BFA Graphic Design Show | Spring 2023
Gabby Bailey
Throughout all of my design work I try to create a unique and interesting visual experience for the viewer. Good design is able to catch the viewer’s attention while being easy to read and navigate. I take inspiration from all areas of my life to help in creation of my designs. I believe my style lends itself to more modern styles that use text and image to their advantage rather than having them be constraints. I believe everything in the design is important to create a cohesive look. In my design process, I try to focus on creating something that the user will be happy to use and want to keep. I strive for everything I create to be visually appealing to look at, nothing should feel out of place with the rest of the design.
Connor Bredow
My name is Connor Bredow, and I am a 3D artist and graphic designer based in Leesburg, Virginia. I am passionate about creating visually stunning art that captivates and inspires my audience. My work ranges from 3D art and music graphics to logos and branding, and I am always looking for new and exciting ways to push the boundaries of my craft.
Cade Carter
Throughout my design process, I focus on the user experience, ensuring that the final product is not only visually striking but also functional and user-friendly. I pay close attention to every detail, from typography to color palette, to create a cohesive and impactful design.
To design is to draw emotion out of the viewer through imagery, text, and color. Unified, they tell a story, and our job as graphic designers is to convey that story. My aptitude for learning new techniques has enabled me to stay abreast of rapidly evolving trends in graphic design. Ultimately, this enables me to create visually stunning results that deliver on both aesthetic and performance objectives. I am proud of the work I produce, continuously pushing myself to innovate and go beyond what is expected of me.
Kendall Hardaway
Hello, my name is Kendall H, I am a graphic design student and my senior project is a graphic comic that I have been working on since my second year here. The name of the comic is “How to Tame your Zombie.” It’s a story about a little zombie girl named Ruby and her daily life with all her friends. I had always wanted to make my own comic series as I got inspired by Garfield a lot when growing up. Of course, the biggest hurdle to jump over was making the comic. You know how something is so perfect in your head, but when you put it on paper you’re going to see all its flaws? That was me and it took a while to finally have to courage just to begin it.
Natalie Nguyen
Design is my way of bringing ideas to life. As a designer, I want to create meaningful and impactful designs that solve real-world problems and enhance people's lives. My style is eclectic, drawing from a variety of influences including mid-century modern design, street art, and nature. I believe that good design should be functional, beautiful, and sustainable, and that it should reflect the values and personality of the people and organizations it represents. My inspiration comes from a variety of sources, including art, nature, and technology. Whether I am designing a user interface, developing a brand strategy, or creating a multimedia campaign, I approach each project with passion, creativity, and a relentless commitment to excellence.
Christopher Piper
Graphic design has always been part of my life and has always been an interest of mine. My whole life I have been told by my family and friends that I see the world differently than everyone else. I did not know what my parents meant until I started to study graphic design. I found out that it was that I can see everything in a creative way that allows me to be able to take what I see and use it in my work. When it comes to my design style people who have seen my work tend to say that my work has a lot of bold colors and a distinct style that they do not see very often. Over time I have worked on developing my talents and skills to be able to include things that inspire me and include my interests.
Valerie Ray
Every project in design presents problems which require unique solutions. I am passionate about finding these solutions through diligent research and my own creativity to produce exciting and innovative designs. My past experience in the field of information technology allowed me to refine these research and problem-solving skills, which I believe provided a solid base for my graphic design career.
Lauren Santa
As a designer, I feel a responsibility to make even the most mundane objects aesthetically pleasing. Growing up in a small town, I was not exposed to very much fine art, so I found art in the books, posters, and illustrations in my home and at school. Having an interest in type from a young age, I gravitate toward heavily typographical projects and have an affinity for type and layout design. After being exposed to alternative music, the DIY music scene, and the likes of David Carson, my love for type quickly transitioned into a more specific love of grunge typography. This very quickly turned into a passion for all things grunge graphic design, including DIY and handmade design elements. While I like the aesthetic of grunge, I also like what it stands for: embracing imperfection, the rejection of rules, and encouraging uniqueness. Although you won't see grunge elements in all of my work, I hope to communicate the same values in all of my projects. I intend to use my design expertise to make the mundane eye-catching in a unique way that speaks to other misfits and oddballs.
Brianna Stepp
I am a Graphic Designer from Warrenton, Va and I believe that everything starts with a good or bad experience that influences you, for me, it was both. I had 2 teachers related to art that had very different opinions, one believed that art cannot be given a 100% grade because “art cannot be perfect” and the other believed if you meet expectations you should be rewarded for it. These both affected my artistry, one I am fighting to prove wrong and the other I am working to exceed expectations. This is one of the deepest influences on my designs. I like to use my work to tell a story and have visual impact on the people who view it. My style is usually loose and calming and uses color palettes that draw people into it. I am by no means a rigid designer and love to make things that I think people would just enjoy looking at. For my Senior project I decided to create a Celestial Form Tarot Deck to show the type of art I make and enjoy.
Emily Woods
Emily Woods is a graphic designer who is a leader both inside and outside the classroom. She is President of the AIGA student group at Radford University and holds many other leadership positions around the Radford campus. She is always working to help exceed the expectations of others. Emily during her time in the graphic design program has won 6 student graphic design awards, as well as two silver Addy awards for photography and packaging design. For Emily’s senior project, she combined her childhood dream of designing a coloring book, with her interest in motorsports. The publication is called The Retro Racing Classics Coloring Book and it takes you through a day at a racetrack during a motorsports event with 21 fully illustrated pages. The coloring book has a retro theme to help make it appealing to anyone of any age.