SWFC Graphic Design Program: Digital Design Portfolio Roundtable Event

SWFC's 2009 Digital Design Portfolio Students

The Graphic Design Program at Southwest Florida College held Digital Portfolio Roundtable event where we invited local business leaders as our guests to hold mock job interviews with this quarter's graphic design portfolio students. Usually, it is their last class and it is up to each designer to present themselves with a clear and creative vision.

Our honored guest "employers" with Aaron Belchamber and Jan Rhonehouse from Career Services

With our 12 "employers," each job interview lasted about 4 minutes and put the spotlight on our students' creativity while providing them a challenging exercise in performing a confidence-building job hunt.

Brendan Stanley and Brian Thompson from Alliance Digital Solutions & www.CapeCoral.com interview Jarred Gaddis

According to Aaron Belchamber, the Digital Design Portfolio Instructor, "All students were under a tight deadline. In 10 weeks they had to collect the best of their materials and create new designs, produce a compelling portfolio in digital form as a stand alone website, design and print their resumes and business cards and mentally prepare for the Portfolio Roundtable Event. Mr. McElroy, myself, and all the Graphic Design adjuncts are very proud of our Graphic Design students."

Students begin another round of interviews

As a wrap-up after the event, the employers were gracious enough to spend some time providing constructive feedback for our graphic designers. This event was an incredible opportunity for our graphic design students to learn from real business people with a real world perspective.

"The roundtable"

When asked about her experience, Belinda Duclos replied: "We were all pretty nervous, but when it was all over, I felt pretty good about myself."

All students who participated received all the comments the job interviewers evaluated them on and a copy of their feedback was emailed to them. Some of the comments are worth noting:

"Her design skills are beautiful!" ~ "Great stuff, this guy is going to be a start!" ~ "Needs to be stronger at selling her work" ~ "Outstanding! Well rounded in all aspects" ~ "Student needs to use SPELLCHECK!" ~ "Needs specific call to action, has great stuff."

Here is a list of all of our "Guest Employers" who conducted the interviews. Thank you so much for your time!

• Brian Thompson – Alliance Digital Solutions – (Co-owner) also owns Cape Coral.com
• Nichol Blanco – Associate for Larazza Films
• Daniel Herrera – Producer, Director for Larazza Films
• Brendan Stanley – Alliance Digital Solutions – Creative Director
• Scott Jacobs – Allstar Marketing – President
• Katie Romano – Get Groovy – CEO
• Jodi Hopper – G.M.P. Employers Retiree Trust/Dzine Gallery
• Shell Redfern – Get Groovy – Creative Director
• Manzie Lawfer – 2 Way Radio Express – Owner/President/Book Author
• Denise Spence – Dunbar High School – Magnet Grant Technology
• Nancy Coker – Child Care of SW Florida – COO – Early childhood services in 10 counties

A lot of the student samples can be viewed on the SWFC's Graphic Design student website at http://www.creativesouthwestflorida.com/. Special thanks to Brooke Fisher from Marketing for providing photos from the event.

Learn more about becoming a graphic designer by visiting our website at http://www.swfc.edu/graphicdesign!

Aaron Belchamber

Web Design & 3D Animation Instructor

Southwest Florida College

Southwest Florida College is an accredited, private, nonprofit institution of higher learning centrally located in Fort Myers, Tampa, Port Charlotte, and includes the Institute of Interior Design located within the International Design Center in Estero. The College has been providing post secondary education to Floridians since 1974 and offers programs in Allied Health, Business, Design, Education, Information Technology and Legal Studies. Its mission is to provide educational opportunities for individuals to acquire knowledge and skills that will help prepare them for rewarding careers in fields with high growth potential. For more information, call toll free 888-526-7973 or visit http://www.swfc.edu.

Graphic Design Club: Cartoon Character Animation Workshop

Phil Rood provided this character, Tipper the Turtle, for a basic animation workshop I am putting on at Southwest Florida College for their Graphic Design Club. We will cover character creation, proper methods, animation basics, and producing useful animations for broadcast, whether on conventional television or for the web.

In 45 minutes, Aaron Belchamber, the Web Design & 3D Animation instructor, demonstrated to students how to use source vector artwork of a character, designed in Adobe Illustrator, and brought it into Adobe After Effects and produced this animation. Students learned the basic steps to animate a cartoon character and the proper, time-saving techniques to produce impactful animations that will make them more valuable graphic designers/visual communication producers.

To learn more about becoming a Graphic Designer, please visit Digital Design/Computer Animation Program website at www.swfc.edu/gd or contact Mr. Chip McElroy, Program Manager, at (239) 939-4766.

Graphic Design Program: Straight From the Students

Southwest Florida College prepares digital design students for a successful career in both design and production through an emphasis on developing the student's capacity for critical thinking, and stimulating imagination and innovation.

The critical skills of perception, interpretation, and inventiveness are fostered as well as an understanding of digital design business practices. Industry standard software applications are used while solving design problems, planning, and executing solutions. The Student’s focus is to sharpen their ability to visually translate ideas of an intended message to a targeted audience.

Special thank you to Phil Rood, Angeli Chin-Franz, Jessica Kelly and The TJ Kelly Band! 3D animations in this video were modelled and produced in 3Ds Max by Aaron Belchamber, the Graphic Design Department's full time web design and 3D animation instructor.

To learn more about becoming a Graphic Designer, please visit the SWFC website at www.swfc.edu or contact Mr. Chip McElroy, Program Manager, at 888-279-2342.

Naples International Film Festival Team Up with SWFC Graphic Design Students

Southwest Florida College Graphic Design students have teamed up with the Naples International Film Festival to design creative marketing and promotional materials for this first international film festival. Daniel Herrera was kind enough to grant us an interview as we learn more about NIFF (http://www.naplesfilmfest.com/ ) and the kinds of exciting roles our designers play marketing and helping this fledgling enterprise become successful.

SWFC wishes the Naples International Film Festival, and our outreach contact and mentor Daniel Herrera all the success for this year and succeeding years' film festival.

To learn more about becoming a graphic designer, call us today at (888) 279-2342 or visit our website at http://www.swfc.edu/gd!

Blogger 101: Students Learn Blog Fundamentals & How They Make Money

The Graphic Design Club will be hosting a Blog Workshop which is open to the public on Wednesday, November 4th from 5:00 to 5:50pm in Room 231. Attendees will learn everything they need to set up their own personal blog and how to set up revenue generating ads through the Blogger system.

According to animation and web instructor, Aaron Belchamber, "As a designer, you become more valuable to a client, a marketing department, or your future employer if you understand how to set up, maintain, and properly leverage blogs. All graphic designers need to not only understand how to set up blogs for their clients, but they should really be setting up a blog for themselves."

"A blog is a great marketing tool for the web. Not only is blogging a free way for graphic designers to present their work and vision in an organized way, it increases their web relevance by providing them a legitimate presence on the web. This web presence can be built with regular, relevant, and impactful blog entries about specific subject matter."

Belchamber continues, "By the very fact I am writing a discussion about blogs and mentioning topics of discussion such as Blogger.com as a hyperlink, I am increasing Southwest Florida College's, along with my own, web relevance, along with the subject and causes I am promoting in this very blog. Making regular entries into your own blog will make it easier for people to find information in search engines who enter key words that are discussed in your blog."

According to Belchamber, publishing your own blog exposes your material, designs, and ideas to the world audience, improving the chances that people in search of similar subject matter will stumble across your blog. Once someone visits your blog, hopefully the content will compel your blog visitors to learn more about you, review your design work and consider contacting you to participate in future projects or employment openings.

To learn more about becoming a Graphic Designer, please visit Digital Design/Computer Animation Program website at www.swfc.edu/gd or contact Mr. Chip McElroy, Program Manager, at 888-279-2342.

SWFC STUDENTS INTERN FOR NAPLES INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Ten graphic design students have landed internships with Naples International Film Festival (NIFF), where they are assisting the organization in launching its inaugural event November 5-9. The interns, all top-design students at Southwest Florida College, are beneficiaries of the college’s proactive Career Services department, where professional career counselors facilitate real-life training and hands-on opportunities as an integral part of all SWFC diploma and degree programs.

“I love the atmosphere,” said Lindsey Phillips, of her experience interning at NIFF. Phillips recently graduated from Southwest Florida College with an associate's degree in graphic design. She is currently working on designing posters and advertisements for NIFF, one of which has been used in Gulf Shore Life Magazine. “I appreciate the opportunity of them giving me the offer to do this in their first year,” she said.

Phillips said that the internship gives her and all the interns first-hand access to the nuts-and-bolts of how a professional team carries out all the design elements for a specific market.

“Our interns/students are a great group of young cultured and inspired artist. We have been very fortunate to have these talented individuals among our NIFF family,” said Daniel Herrera, Director of Outreach for Naples International Film Festival and Director/Producer for La Razza Films.

“It takes institutions like SW Florida College to offer the curriculum's to refine the incubated talents of its students,” Herrera said. “I am glad to see, that distinct artistic personalities do exist in such a conservative community. I personally feel that there is no need to have to recruit from other cities like New York, Miami and or LA, when there is great talent pool here.”
The festival opens with “The Cove,” which will screen at the opening night gala on November 5 at the Philharmonic Center for the Arts.

“Career Services is extremely proud of our student’s hard work and of their representation of Southwest Florida College in this important inaugural event,” said Jan Rhonehouse, Career Services Coordinator for the Southwest Florida College, Fort Myers campus. Rhonehouse worked diligently to foster the connection at NIFF to create this opportunity for the students at Southwest Florida College.

To learn more about becoming a Graphic Designer, please visit Digital Design/Computer Animation Program website at www.swfc.edu/gd or contact Mr. Chip McElroy, Program Manager, at 888-279-2342.

SWFC Graphic Design Department Launches Student Resources Page

At the top of the program page is a new button labeled "STUDENT RESOURCES" in red. This button will take Graphic Design students to the Student Resources Page, a new sortable and searchable list of hyperlinks to tutorial videos, websites, and attachments that are relevant to all the subjects and classes in the Graphic Design Program.

Enter a keyword, select a program from a pull down menu, or select the type of resource you are looking for (tutorial video, example, reference, or student work) and the list will provide you with relevant listings of hyperlinks and descriptions.

Written in PHP by Aaron Belchamber, the resident web designer and 3D animation instructor, you can use the student resource and see it in action by visiting our main program page at www.swfc.edu/gd and click on the STUDENT RESOURCES button in red!

To learn more about becoming a Graphic Designer, please visit Digital Design/Computer Animation Program website at www.swfc.edu/gd or contact Mr. Chip McElroy, Program Manager, at 888-279-2342.

SWFC Web Design Student Launches Portfolio Website

Designed entirely in Flash, this Web Design student has designed a portfolio website that can be viewed at http://www.creativesouthwestflorida.com/lindseyp/.

"These digital portfolios are essential in finding a job as a graphic designer. The visual communications industry is quickly moving to more web-based platforms for pre-employment qualifications by employers." Says Aaron Belchamber, web design and 3D animation instructor at Southwest Florida College. "You increase your chances of getting a call to a job interview or to discuss freelance work if you have a solid online portfolio that is easily accessible."

To learn more about becoming a Graphic Designer, please visit Digital Design/Computer Animation Program website at www.swfc.edu/gd or contact

Mr. Chip McElroy, Program Manager, at 888-279-2342.

Graphic Design Club Meeting October 7th: "SELL STUFF ONLINE WITH PAY PAL"

Join the Graphic Design Club, Wednesday October 7th at 5pm in Classroom 231 as we demonstrate how fast and easy it is to set up a Pay Pal account and install shopping carts and "Buy Now" buttons on ANY website.

"In less than an hour, students will understand how Pay Pal works and how easy it is to sell products or services online using the Pay Pal eCommerce system," says Aaron Belchamber, web design and 3D animation instructor at Southwest Florida College. He continues, "Knowing how to set up an online store is a valuable skill that will help advance their knowledge and become more valuable web designers."

To learn more about becoming a Graphic Designer, please visit Digital Design/Computer Animation Program website at www.swfc.edu/gd or contact Mr. Chip McElroy, Program Manager, at 888-279-2342.

3d Logo Animation in Autodesk 3Ds Max

Students learn to animate logos in 3-dimensional form using the modeling software 3DS Max. Here is one of the solutions created by an animation student.

This class, called "3Ds Max Modeling", is available throughout the school year and is taught by 16-year industry veteran Aaron Belchamber, who has produce countless 3D animations, virtual tours, TV commercials, and videos.

To learn more about becoming a Graphic Designer, please visit Digital Design/Computer Animation Program website at www.swfc.edu/gd or contact Mr. Chip McElroy, Program Manager, at 888-279-2342.

SWFC 3Ds Max Modeling 'Bring It To Life' Project Student Sample

It's called "compositing" and it's the art of superimposing 3D animation and effects over images of real-life scenes. With over 10 years experience using Autodesk 3Ds Max and producing videos, Aaron Belchamber, the 3D animation and Web Design Instructor encourages students to explore those types of skills that will bring them actual paying design jobs that will help lead them into more work and becoming a more valuable, well-rounded graphic designer.

In "Bring It To Life", the final project in 3Ds Max Modeling, students are presented with the challenge of bringing in a photo of a table or counter top from their home and animate at least 2 objects interacting. It's a lot of fun and you learn a lot of skills that could make you a more valuable graphic designer.

To learn more about becoming a Graphic Designer, please visit Digital Design/Computer Animation Program website at www.swfc.edu/gd or contact Mr. Chip McElroy, Program Manager, at 888-279-2342.

Entry Level Design Class

Students in the entry level design class "Digital Design" was asked to create a logo for a company, apply that logo to a product that was to be rendered in 3-d in Adobe Illustrator, and develop an advertisement for that product in Adobe Photoshop. Here is a sample of one of the students solution to the project.

To learn more about becoming a Graphic Designer, please visit Digital Design/Computer Animation Program website at www.swfc.edu/gd or contact Mr. Chip McElroy, Program Manager, at 888-279-2342.

SWFC Student 'Brings It To Life!' 3D Studio Max Modeling Class Sample

At Southwest Florida College, our 3D Studio Max Modeling and Animation class familiarizes students with this amazing 3D modeling and animation program by Autodesk. Students like Catherine, who produced this animation in class, learn how to quickly create high quality 3D logo animations, reality simulations, particle effects, and special video compositing effects like this video. In "Bring It To Life", their final project, students are given the task of bringing in a photo of a counter top or a table from their house and their task is to create a 3D animation that gets composited, or placed on top of, a live still shot to learn the basic tools to build on these special effect skills.

Notice the shadow, lighting, and reflection on the models in the scene as the items on the countertop magically float in the air!

You too can learn more about Southwest Florida College's Digital Design Program by visiting www.swfc.edu/gd!

Self Portrait Project

Students in the Adobe Illustrator class were tasked with creating a self portrait based on an electronic photograph taken of themselves. They were to use such skills as clipping masks, compound paths, gradients, meshing, and the appropriate drawing tools to make themselves as realistic as possible. Here is an example of a second year students solution.

To learn more about becoming a Graphic Designer, please visit Digital Design/Computer Animation Program website at www.swfc.edu/gd or contact Mr. Chip McElroy, Program Manager, at 888-279-2342.

Children's Book Illustration

Adobe Illustrator class was tasked with illustrating a children's book (minimum of 6 pages). The book could be a redesign of a current or classic story... or a story that was authored by the student. Many great examples were created and here is a sample from a second year student based on an old story classic "Nelly and Caesar - The Amazing World of Color." Students showcased their ability to drawing using effects such as gradient meshing, drop shadowing, the pen tool, and image vector treatment.

To learn more about becoming a Graphic Designer, please visit Digital Design/Computer Animation Program website at www.swfc.edu/gd or contact Mr. Chip McElroy, Program Manager, at 888-279-2342.

Digital Design & Animation Portfolio Show A Great Success!

Congratulations to all the Graphic Designers at Southwest Florida College for putting on a tremendous portfolio show for our Summer Term on September 3rd, 2009! Once the employers, family, friends, and students came through, the students removed their laptops and left the rest of their artwork on display in the college library for an entire week.

The portfolio show featured fine art, digital art, websites, interactive presentations, all expressing each student's unique abilities and talents. To learn more, please visit the Digital Design/Computer Animation website at www.swfc.edu/gd.

Thank you to all the employers for their support and constructive feedback. A very large thank you to the students for their efforts! To Jan Rhonehouse, from Career Services, for coordinating the event! To the SWFC Library Staff for accomodating this week long celebration of the Graphic Arts! To Mr. McElroy, the Digital Design Program Manager, for all of his assistance, to Mr. David Meo for his outstanding impromptu interview about the purpose of the portfolio show, and to Rodney and Luis for set-up and break down.

What a rewarding job it is to see such diligent and talented students come up through our program. I am very proud to have been a part of helping each student succeed and take a large step toward achieving their dreams of grabbing new opportunities their new skills and knowledge will open for them. I look forward to hearing success stories from our newest graduates and remind you that Career Services is here to help you find employment.

Sincerely,

Aaron Belchamber
Web Design & 3D Animation Instructor
Southwest Florida College

Portfolio Show Summer 2009

Please join us to celebrate our very talented graphic designers for our summer portfolio show located on the second floor in the library at Southwest Florida College's main campus from 6 to 8pm tonight!

Located at 1685 Medical Lane in Fort Myers, you will not only meet these designers and experience their website and graphic design capabilities, but "Eye to the Future" artwork submitted by our students will also be on display.

Come for refreshments and check out this new crop of talented graphic designers as they begin a new journey in their career. Please come by to support our students -- invite a friend, business owner, or marketing director -- we hope to see you all there tonight and wish these students the best in their pursuit of a graphic/web design position in the community!

To learn more about becoming a Graphic Designer, please visit Digital Design/Computer Animation Program website at www.swfc.edu/gd or contact Mr. Chip McElroy, Program Manager, at 888-279-2342.

Computer Animation and Multimedia Class

Please review and support all the fine students of my Computer Animation and Multimedia class by visiting the class website at http://www.creativesouthwestflorida.com/. A special thank you to Annes Pascal for designing this current class's homepage. Great job Annes!

I would also like to acknowledge Lisa Krivoy for her outstanding website designs, which you can find at http://www.creativesouthwestflorida.com/lisakrivoy/. Thank you to all the students who gave it there all in Summer 09 in Interactive Media. We all look forward to seeing what kind of web magic you will be able to accomplish in Computer Animation and Multimedia!

Aaron Belchamber

What a great idea

I am so pleased to see us creating an online dialog! Count me in!

Students - I encourage you to post work for peer and instructor input. I'll be watching for it!

Corporate Identity Class visits Lee Designs

On Tuesday, August 25th, the Corporate Identity class visited Lee Designs in Fort Myers. Lee Designs is a sign design, construct and installation company of approximately 15 employees. The class had an opportunity to discuss the computer designs with their art director, meet the owner, and tour the facility. Students learned the challenges of designing with type for logos/signage when it pertains to sign construction and installation. They had the opportunity to see the equipment and artisans at work on both aluminum, neon, and foam construction. What a day to be a designer. Graphic Design is a very broad field and many students were not aware of all of the possibilities as a professional designer. Thank you, Lee Designs.

Welcome to Southwest Florida College's Graphic Design Program Blog!

In the ensuing months, we will be posting blog articles related to Southwest Florida College's Graphic Design Program. We plan on showcasing success stories, announcements, and other exciting news about our students, instructors, and activities all right here on our blog!

We look forward to building our online community and encourage students, instructors, and alumni to join in discussions that help us all excel and understand the fast-changing world of graphic and web design! To get more information about our program, please email us at cmcelroy@swfc.edu. We invite you in to take a tour of our facility and get to know our staff. What are you waiting for?!