Alexander Gentile
UML Contributor

There’s a lot to scream about with UMass Art programs. From a big move to student projects and exhibitions, the relatively under-represented UMass graphic design department in MacGauvran is worth a second look.

Walking through the halls, student-designed movie posters for “Grease,” “Eternal Sunshine” of the “Spotless Mind” and “The Hunger Games” showcase the creative prowess and technical skill of our very own student designers.

Media output and digital imaging coordinator Steve Lessard heads the print room at MacGauvran and when looking around amid the buzz and hum of the specialized printers and computers, the potential for solid work, as Lessard puts it, is there.

“I’ve been doing this business for thirty years,” he said. Previously working with private institutions, Lessard said he was brought into the University to share his expertise in both design principles and the industry as a whole. He spoke with pride as he showcased the new pieces of cutting-edge equipment and their specialized functions.

As a relatively new part of the staff, Lessard has brought his real-world expertise in Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator and Final Cut Pro to a selection of workshops and one-on-one instruction sessions that students are finding helpful and inspiring.

Technical support specialist Eric Kelly has worked in the field of IT for thirty-five years in well-paying jobs yet still gets more satisfaction from dealing with students. Hands held out embracing the print room he says “I get more satisfaction here.”

Since Lessard and King have entered the university three years ago, they have pushed for huge cost-saving changes and a complete revamping of the graphic design program. According to Kelly, almost 90 percent of the graphic design work that was originally sent out for the art departments and others now stays in-house, saving money and giving students countless opportunities to gain experience and enlarge their portfolios.

Amid all the new equipment and facilities, Kelly believes that UMass Lowell is now competitive with surrounding art schools, including MassArt and the Massachusetts Art Institute. “We’re now competitive with all of them,” he said.

A big part of that, according to Kelly, is to simulate the same light-bulbs that went off in his head when he began his work years ago. “I see that same light-bulb in our students, and that excites me.”

Lessard and Kelly are looking to the future of the graphic design department where big changes are on the horizon. 3-D printing and the development of a franchised design-team comprised of student designers are just a couple of the big changes in the near-future.

Lessard says that this team will be comprised of graphic designers, photographers, illustrators and business students who will work to obtain, develop and design any number of jobs around school, the products of which students will be able to submit with their portfolios once they enter into the workforce post-graduation.

“Our goal is to make students more marketable,” Kelly said.

Underway is a complete restructuring of the electrical systems of Mahoney Hall which is set to be the new home of the graphic design department. “it’s going to have its pros and cons”, Lessard said.

Among the pros will be more direct access to several department and facilities that, in Lessard and Kelly’s mind, will benefit greatly from having graphic design students in close proximity. These include the ROTC, television production and theatrical arts programs.

Lessard sees all these changes as opportunities for graphic design students to put their skills to work. “We have the talent here,” he said.

Anna Isaak-Ross, studio manager for the art department as a whole, is an integral component of both the move from MacGauvran to Mahoney and the construction project of the Dugan basement. Along with a team of faculty and the architectural firm Cambridge Seven Associates Inc., she is putting the process of moving the graphic design and fine arts concentrations on a fast track to be completed before classes begin in September.

Isaak-Ross sees the move, and all the new facilities that will be made available to students, as a positive development in making the graphic design department more inclusive and cooperative with other departments. The department will also be enlisting renowned Iranian-born animator and designer Pouya Afshar (http://www.pouyaafshar.com) as a dedicated Animation professor and Ingrid Hess, an illustrator and graphic designer who has taught at SUNY in Brockport, New York where she began the graphic design concentration (http://ingrid-hess.squarespace.com).

According to Isaak-Ross there will be a total of four computer labs, a new mixed media room that will offer what she calls “hybrid-experience” classes, a new senior studio space for graphic design majors and critique walls equipped with special lighting in each lab. Essentially, Issak-Ross says, the new space is being rebuilt with the way that professors teach and students work in mind.

Isaak-Ross asks students to see it as “a whole new experience.” She says that there are many questions about how comparable the new facilities will be to the current setup, but for her it’s not something different, it’s something new.

“It’s very refreshing,” Isaak-Ross says. “Keeping an open mind to the experience to come, and to the collaborations to come,” is what she says will be more important. With closer proximity to several other departments within Mahoney and to the fine arts facilities just a few steps over in Dugan, the possibilities are endless.

Regina Milan, an upper-level graphic design and typography instructor and senior studio coordinator, has engaged successfully in the business of graphic design and has a wide range of experiences to draw from in the instruction of her students. “Design has been very rewarding to me,” she says.

With her time in business, Milan says that networking is one of the most important skills anybody entering the field of design can develop. Along with her coursework, she regularly helps students build their resumes and LinkdIn accounts to cultivate the skills and the wherewithal to engage the workforce competently and confidently.

She relays a story of a public speaking event at a high school recently where she asks the students to point out something that was not designed. Amid what is assumed to be silence, she concludes, “There’s a place for fine arts in the world.”

Along with her teaching responsibilities, Milan heads the American Institute of Graphic Arts student group, one which affords its student participants networking opportunities and passage to different design community events. She also pushes students to reach out to those in other departments because she says “they’ll always be in a team.”

Yet with all the challenges coming their way, Sarah Croughwell and Amanda Murrin, both juniors and graphic design majors, are two examples of the talent of which Lessard speaks . “There’s a level of expectation when new grads enter the field,” Croughwell, who also works as an Adobe Student Representative at the University, said. She believes that the graphic design program at UMass is great preparation for the career challenges ahead for design majors. “We’re better equipped with these tools for the field,” she said.

Murrin, a graphic design major with a business minor, speaks more about the artistic process and her appreciation for it. “It’s good to have the different styles and different opinions of others that help develop your own,” she says.

The program has allowed students to look to the future of their field as well. “As we move into the future, technology and art will move closer together,” Croughwell says.
Croughwell took part in an exhibition for graphic design students called “The Graphic Design Process” that took place from March 11 to April 5. According to her, it was an exhibit that meant not to display the individual works of art students were working on but shine a light on the process of drafting and editing.

“Where it starts from, and the journey it takes to reach the end,” Croughwell says, is an aspect of art education and careers that is often overlooked and experienced only when students begin their art department work.

“It’s really hard to create something simple,” Murrin said. She made reference to the signature Apple Computers logo for which, she says, many students underestimate the intensive editing and designing processes that went into the piece.

Both students have also engaged in work outside the University using the skills they’ve developed. Croughwell works as an Adobe Student Representative helping to promote the use of and education on Adobe software, the latter of which she says is indispensable to students both in the field and in their academic careers.

Working with other departments, Croughwell said, gives her more confidence in working with clients in a more professional setting.

Croughwell is currently working with Brew’d Awakening Coffeehouse in downtown Lowell to help redesign their website for their Web Two class, taught by professor Tracey Greene. The most important part of it, to Croughwell, is the experience dealing with the client. “We have an opportunity to get a unique learning experience that we might not otherwise get at a more specialized school,” Croughwell said.

For more information on what the Graphic Design Department is up to, or if any organizations and clubs have printing and design needs, contact Lessard at steve_lessard@uml.edu.