Our 2012 Student Design Competition Second-Place Winner

Our 2012 Student Design Competition Second-Place Winner We saw Chris Allen's first-place winning entry already, but now check out the second-place winner in our 2012 Student Design Competition. Click through to find out who won a $1,000 prize, the Adobe Creative Suite and an internship opportunity as well as a great Q&A with the winner. And keep coming back as we announce the rest of our winners!

Second Place
T. LECLAIRE
SCHOOL: Parsons The New School for Design
LEVEL:  Senior
INSTRUCTOR:  Urshula Barbour
CATEGORY:  City/Regional


TLeclaire_SPD_Newfoundland-2.png
SPD-U: What was your inspiration in creating your entry?
T: I travel every summer to Newfoundland, Canada and never get around to taking breaks on the long drive to document the incredible scenery, so this year I took well over 300 photos. Using the photographs I took and pulling design inspiration from elements such as national park iconography, GPS location devices and good old fashioned printed maps I wanted to present the great province in a more modern narrative to counterpart the never ending intimidating natural landscape... and well of course it never hurts to have an awesome playlist blasting, just make sure that it contains a whole lot of Sigur Rós and Andrew Bird.
 
SPD-U: What was the biggest challenge in creating your entry? 
T: The biggest challenge was trying to find a typographic relation to the landscape images that wouldn't be cliché or overtake the whole damn thing. There was well over 10 options at one point varying from this old fashioned handwritten aesthetic to no type at all. In the end I chose the layout I always wanted to make but had trouble executing in the past, which was this modular typographic grid. 

SPD-U: Any advice for students entering this next competition?
T: Don't be afraid to show working layouts to friends, mentors or teachers in any field of design for their honest reactions and suggestions, and even sometimes (or most of the time) the best advice comes from someone who doesn't understand a thing that you do, but that DOES NOT include your parents, they already like it.

SPD-U: What magazines do you turn to most for design inspiration?
T: It's a large mix from an even larger list, but no matter what it is always the case of finding specific design elements I enjoy (a spot here, illustration here, etc...) and archiving them for future reverence. To name a few titles at the moment, I highly suggest checking out Man About Town, Men's Journal, Wallpaper, Maxim, Collect, T Magazine (no pun intended) Esquire UK + US and New York Magazine. But up at the top would definitely be American GQ, I have just about every issue going back almost over 10 years now and with each new issue I pick up it never fails at making me want to be a better designer. 

SPD-U: What's your major? Do you participate in any publication- or design-related campus activities while in school? Or have any design-related jobs?
T:  I just finished up my degree in Communication Design at Parsons The New School for Design and got a diploma in Professional Photography in Montreal before that. The work I've fallen into has always been imaged based, be it design or photography. As for jobs, I've had some incredible internships I'm very proud of at magazine such as Teen Vogue, GQ and Esquire as well as retail in-house design at Macy's and rag & bone. 
  
SPD-U: If you're accepting the prize internship, where are you interning?
T: Nope, see below...
 
SPD-U: If you're graduating, what are your plans for your immediate future?
T: I've actually been offered a job at my current internship at rag & bone as their graphic designer and web assistant. So at the moment, it's rag & bone. My heart is in publication design and I will be at a magazine one day in the future, but I'm slowly becoming aware of the fact that the road to get there is not set in stone, or ink, or e-ink or whatever apple tech churns out next week. My plan is ever-changing but what I am absolutely positive in knowing is to be proud of what I do right now and do it damn near perfect.

Find T. elsewhere online:
Website: tleclaire.com (Under construction but got some good links)
Twitter: @t_leclaire


Find out who the other winners of the competition are in the next few days!

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