring props to the photo shoot, either a meaningful design tool or something personally significant that helped get them through the time in isolation. We played with the weird feeling of being out again, staging a shoot with not-quite-real blue sky, astroturf, and plastic/fabric flowers. The aesthetic was a throwback to the classic Windows XP wallpaper with it’s too-green hills and fluffy sky, and was staged to be intentionally “fake.” Once photographed, we treated the images to make them slightly too vivid, with faded-out shadows, to emphasize this effect.

In layout, our idea was to show the work as if it could not be contained by the constraints of the page. Featured designer names are oversized and sometimes need to wrap around the corner of the page. The headline font we used was slightly compressed to create even more tension. Type is set very close to the edge of the page, and artwork runs behind the page navigation and bleeds off in all directions. A soft strip of gradient color coming from the center fold of each page spread was inspired by the glow of screens, but also emphasizes the shadow and the folded binding; the pages’ constraint. Key words describing each person’s work and practice were framed by capsule-style shapes inspired by buttons, to allude to design for screens. These were compiled and including on the endpages, to make the reader feel like they might want to click on them to discover different design skills.

Seeing what students brought in for their photo shoots was endearing, bittersweet, and lovely. We were excited to include a few dogs, especially since we got to meet them, finally, in person.

THE 2022 TEAM

Alicia Vidal ’22 / Art Direction And Design

Joshen Bonifacio ’23 / Photography

Kristin Rogers Brown / Creative Direction and Design

Interviews: PNCA Design and Illustration, class of 2022

Photo Documentation by Sarah Meadows ’08

CHALLENGE AND CONTEXT

Liftoff is an annual project launching the next generation of designers and illustrators, a time capsule of talent graduating from PNCA. 

Over the years, this project has taken many forms. We started with a typical in-person portfolio show, where we invited the Portland community in to meet with students and check out their work. Though it was rewarding for those who participated, the format didn’t allow for either in-depth conversations that would have showcased the high degree of conceptual rigor students display, nor a large crowd for networking quickly with lots of participants. We continued to get requests for a place that folks looking for talent could browse recent graduate portfolios when art directors and studio managers were hiring. We needed to develop something that people could get excited about now, and reference later when they needed it.

Now, fans of the program look forward to a new edition each year. The Admissions team reports that the book makes a huge impact on prospective students and families. Local publications and studios use the book to “shop” for talent. PNCA Willamette has hired past student designers to do additional marketing work for them at a professional level, because of the project’s success.

SOLUTION AND PROJECT HISTORY

In 2019, We decided to draw from our strengths in publication design and collaboration to create a Design Annual that we could be shared with the larger design communities with whom we engage. To build in opportunities for student designers, I created an internship focused on partnering with one of the members of the junior class, to help them grow their skills in art direction and project management, shaping the design together and launching the project as a gift to our graduating seniors. For this first edition, designed with Mallary Wilson ’20, the book featured full-color, expansive page spreads dedicated to each graduating senior, along with a short Q+A with each featured artist and illustrator, their biography, and instagram handles or websites. The web version of the book linked to each graduate’s portfolio or social media. (See one of our first versions here).

When the pandemic hit in 2020, we had just finished designing an upgraded new edition of the book, complete with artfully done head shots of each student by Kali Wallner ’21. We made the tough decision to shelve the print edition and go all in on an upgraded website that would feature more work, and publish the full interviews with graduating seniors to help folks get a sense of their process and personalities. This took special advantage of the programming skills of student designer Oskar Radon ’21, who co-led the project with me.

Click here to see the 2020 website.

In 2021, we decided to create something fun that people could use in their everyday lives. We settled on a deck of playing cards with work from a different grad on each card, which appealed to game lover and student designer Ashley Conjugacion ’22 who co-led this 2021 edition. It also allowed us to draw from her skills in clean design, illustration, and a love of art deco design. Our solution allowed the creative work to be seen over and over as they were used. We worked with PNCA’s Admissions team to include a deck of cards in welcome packets for new students, along with some suggestions for games to play. We loved that it could be used for solo play (solitaire) or to make new friends in student residences, as we weathered the pandemic.