November 18th, 2009
Texas State MFA students win awards

STAFF REPORT

That package of turkey gravy mix you bought for thanksgiving dinner, or the box of antacid tablets you bought for after its consumption, were designed with educated skills to encourage you to buy them.

The Blueridge Annual Flux 09 Student Design Competition, sponsored by the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA),  is one of the first stops in a long road towards designing packaging, posters and the like for students of the art. Several students from the Communication Design Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program at Texas State received awards at the competition held in late October thus year.

Students are required to submit design work created between August 2008 and September 2009 to be judged in the categories of identity, posters, publications, packaging or web/interactive. Within each of the divisions is a best in category and an honorable mention award, as well as an overall best in show.

Texas State’s Keo Pierron, a second year communication design graduate student from Ames, IA, recieved honorable mention in the best of identity category for his logo, Ponzu Sushi House. He also received a merit award for having seven pieces accepted for the competition. Pierron completed his undergraduate work in graphic design at Iowa State  in 2001.

“This program (Texas State’s MFA Communication Design program) is only three years old, and I think it is pretty strong already,” said Pierron. After his recent success in the AIGA competition, he commented, “I think I found my niche, Corporate Identity.”

After he receives his MFA, Pierron plans to teach at the university level as well as practice professionally.

Five Texas State graduate students were awarded the Merit Award in the Flux 09 competition in their categories: Sam Kapila, Shawn Meek, Jeremy Honea and Grayson Lawrence.