Woodbury Graphic Design Student, Nya Walker, Wins Prestigious Award by Graphis magazine
Woodbury congratulates graphic design student, Nya Walker, for her work being recognized by international design publication, Graphis, which publishes the world’s most prestigious Annuals with award-winning work from international talents in Design, Advertising, Art/Illustration, Photography, and more. This brings the number of international and national awards for Woodbury graphic design students to a remarkable 128 since 2012.
Nya’s poster, “The Starlight Music Festival,” won the Silver Award in the ‘New Talent Annual’ 2021 category, and will be published both online and in print.
Taught by Professor Rebekah Albrecht in her Typography 3 course, the project brief was to design a promotional event poster for ‘Starlight Music Series’ at the Rockefeller Center. The focus of the project was to utilize experimental typography with an emphasis on materiality to further enhance the visual message.
“This significant accomplishment is the testimony to the quality of our curriculum, excellent faculty, and dedicated students whose talents are nurtured as they progress through the program,” said Behnoush McKay, Chair of Woodbury’s Graphic Design program. “At each level of their studies, students are encouraged to expand their creative vision through comprehensive research and experimentation, while receiving individual guidance from their faculty. This approach results in our students developing unique and creative designs that have been recognized numerous times throughout the industry.”
In her own words, Nya explains the process in designing her award-winning poster:
“After researching the Starlight Music Series and the Rockefeller Center I discovered that the selling point of this concert series is that it is held on the observation deck of the Rockefeller Center. The observation deck gives attendees a 360 degree panoramic view of the city lights and skyline. Through experimental typography, I wanted to capture that exciting element of the city lights at night time, and the dimensional and panoramic element of the Rockefeller Center’s architecture.
The Rockefeller Center was built in the 1930’s and its main architectural style is Art Deco. I wanted to reflect this history through the design so I opted for an art deco style typeface, Neutraface, to keep this 1930’s design influence.
My process consisted of laser cutting my typography into poster board and constructing a tower to represent the dimensionality of the Rockefeller building. I placed string lights inside of the laser-cut tower to create 360 degrees of dramatically cast shadows and to create unique light effects. I photographed this piece and made minor digital adjustments, subtly adding an overlay of stars to the composition.
I believe the outcome of the poster fulfilled the brief of creating experimental typography that uses materiality to reflect the event being advertised. The goal was to design a composition that would be interesting, impactful and make viewers want to stop and spend time with the poster, and this was how the design was received.”
About Woodbury’s Graphic Design Program
Students in the Graphic Design program gain the knowledge, experience and networking skills necessary to build successful careers in both digital and print design. Through the process of design thinking, students develop analytical views in design process and its application in translating complex problems into clear and cohesive messages. Their focus remains on designing solutions for people, while guided by our faculty to build through inspiration, ideation, and execution.
About Graphis
Graphis is committed to presenting and promoting the work of exceptional talent in Design, Advertising, Photography and Art/Illustration. In addition to the Platinum, Gold, and Silver winners, Graphis also embraces rising talent, all of whom have an equal Archive presentation. In our hardcover Annuals, Platinum and Gold winners receive full-page exposure, and Silver and Merit Winners are also visually presented. Up to 500 entries from each competition are included in the online archive for future reference, where everyone gets the same presentation. Today, the Graphis tradition continues, presenting award-winning work from 1944 to the present in digital and print.
Last Updated on March 2, 2021.