Graphic Design | Kansas City Art Institute

Kelly (Furlong) Holton (KCAI GD '07) and her team at Populous are featured in this article by HOW Design check out the stunning renovations they are working on at Wrigley Field!

Will Staley, March's Alumni Feature of the Month, is co-founder of Thrive, a non-profit design firm in Helena, Arkansas. Click on the photos below to read more about their Design Mentorship and Design Apprenticeship programs! Check out Will's full interview here: https://www.facebook.com//a.21526984852/2320213921368482/

Meet March’s Alumni Feature of the Month, Will Staley! Read his interview below to learn more about his background and current pursuits. Will Staley currently lives and works in Helena, Arkansas and graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2004. Q: What is your current job position and responsibilities?... A: I'm Creative Director and Co-Founder of Thrive, a non-profit design firm that works to improve communities by offering design-centered service learning programs for rural high school students and graphic design services for clientele. Q: What led you to pursuing graphic design? A: My interest in graphic design started off early by loving to draw as much as possible. I was naturally interested in portraying scenes or patterns in 2D like most kids do - which led to a pair of very supportive parents that encouraged me toward the visual arts and design. I started off pursuing a career in Architecture at the University of Arkansas, however - that didn't stick. From there I transferred to KCAI and loved my time there. I'm somewhat of a generalist when it comes to design. I just really enjoy it all. KCAI gave me freedom to focus on graphic design while playing in the metal shop or taking a dinnerware design class. Q: What is your favorite memory of KCAI? A: Great memories of KCAI include living across the street from the design studio and being able to project movies on the side of the building and watching from the porch with friends. I built great friendships with fellow students and teachers that continue to be active parts of my life today. Also, there was this one time that we put my chicken sculpture on top of the J&G market design building. I'm sure it's still roosting there. Fun fact about Will: I live on the Arkansas side of The Mississippi River in Helena, Arkansas. I get to do really fun stuff like design and build new hiking trails with high school students. We fly drones, use the creative suite to mock-up paths, and use 3D cameras to capture content for mixed reality applications. We just opened our new office called the Thrive Center where students from all backgrounds (home school, private public GED etc...) collaborate on a variety of projects like the trail project in an effort to improve our community. The other part of the week we work on visual identity systems for cities & school districts. If you're interested in becoming a Design Mentor during the 2019-20 school year, go here!-----> thrivecenter.org/residency.

Join us TONIGHT (Friday, March 15) for an opening reception at Haw Contemporary! Lineage and Impact: KCAI Faculty Past and Present celebrates seven decades of working artists on the faculty of the Kansas City Art Institute. Beginning with and paying homage to Wilbur Niewald, the exhibition honors artwork by luminaries and pathbreakers such as Ken Ferguson, Hirokazu Fukawa, Lester Goldman, Jane Lackey, Jim Leedy and Erin Zona, as well as emerging talents appointed to the faculty as recently as 2018.

Last week we had a blast diving into web design with the help of visiting designer Tiff Hockin!

We are very excited to welcome visiting designer Tiff Hockin (KCAI ’06 Ceramics) back to KCAI this week! Join us this Wednesday at 6pm in Epperson Auditorium for her lecture. Tiff is a New York-based multidisciplinary designer who has worked with clients such as Bloomberg, Common Name, and IDEO. https://tiff-hockin.glitch.me/... Graphics and web design by Josh Madrid See more

Our transformational Graphic Design program is in the news again! They've been ranked one of the top GD programs in the country and #1 in Missouri. https://bit.ly/2DItBHZ

Hats off to Alli Sevareid and Parker Seydel in being recognized by GD USA's Students to Watch 2019. Congrats! Check out their interviews in the links below. http://gdusa.com/studentstowatch2019/alexandra-sevareid http://gdusa.com/studentstowatch2019/parker-seydel

This project comes from our Alumni Feature of the Month, Amanda Ramirez! As Senior Designer at the Getty Museum, Amanda worked on the East Pavilion installation and wayfinding. A new Getty Center installation of Italian sculpture and decorative arts at from around the turn of the 18th-century features a simplified monochromatic color scheme and furniture design with reduced historical references intended to blend with the modern architecture. For the December 2018 reopening ...of a suite of Sculpture and Decorative Arts galleries at the Getty Center a new wayfinding sign, formatted in response to the architectural grid and palette, increases the visibility of a gallery entrance from prominent visitor pathways. Read more about Amanda in her interview here: https://www.facebook.com//a.21526984852/2233524450037430/ Images copyright 2019 The J. Paul Getty Trust

Amanda Ramirez, Alumni Feature of the Month, is a Senior Designer at The J. Paul Getty Museum. Ramirez led the re-design of the Getty Villa, the Museum's antiquities collection galleries, that debuted in 2018. The History of Collecting" is a thematic presentation that places J. Paul Getty in the context of historically notable antiquities collectors. Read more about Amanda in her interview here: https://www.facebook.com//a.21526984852/2233524450037430/... Images copyright 2019 The J. Paul Getty Trust

Introducing January’s Alumni Feature of the Month, Amanda Ramirez! Read her interview below to learn more about her current job, why she loves graphic design, and more! Amanda (Zeitler) Ramirez lives in Los Angeles, California and graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2006. Q: What is your current job position and responsibilities?... A: I am a Senior Designer at The J. Paul Getty Museum. Our interdisciplinary team designs visitor experiences, exhibitions, and permanent collection galleries. I am part of the Design leadership team and serve in a project management capacity for cross-departmental collaborations. Q: What led you to pursuing graphic design? A: I was enticed to Design by the intersection of systems thinking and craft. I was also intrigued by the social nature of the practice creating in dialogue with the user and with the environment. Q: What is your favorite memory of KCAI? A: Foundation with Carl Kurtz and his '06 cohort was the glue of my KCAI experience. I learned the powers of storytelling, failure, and making room for everyone at the table. Fun fact about Amanda: If computers learn to do my job, I'll probably get my captain's license and set sail. See more about Amanda and her work on Instagram @museographer and @gallery.muse. Images copyright 2019 The J. Paul Getty Trust

Kyle Huber, KCAI GD '10, was recently featured as #7 of the Most Influential Drone Pilots of 2018 and Who to Watch in 2019. Nice job! See more of Kyle's work at http://asenseofhuber.com/

Alumni Feature of the Month, Frankie Oviedo, helped to create this brand identity for J. Rieger & Co. Originally founded in 1887, J. Rieger & Co was one of the countries most prolific distilleries until prohibition forced its closure. Almost a century later, we helped one of J. Rieger’s great-great-great grandsons relaunch the company bearing his family name. Our team worked closely with the founders to develop the modern interpretation of the J. Rieger & Co. brand by utilizing the distillery’s original name, logo and slogan (O! So Good!). Read more about Frankie in his interview here: https://www.facebook.com//a.21526984852/2180037068719502/