Ramapo's Creative Media Club attended this year's Art Directors Club of New Jersey Design Derby on Saturday at Sussex County Community College. Student teams from the Creative Media Club have won twice at this event in the past couple years, where they competed against student teams from across the state.
The Creative Media Club is open to all students who are interested in graphic design or anything in the communications field. Throughout the year, the Creative Media Club organization participates in community service and other competitions and events off campus, but the Design Derby is their most anticipated.
With their incredible track record, the Creative Media Club was very excited about attending this year's event.
"We had high expectations going into the competition," senior Creative Media Club member Michelle Regna said. "Ramapo has done well almost every year we have participated in the competition, including last year when we won Best Design. We felt extremely prepared, and were excited for the challenge."
Ramapo sent two teams to compete at the Design Derby, where college teams are asked to create any variety of graphic media to represent a certain company or brand. The teams are then given four hours to create a piece for their client and a presentation for their peers. This year's client was "Morning Glory," a thrift and antique store who donates all their profits to DASI, a program in Sussex that helps domestic and sexual abuse survivors.
"The assignment was to create a new brand identity for the company," Regna said. "It was important to the client that the mood of the store was expressed, as well as the store's association with DASI."
To make the brand identity for the company, students had to create a logo that could be applied to various marketing outlets like a letterhead, business cards and social networking sites.
As for the results of the competition, Ramapo's team lost but was nonetheless very proud of their design contribution.
"It was a bit of a heartbreak," Regna said. "Both of our teams came up with great ideas and did well presenting them. The team I was on felt we had come up with a beautiful design and concept, so it was extremely disappointing when we found out we lost."
Nevertheless, Creative Media Club members felt the experience was a positive one.
Bryanne McMillen, who also attended the competition, said, "I thought it was a great experience overall for those looking to go into graphic design. We were able to use skills we have learned in the classroom and apply them to real-life situations by working with a client and publishing firm."
The Creative Media Club still plans on attending future competitions and is excited for next year's Design Derby as well.
"The competition gave us an idea of what to expect at future competitions, and I think Ramapo's Creative Media Club has a good potential for that," McMillen said.
alehaf@ramapo.edu
