New Talent: Art Center College of Design’s Professors Brad Bartlett, Sean Adams, & Chris Hacker Hone Students’ Skills

Graphis is honored to showcase the works of professors Sean Adams, Chris Hacker, and Brad Bartlett and their students

Passing the torch from one generation to the next is an important way in which one can ensure that a trade stays alive. It all but guarantees that ideas will be built upon, expanded, and reworked into new and exciting ways. And that certainly seems to be the case for design. Art Center College of Design professors Sean Adams, Chris Hacker, and Brad Bartlett have assisted their students in creating tantalizing and eye-catching work that competes with the very best of the best in the industry.

Brad Bartlett and student Tais Ghelli’s gold-winning exhibition design, Brutal: Views from Brazil’s Concrete Utopia | Phaidon Gallery (ABOVE, LEFT), is one such mesmerizing work. Using altered perspectives, perpendicular angles, and strong, vibrant colors, Ghelli and Bartlett’s project explores Brazilian modernist movements, particularly in regard to architecture. Focusing on “Brutalist constructions and on the social tensions that have always been an inherent part of the Brazilian experience,” Ghelli and Bartlett have created a deeply instructive work that is both alluring and arresting.

Equally captivating is the platinum award-winning work from professors Sean Adams and Chris Hacker and student Moonyong Ro. Showcasing a collaboration between NASA and Caterpillar, the Caterpillar Posters and Annual Report (ABOVE, RIGHT) demonstrates the innovative ways in which the two companies have begun working together. Explaining the methodology, the team explains that “embracing new challenges within the company to brand identity is a good way to change the perspective of people.” It appears that design may be the first way to achieve that.

That sentiment continues with the silver award-winning work from professors Sean Adams and Chris Hacker in collaboration with student, Heejeong Seong, who’s project, Rebranding West Elm (ABOVE,  LEFT) expertly reimagines the furniture brand with a modernist aesthetic. Wanting to reconstitute the company with a brand identity, the team used “historical union marks of America” to “create a new brand story.” Similarly relying on reconstructing a brand’s image is Brad Bartlett’s work with Brian Liu to redesign the look of the 2017 New York Asian Film Festival (ABOVE, RIGHT). The silver award-winning design used “a flexible identity that branded elements can be applied to multiple media applications in print, digital, spatial, and film.”

Be sure to submit your work to Graphis’ Annual New Talent Competition before the looming October 9 deadline! Winners will have the opportunity to see their work published on our website, blog, newsletter, and social media platforms.