Lake Erie College Students Named Winners of National Graphic Design USA Competition
Lake Erie College visual communication and graphic design (VCGD) majors Abrar Ghazy, Brittney Alfieri and Holly Wright-Fletcher were recently named as winners of the 59th Graphic Design USA (GDUSA) graphic design award competition. The competition saw more than 10,000 entries this year, and only the top 10 percent were selected as winners.
Anthony Ezzo, Associate Professor of Visual Communication and Graphic Design, submitted pieces created by VCGD students to the competition. The winning pieces will be featured in GDUSA's Design Annual, to be seen by thousands of designers who receive their magazine. Alfieri and Wright-Fletcher will also be presenting their Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) final projects in May 2023.
Abrar Ghazy ’24 is a dual major in VCGD and sports management with a minor in business administration. She added the VCGD major a year into her college career after a recommendation that it would combine well with her sports management major. Her piece, titled “A Silent Voice” is very personal to her. She created it for a class project, and learned through the process how to use type in art to express a message.
“It speaks about social justice,” Ghazy explained. “Addressing the silent voices of the minority group. Expressing unity.”
Holly Wright-Fletcher ‘23 is working on her BFA in graphic design alongside a minor in marketing. Her piece is titled “Contain the [Unordinary]”, and to tie in with her marketing minor, it is a container store campaign. Her sense of humor was a driving force behind her concept, which she described as containing the unordinary within the certain containers that contain un ordinary things
“I feel that I learned from this experience how passionate I am about graphic design and where I would love it to take me in a career,” said Wright-Fletcher. “I love that [GDUSA] picked me as well as other students with in Lake Erie college to show that the VCGD program creates great designers.”
VCGD major Brittney Alfieri ’23 also has a double minor in business administration and marketing. She hopes to use her business and graphic design skills to become an executive creative director. Alfieri created her piece, “Experience The Science Museum” for the class Concepting and Design Research. It’s based on the concept of the architectural structure of the London underground railroad map and how it related to constellations in space.
“This piece gave me the experience of expressing myself in a creative way executing a meaningful and conceptualized relationship,” Alfieri said. “I learned that a strong concept within a design gives another level of meaning in a creative expression.”
The VCGD program, under Professor Tony Ezzo's leadership, has become known for its creativity and innovation. Two years ago, VCGD alumna Marina Puhalj ‘21 also placed as a winner in the GDUSA graphic design award competition. After graduation, Puhalj now works as a designer for On3 Sports. LEC is proud to count these artists as members of our community.
For more information on the Visual Communication and Graphic Design major, visit http://bit.ly/2K4KQuB – now with an award winning program.