Up Close With Our First-Place Winner

Melanie Teppich, a junior at the School of Visual Arts, is our first-place winner in this year's Student Design Competition. Wanna see her complete entry and hear more about how she came up with her top-notch design? Then click through. We'll be posting the same for our second and third-place winner in the next few days, and more after that, so keep coming back!


(Click on the above spread for a larger version)

First-Place
MELANIE TEPPICH
UNIVERSITY School of Visual Arts
YEAR Junior
PROFESSOR Jeff Glendenning
CATEGORY News 

What was your inspiration in creating your entry?
I was inspired by vintage political propaganda. I wanted to create an image that would have a vintage undertone yet not feel dated, and would be representative of the future. The momentum and power of the youth vote in the 2008 election was also very inspirational to me.  

What was the biggest challenge in creating your entry?
Imagery of Barack Obama was reinvented in so many amazing graphic forms this year. However, I challenged myself to represent the future as a result of the '08 election without using a direct portrait of the president. This led me to the concept of turning to a new page in a book because we are now as a result of the election turning to a completely new page in history and in the future of the country. It was also a challenge to incorporate red, white and blue into the type and layout in a way which would not overpower the piece as a whole.

Do you participate in any publication--or design-related campus activities?
This year I have not been able to participate in any design-related campus activities but I became a contributor for Photodrifting.com, a New York City based photo collective.

What are your favorite magazines?
Print, W, New York, Vice, Nylon, Interview, Frank 151, Colors, and many more!

What do you want to do while in New York for your internship?
I want to learn as much as I can, get to as many galleries, museums, and concerts as possible, and have fun!


Wanna know more about our annual competition? Click here for this past year's rules and info. Next year's competition and deadline will be similar, so get those brainstorms going!