Graphic artist gives USU design students advice
Utah State University students had an opportunity to discover the trade secrets of the graphics design world. With an excellent program and many opportunities to further their education, the university brought a valuable treasure to share his insights. Craig Frazier, an internationally renowned graphics designer and illustrator, spoke to the students about his experiences and work.
“You need to have lots of ideas. We have a tendency to try and find the ‘one right’ solution to our customers’ needs. When we look for more than one approach to the issue, we broaden our own understanding of it and then, eventually, find the right answer,” Frazier said.
The casual observer probably wouldn’t recognize his name, but hundreds of thousands recognize his work.
“I did some company logos,” he said while showing slides of different corporate designs, “and when I saw some of the companies afterwards, I realized I probably didn’t charge enough for my work,” he said while pausing to show the Lucas Works emblem.
Since 1978, he said he has been working in the graphic design field where he did designs for magazines, ads and newspapers and then made the transition from graphics to illustration in 1996.
It’s from this background that he said he was able to lecture so thoroughly.
Using a PowerPoint presentation, he answered questions students had about the design field.
The theme he chose to focus on was the issue of having the “one right” answer for the client and its fallacies.
“Sometimes we come up with only one idea and a bad one at that – and with the aid of a computer, we can package it and shine it and gloss it over.”
“But regardless of how nice we may make it look, it’s still a bad idea,” he said.
He also stressed to students the importance of sticking to paper or a sketchbook as long as possible before finally going to the computer.
Coming from the “olden days of pre-computer,” he said he still sees the value of staying away from the machine until it becomes truly necessary.
-nebutler@cc.usu.edu