The key to your door of opportunity
If you are planning to enroll at a graphic design school you already know that part of the hurdle is meeting educational expenses such as tuition, supplies, living expenses and other amenities.

The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) understands the role for economic assistance in education and states:

“Imagine you had everything you needed to share your vision with the world: talent, skill, dedication, desire.

“Everything, that is, except money.

“Worldstudio AIGA Scholarships allow young people from minority and economically disadvantaged backgrounds not only to realize their artistic dreams, but also to give back to their communities.”

Scholarship details
The individuals who are selected for the Worldstudio AIGA Scholarships are based upon their talent, ability, and need for financial assistance.

The recipients must also demonstrate their commitment to give back to their community through their work.

* Scholarships range from $2,000-$3,000
* Individuals may qualify for up to two more awards totaling up to ….$5,000
* Honorable mention prizes of $500 are also awarded
* The scholarship awards are paid directly to the recipient’s school ….for tuition costs

Application guidelines
There are several important points that all potential applicants need to know about:

* Eligibility requirements state that you must be a citizen of the U.S. or hold a green card ….(Permanent resident card/ Form I-551)
* Applicants must pursue an undergraduate or graduate degree in advertising (art direction only), ….fine arts, graphic design, illustration, interactive design/ motion graphics, or photography.

Entries will be screened by a jury of creative professionals. Winners will be notified in June 2011.

Scholarship links and other information
The deadline for all applications is April 1, 2011. See the complete guidelines and links below for crucial information about this scholarship program:

AIGA scholarship website
Complete application guidelines
About AIGA

Graphic design school and scholarships
Your wish to attend a graphic design college may be fulfilled with financial help through various grants and scholarships offered by these liberal arts schools.

There are also other scholarship opportunities or loans available through government agencies or graphic design organizations such as AIGA.

Find out more about these opportunities by speaking with your local graphic design school representative.

Look before you eat
A popular saying with foodies and professional chefs is that you eat with your eyes first. That is why presentation is so important when restaurants serve food to their clientele.

In the same manner, when you shop at supermarkets and department stores, if the packaging on the products you view are pleasantly designed you’ll be more open to the possibility of buying the items.

Walking down the aisle of your local grocery store can be a visual overload as the packaging from hundreds of items tries to vie for your attention.

In part 2 of ‘Graphic design inspiration from packaging’ we’ll see that in some cases, going minimalist is the way to attract attention to a product.

Pass the pappardelle pasta, please
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Most pastas are packaged in nondescript boxes with a small cutout or photo so you can see what the product looks like. In this packaging by R Design Studio, the simple but classy design works well.

The packaging makes the product look like a premium brand. It might or might not be but the effect of the design leaves that impression.

Pop goes the soda
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Businesses need advertising to increase their sales. No advertising usually means no expansion of revenues.

But think again. Izze Soda Company increased their sales by 450% in each of its first two years without one bit of advertising. No doubt, the eye-catching graphic and simple design of its product is one of the factors in the drink’s success.

High-tech wine, anyone?
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Most people are used to seeing wine labels that are classic in style and design. But this wine company has elected to drop this genre and upgrade the look for the 21^st century.

The colored dots and patterns on the bottle draw you in, while also piquing your curiosity to inspect the bottle and packaging.

Upscale water
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How would you market bottled water? In the case of Ferrarelle, it has decided to make the water the star of the show.

With decidedly minimalist graphics, the water takes the main stage. Because the graphics are so starkly simple, this design actually draws more attention to the product with just a few slashes of red.

Graphic design school and design principles
You’ve seen that sometimes ‘less is more’ when it comes to packaging design. If you are interested in a career in this field, a graphic design college can help you understand the essentials of design technique.

Call a graphic design school representative or sign-up for more information to evaluate what each school can offer you.

Earliest memories
Do you remember the excitement you felt as a kid when you finally received the special toy you were hoping for?

The packaging probably displayed nice bold colors, fuzzy little animals or bright graphics.

The clear blister plastic enticed you by letting you view the precious treasure within the box.

Although we may not consciously know it, graphic design and packaging have been an influence in our lives since we were children and continues on through to adulthood.

Inspiration on store shelves
Becoming a good graphic designer takes creative thinking, good visual acumen, and even a sense of humor. But every graphic designer needs some sort of inspiration in order to keep the creative juices flowing.

In this series we’ll explore the Internet to glean some of the most imaginative and inventive packaging produced by graphic designers.

If you are looking for creative inspiration, the lowly package is certainly a good place to start.

Tea bag container
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Here is a concept design for a new way to package tea bags. Each individual bag is enclosed in a pyramid shaped box. The design was created by designer Gabriello Re.

It’s coffee; not a USB stick
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Those who like tech will immediately see the resemblance of this packaging to a thumb drive or USB memory stick. But it is neither. It is actually a unique way to package fresh coffee. The designs were produced by Fizi Pao.

Let them eat (butter) cake
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We’ve all seen cake boxes. Sometimes they are plain white or in some cases, they have simple decorations on them. But the butter cakes baked and packaged in Nanatsukahara, Japan, well, takes the cake.

The box design, by T-Square Design Associates, is elegant and simple on the outside. The inside liner is decorated with a printed scene of the outdoors. You get a treat for the eyes as well as your palette in one sitting.

It was a dark and stormy night…
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When cold weather sets in at home, one of the ways to warm up is to bundle up in a warm sweater and enjoy a good, hot bowl of soup.

Thirdperson Designs has taken this literally and created hot beverage sleeves to wrap around winter soup products. Feeling toasty yet?

Graphic design school and packaging courses
If you are interested in designing graphics that virtually everyone will see, you may want to explore the realm of packaging design.

Graphic design colleges can provide you with the essential education you need to qualify for jobs in the industry. Speak to a graphic design school representative today to find out more about packaging and design courses.

Do your homework
If you want to receive a good education at a graphic design school it makes perfect sense to ’shop around’ before you decide on the one that is right for you. In other words, you have to do your homework.

But you may ask, ‘How can I tell a good graphic design college from a bad one?’

In this installment of ‘5 top things you should know about graphic design schools’ we’ll offer some advice and tips on this.

#3 What is the quality of the teaching staff?
It’s probably not stretching the truth much when we say you’ve probably had a few bad teachers during your educational life. On the flip-side you probably can remember one or two teachers that were very talented.

The teachers you fondly remember are the ones who brought something more than just facts when you walked into the classroom. These people were able to inspire you and may have even changed the direction of your life.

When seeking out a good graphic design college the teaching staff is one of the first things you should look into. Your teachers may have been in the graphic design industry, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they can teach.

Are they qualified? How long were they in the industry? What sort of portfolio or awards do they have? Can they communicate effectively? These are the questions you should be asking about the staff.

The staff, as a whole, should reflect high values in education. Of course there will be a few ‘bad apples’ but what you seek is a staff that is committed to helping its students learn the craft of design.

#2 The Equipment
A well-equipped graphic design college needs to have modern computers, design hardware, and the latest software applications.

The graphic design school you want to attend should offer courses in Photoshop, Maya, Illustrator and other industry standard programs.

You should also expect to see graphics tablets, scanners, and flat panel display monitors.

Back-in-the-day a good cache of art supplies and drawing materials was all that was needed to tackle the jobs a graphic designer was working on.

But in today’s job market, computer skills and the ability to use design software is important, if not mandatory, in being a successful graphic designer.

#1 Do you fit in?
Have you ever gone shopping for a car and the salesperson asks, ‘Are you ready to buy today?’ Your answer was probably, ‘I’m just looking around, thank you.’ You can approach the selection of a graphic design school in the same way.

Don’t feel pressured to ‘buy today.’ Look at all the options, including online education, and make your choice carefully.

Your education is your first priority at graphic design college but make sure you feel at home there.

Graphic design school and your career
If you have a natural sense for proper color schemes, have a good eye for aesthetic values, and find yourself thinking, ‘I wish I could do graphic design for a living,’ you may be the right person for a career in graphic design.

The world of graphic design is broad; you can branch off into the areas of animation, web design, multimedia, illustration, and other fields. It all depends on what your skills and interests are.

Your graphic design college representative can guide you in selecting the right courses and answer any questions you have about earning your associate or bachelor’s degree in graphic design.

You look mahhhvelous dahling!
Prada, Christian Dior, Donatella Versace, and Ralph Lauren are some of the names and brands that are synonymous with fashion.

Fashion has a trickle-down effect in the industry. What you see on 5^th Avenue and Paris runways eventually influence what you may see on the clothes racks of your local department store or clothing outlets.
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Let the ads begin!
Fashion design ads are the mainstay for designers in getting the word out about new lines of clothing and coming trends. Fashion advertisements can sometimes run into bumps along the road if attention to detail is lacking in the design phase.

In this installment of Graphic design mistakes and blunders we’ll look closely at some fashion advertisements and see, literally, where things went off course.

Look and laugh but above all, learn from the missteps that can sometimes occur even to the best of us.

InStyle out of style?
InStyle magazine says that it provides ‘…the best of what’s in fashion’ plus glimpses of  ‘celebrity lifestyles.’

In this advertisement from InStyle, Amy Adams strikes a pose for the photographer and shows off her colorful gown. But there is something about this photo that seems odd.

Can you spot the error?

While the lighting for this photograph is good, the pose is not. Amy tries to give her best model pout pose but it turns into something comical because she looks as if she has the beginnings of a headache.

What also looks odd is her posing like a stork–if you look closely she only seems to be standing on just one leg.

We are guessing that Amy’s other leg is exiting out on the other side of the dress but the pose doesn’t indicate this at all.
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Elegant but wait…
In this ad for Calleija Jewelers we see the model in full wedding attire amidst muted pastel pinks. It works well on many levels.

The color palette for the set is nicely done, the pose is good, and the advertisement has an upscale feel to it.

However, there seems to be something a bit askew with the otherwise serene setting of the photograph.

Can you spot the error?

The movie ET, directed by Stephen Spielberg, was a blockbuster hit. The main character, ET (extraterrestrial) is stranded on Earth and longs to find a way back to his home planet.

The model in this ad seems to have taken a cue from ET–she also sports a rather long neck. Was this a Photoshop error or just a bad camera angle? We don’t know but this mistake could have been prevented before the ad was published.
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GQ or DQ?
GQ stands for Gentleman’s Quarterly and is a mainstay magazine for men who are into fashion and the good life. DQ stands for disqualification in sporting events. In this particular GQ ad, we believe it has been dq’ed for bad art direction.

We like the concept in the Ralph Lauren ad but unfortunately the execution of the idea has crashed due to the way the shadow on the wall is depicted.

Yes, it could have been on purpose, but to what purpose we are at a loss to explain. In any event, the otherwise classy advertisement comes off as funny and a bit disturbing.

Graphic design school and advertising
If you are interested in advertising, enrolling in a graphic design college is a good first step in the right direction. You’ll learn about design principles, proper layout, computer graphics, and many other topics that can help you in your design career.

Make an appointment with a graphic design school representative to see how an education in design can help you to qualify for jobs in the advertising industry.

The inside info
If you are contemplating or curious about graphic design colleges, you want more information and answers to the questions you have about these educational institutions.

In this series we’ll explore the 5 top things that people want to know about graphic design school life and whether pursuing a graphic design education is right for you.
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5. Prepare to judge and be judged
No matter how much talent you have, the rude awakening in graphic design school is there are actually people with more talent than you! On the flip-side you have more talent than others.

In any liberal arts college, talent is the coin of the realm and if you have a well-balanced, realistic image about your abilities and skills, you won’t be fixating about comparing yourself to others.

On the other hand, if you believe you have superior skills, Michelangelo said, “I am still learning.” If the great Renaissance master understood this principle about talent, you can also remain open in your education experiences.

4. Lean on me
Bill Withers, composer of the song “Lean on me,” has a lyric that speaks about the need for relying on others:

Lean on me when you’re not strong,
I’ll be your friend,
I’ll help you to carry on…

In graphic design school your classmates can be a tremendous help in providing you with honest feedback, moral support, and in some cases the beginnings of lifelong friendships.

Whether you are outgoing or not, due to the natural camaraderie that exists in liberal arts colleges, you’ll find opportunities to develop good social networks.

Be sure to enrich your college education with student support in addition to your academic life.

Graphic design school and your future
It doesn’t matter if you are a graphic designer or someone who is contemplating an education in graphic design-the need for solid career training is essential for today’s job market.

The fast pace in this industry means keeping up-to-date with the latest trends, software applications, and design hardware in order to remain competitive and qualified for new job opportunities.

Speak to a graphic design school representative to find out what your education options are.

Next time…
How do you select a good graphic design college? Is a graphic design career right for you? We’ll answer these questions in our next installment of ‘5 top things you should know about graphic design schools.’