On Nov. 7, the BYU Design Department hosted design students and their guests for the Chroma Gala — an evening highlighting the hard work of students by presenting selected works in a gallery.
Collected in the main area of the West Campus Building, students and guests socialized, ate food and waited to see who would be awarded a Juror’s Choice Award and receive a cash prize.
“People don’t make work specifically for this show, but they make it for classes and other things, so it’s kind of a collection of the best student work,” Brent Barson, the Design Department chair, said.
“We used to have a formal event, where people would wear ties and sit in a theater … we decided to make it into more of a celebration,” Barson said.
For Luke Gibson, design professor and director of the gallery, this change was to put the focus more on students and what would make it a good time for them.
To follow the theme of “chroma,” the event served sparkly donuts, as well as other snacks and drinks. After the awards were given out, the attendees socialized, enjoyed food and browsed the gallery filled with student art.
The student focus of the event even extended to the favors offered at the event.
“I manage the bunch of students who produced the swag,” Gibson said. “I had one of the students just research … different kinds of swag that we want.”
According to Gibson, the students he managed were involved in every step of the process of designing the event branding. From designing the logo and choosing colors to researching prices, the students began work as far back as May. The swag included enamel pins, slap bracelets, stickers and more.
The Design Department has five main programs: graphic design, illustration, photography, animation and UI/UX design. Despite each program's differences, every department was represented in the eclectic gallery.
Zoe Bastian, a graphic design student, explained some of these differences and similarities.
“There are so many things in this show that were made by a student in one department, but could’ve been made by another department. … Graphic designers are quilting, illustrators are sculpting,” Bastian said.
Bastian, a recipient of a Juror’s Choice Award for her work, is inspired by work that is “really inventive … and just good design at its core.”
In order to create the work that she later submitted to the exhibition, Bastian went on an Art Department study abroad to Japan and worked on the project.
Beginning as an illustration major, then pivoting to graphic design, Bastian “missed drawing and painting and just felt really stuck on (her) computer.” With her piece, she wanted to express the feeling of “break(ing) out of a box.”
“I feel like the work gets better every year,” Bastian said.