Completing the Foundations I and II courses at the end of their first year is a major milestone for the students enrolled in the SCSA’s Department of Art + Design (the complementary classes are notorious for weeding out the faint of heart). In celebration of this achievement, we constructed a zine brimming with insight – or hindsight – from upperclassmen and stuffed with compelling illustrations, tradable stickers to encourage community, and a sharpie for each student to add a favorite staple from the Rainey Fine Arts building.

Concept
Design
Illustration
Research

The Dilemma

One of the greatest aspects of acting as a guinea pig class for a new project is the ability to splash around in an unexplored, bottomless arena. For this initial project however, it meant that the Foundations students passing along their completed zines to the following group of Freshmen would finish the semester empty-handed.

We started by digging through ideas and resources, exploring illustration styles and various ink and binding possibilities, and compiled a list of experience-related questions we hoped would fetch some valuable intel from upperclassmen.

Our Big Ideas

In a wild plot twist, the students receiving our zines would not only gain insight from the single class above them, but from Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors of all A+D degrees (even the quietest of students was eager to share hard-learned lessons through our survey). We viewed the entire endeavor as something of a giant yard sale – take a look around and keep what you like. We then assembled a list of iconic items from the offices, hallways, studios, and classrooms of the Rainey Fine Arts building and compiled them into hand-drawn illustrations. These compositions evoked the chaos of a jockey lot or spring cleaning and captured the eccentricities that make Rainey a fond home for so many.

Art + De-zine

The final zine included student quotes gleaned from our survey, tips on how to navigate critiques and maximize productivity, a breakdown of printing and supply stores (with pros, cons, and prices), and full spreads of our oddity illustrations – one of which paid special homage to our eclectic band of professors. To top it all off, we included a different sticker in each zine with the prompt to “trade stickers with another cool art kid and make a new friend” and a sharpie for each student to add his or her creative touch in a way that continued the cycle we had begun.

Collaborators:

Carson Long, Nathan Spainhour