Included in the hands-on training students can expect in KCC’s Graphic Design Program is comprehensive experience designing materials for real-world community partners in the College’s fall GRDE 261: Graphic Design Practicum course.
The three-credit course – which is required for students pursing an associate degree or certificate in Graphic Design at the College – simulates valuable “on-the-job” training while providing value to the community through free design services.
“For this class, we work directly with the community on projects that they need completed,” KCC Graphic Design Professor Penny Rose, who teaches the course, said. “This allows the students a true real-world situation in that they are working on real projects from real clients with real objectives. They get direct feedback from the client, and the client gets to choose whose project they want to accept as the final design.”
Rose said she generally selects three to five community projects to work on each fall, mostly from nonprofits, in addition to work the students complete for KCC. This includes print and digital deliverables including posters, flyers, social media graphics, digital display images, animations, greeting cards, websites and more. Participating students not only gain experience, but can also get service-learning credit for the course.
Past community graphic design projects include:
- Social media graphics for SAFE Place
- A brochure for the SHARE Center
- Web design for RISE/Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools
- CommuniTeen Read posters and flyers for Portage Public Schools
- Informational voting materials and Vote411 T-shirts for the League of Women Voters
- Poetry chapbooks for the Kalamazoo Friends of Poetry
Rose estimates the services amount to approximately $2,000 per year in savings for participating community organizations.
Lisa Miller, a school librarian with Portage Public Schools, said KCC’s Graphic Design students have designed four posters for their community reading together program Portage CommuniTeen Read over the years, and the organization has enjoyed the experience.
“We love seeing the creative and unique designs, and the students have been wonderful to work with as they make revisions to their designs to honor the client’s requests,” Miller said. “The end product is a professionally designed poster that we would not have been able to afford otherwise.”
Poet, retired KCC English Professor and Kalamazoo Friends of Poetry Board member Elizabeth Kerlikowske said that for the past several years KCC’s Graphic Design students have designed two to four books a year for the Friends of Poetry’s Celery City Chapbook Contest winners, totally designing the books with input from her organization as the client.
“Since we started printing there, we have touched thousands of lives,” Kerlikowski said. “I personally love the work they do. There is no one I would rather deal with.”
Rose said the program is always looking for more community partners to work with, particularly for graphic design internship placements for the spring semester. Interested organizations should email rosep@kellogg.edu for details.
KCC’s Graphic Design Program includes more than a dozen general or discipline-specific design courses, with credentials including a 61-credit Associate of Applied Science degree in Graphic Design and a 33-credit Graphic Design Certificate. For more info, visit kellogg.edu/graphicdesign.
This article first appeared in the December 2024 edition of BruIN magazine. To read the issue online, please visit kellogg.edu/bruinmagazine.