Digital Arts & Design students gain real-world experience
April 24, 2025
Dakota State students from digital arts & design courses have had the opportunity to participate in design projects outside of the classroom this semester.
Upper-level graphic design students visited Smith & Smith, a third-generation printing company in Sioux Falls. There, the students and faculty members Tim Murray, Tom Jones, and Wendy Romero collaborated to design and create a booklet cover using movable type.
“The letterpress workshop was created to give upper-level graphic design students an opportunity to experience print production methods outside of the classroom and away from the screen,” said Tim Murray, assistant professor of graphic design.
They created a double-layered design using shapes and words to represent DSU’s Digital Arts & Design programs. After this step, the group learned how to complete letterpress products using raised surfaces that are inked and pressed onto the paper.
This activity allowed students to collaborate as designers while developing a creative collective vision. They were also able to use physical, real-world experiences to help shape their individual creative work.
“Our digital tools are so powerful and can deliver incredible effects with just a few clicks, but they also have incredibly powerful default settings,” Murray explained. “It can be easy for designers to coast into work that looks just like all the other work. Using some of these older technologies open up possibilities and creative expressions that are beyond or outside of the ‘defaults.’”
Design Jam 2025
Six Dakota State students joined students from University of South Dakota (USD), University of Sioux Falls (USF), and Northern State University (NSU) for a design competition in Sioux Falls. Each team in the competition included a student from each university, working on a project documenting sounds, videos, body movements, and graphics while producing a two-minute art short.
This competition gave students another opportunity to work collaboratively with other designers and develop a united vision. Each team shared their short and gave a presentation and an Ultimate Jammerz team was chosen.
The members of the team who won Design Jam 2025 and were named the Ultimate Jammerz were: Ksenia Unser (NSU), Ali Elgersma (USF), Yaslin Ruedas (USD), Izabelle Neubaner (USD), and Alex Liddiard, (DSU).
Faculty organizers were Tim Murray and Wendy Romero from DSU, Young Ae Kim from USD, Joe Schaeffer from USF, and Epiphany Knedler from NSU.