A pink pig stared at Doug Payne from the flat screen of his Apple computer.
The 18-year-old Hockessin Valley Falls resident stared back, trying to decide whether or not the pig was eye catching enough. Payne, one of 42 students enrolled in the Delaware College of Art and Design’s Pre-College Art Studio Program, was working on a graphic design project.
The program, now in its fourth year, is designed to give rising high school juniors and seniors a glimpse at what really happens in art school. During an intensive week of classes July 19 through July 23, all students took drawing for half the day and spend the other half in one of four electives.
Payne, a rising senior at Salesianum, elected to take graphic design to learn more about the field, since he is thinking of a career in fashion management, but said he isn’t sure if he’d prefer the business side or the design side.
He and the other students in the graphic design class were spending the week designing packaging and promotional materials for a fictitious brand of ice cream.
“It’s interesting to know that your idea, if it makes sense, can be marketable,” Payne said.
Instructor Brad Wason set the students loose to create marketing materials for three different flavors of ice cream: salty hipster, chocolate ice cream seasoned with salt; pork barrel, coffee-flavored ice cream studded with bacon bits; and Christopher Columbus, vanilla ice cream swirled with Nutella.
Working in teams of two, the students built a brand for the ice cream flavors, he said, putting their skills to the test against the same types of typography and packaging issues professional designers face.
“Ultimately they have to think in three dimensions,” he said. “This is packaging; it’s not just a poster.”
For Natalie Hines, 17, of Limestone Hills, the biggest challenge was learning to use the different software programs.
Hines, a rising senior at Padua, is planning to pursue a career in communications and said she is hoping that a basic understanding of graphic design can give her a boost when it comes time to find a job.
“When you go on a job interview, they always want to know what you can do,” she said.
