February 5
Graphic Design student Owen Riley was “shocked” when he learned that he was chosen as a semi-finalist in the annual
Marblehead Festival of Arts 2024 logo design contest.
Inspired by the ship, Old Ironsides (the USS Constitution), and the iconic black and white symbol for yin and yang, the logo Riley designed was created for fun and to, hopefully, get a good grade.
NSCC Integrated Media and Graphic Design Program instructors include field-relevant assignments each semester for their students. One of the assignments had students, under the guidance and coaching of NSCC graphic design instructor Donna Murphy, submitting entries for the Marblehead Festival of Arts logo contest. The Festival, which started in 1962, runs a contest each year with a panel of judges. They select 10-12 semi-finalists and then 3-4 finalists. Then the public gets to vote on which design will serve as the Festival’s unique logo for that year.
In addition to Riley, NSCC student semi-finalists included Emily LeBrasseur and Ethan Kelley, along with NSCC alumnus Michael Longfritz. The students were all past participants in the Digital Illustration class, learning Adobe Illustrator Software.
Although, in the end, none of the students won the logo contest, all thought the experience and excitement of competition were invaluable.
“I’m not upset that I didn’t win. I’m more excited about the journey [in the graphic design program] of learning more about different types of art, whether it be on paper or on a computer,” said Riley.
Instructor Donna Murphy teaches Digital Illustration and Digital Page Layout at NSCC, runs her own graphic design company called Whiz Bang Design in Marblehead, MA and is a seasoned music teacher.
Learn more about our Graphic Design programs:
Graphic Design - Integrated Media