By Hannah Mason

A group of WLU graphic design professors and senior graphic design students spent five days in Portland, Oregon for West Liberty’s first Design Week trip. The group, consisting of professors James Haizlett, Moonjung Kang, and Sarah Davis, and senior graphic design students Sydney Bennett, Jessica Wilson, Chloe Woods, and Miranda Pellicano, left for Portland on Saturday, Oct. 4 and came back on Wednesday, Oct. 8.

Design Week Portland was a weeklong event highlighting arts and design in Portland, Oregon, including graphic arts, photography, architecture, fashion, and film, Associate Professor of Graphic Design James Haizlett said. This was the first time that the graphic design program took students to Design Week, but each year, a different US city hosts the event. WLU’s graphic design program hopes to offer the trip every year from now on to graduating seniors.

Each morning of Design Week, Haizlett said, the group would start out at a central hub in the middle of Portland, where they would plan their activities for the day. Some of their many activities included, he said, “free exhibitions, studio tours, environmental installations, and social gatherings with other designers.” They also attended seminars and gallery openings, and toured art museums and exhibits. One of the most important things that the students were able to do while in Portland, though, according to senior graphic design major Miranda Pellicano, was networking and gaining professional graphic design contacts. “The Portland designers opened up their doors,” she said, “and we took the opportunity to take a step in.” Student Sydney Bennett agreed. “We reached out and networked with people clear across the country,” she said. “That is huge in this field.”

Though West Liberty’s art department has taken other trips in the past, this is the first one to focus specifically on graphic design. According to Associate Professor of Graphic Design Moonjung Kang, they host a trip to New York City every March, but that trip, she said, is “mainly about experiencing fine arts.” She added, “All the graphic design major students in our department start their studies with their artistic talent and joy of drawing. But when their studies get serious they really need to gain and collect more of the real life experience from existing and current graphic design fields.” This trip, then, aimed to teach the students about art but also about the real, professional world of graphic design. From the perspective of the students who went on the trip, Design Week Portland more than exceeded those goals, serving as an inspiration for their designs and their careers after graduation.

“I know I speak for everyone in the group,” student Chloe Woods said, “when I say that Portland really had an effect on us. Design is everywhere, but design is alive and well in Portland, Oregon. Out of all the incredible lessons, knowing that my passion for design is shared and encouraged by so many people who believe in it themselves is a great feeling.” Sydney Bennett agreed. “We honestly experienced design in every form it could have possibly been in, and it made me so excited to design new things and I’ve already started. It was like it created this jolt of energy in my design portion of my brain, and I can’t wait to take everything in and just create, create, create!”

Miranda Pellicano said, “I gained so much more enlightenment as to what graphic design is, how it’s used, how I want to use it, and more. [The trip] really solidified my passion and direction in design and art.” Jessica Wilson added, “The people there are so full of life and are really passionate about their work,” she said. “Just walking down the street and seeing beautiful design has me ten times more excited that I chose this field. I’m extremely fortunate to have had this amazing opportunity.”

The professors got a lot out of the Design Week experience, as well. Haizlett was amazed and exhilarated by the “unique design aesthetic” in Portland, adding that the best word to describe the city, and their trip there, is “quality.” According to Haizlett, those who went on the trip will be designing and producing a booklet to document their trip to Portland, which he hopes will become a series of booklets as the trips continue in years to come. The booklet will be available for viewing at the Elbin Library and the art department.