By Alan Low, AIGA Advisory Board
On a recent bright, sunny and early Saturday morning, 27 high school students descended upon Mililani High School for the magic that is Design LAB (Learn and Become). The annual workshop, held on April 16 and 17, is now in its 13th year and gives young students a hands-on experience in learning the fundamentals of graphic design, an insight into the design process and the importance of the role of the graphic designer.
This year’s Design LAB builds on the AIGA National campaign “Get Out the Vote,” a design initiative that uses poster designs to increase civic participation through design. Students were tasked with creating voting posters targeted towards a younger audience by employing a superhero or fairy tale motif.
Seventeen local practitioners from the fields of Graphic Design, Advertising and PR/Marketing (including AIGA members Miha Banu, Leslie Cariaga, Clif Cheng, Roann Gatdula, Matt Honda, Alex Kawamoto, Alan Low, Chris Magpoc, Louis Scheer, Donovan Takushi, Noah Tom, Lauren Trangmar, and Ryan Yamamoto) mentored the weekend workshop, allowing students to brainstorm concepts, develop layouts, compose their final designs on the computer and present ideas. In the process, students learned how to stimulate their creative thinking, problem solve and how to hone their presentation and verbal skills.
Which of these fresh faced students will be our fellow professionals in a few years?
Posters will be displayed to the public at Kahala Mall from May 15 – 22. Admission is free.
Mahalo to our volunteer facilitators, Mililani High School, JET Graphics, and Kahala Mall.