Jaime Sandoval, Graphic Design College Instructor at Harrington

Jaime Sandoval, Communication Design Instructor at the Harrington College of Design

This feature is continued from yesterday.

Yesterday Jaime Sandoval, an instructor at Harrington College who was recently promoted to be a full-time faculty member, shared what originally brought him to Harrington and made him want to become an educator. Today, Jaime reveals some exciting insight into his classroom…

Me: What is your favorite thing about teaching at Harrington College?

Jaime: My favorite thing about Harrington is the fact that I am surrounded by all creative passionate individuals with whom I can relate to and share my biggest passion, which is design. It is extremely rewarding to see at least three to four students per day that are interested in my feedback and direction for their projects. We mutually become creative accomplices in innovative projects that deliver amazing results.

Me: What classes do you teach at Harrington? Do you have any design projects planned for this year?

Jaime: In my Package Design class, we are developing a package design family for a liquor in Mexico that will be sold in Germany, Mexico and the USA. The project consists of four products for which we are developing the identity, packaging and look and feel. Our main inspiration is the architect Luis Barragán. Our client would like to see three versions by week eight, but most students have about 30 each. I am convinced that our client will be highly impressed by the students’ work.

I also have the honor of teaching an Experimental Design class with Duffy O’Connor. For this class, students are redesigning the Washington and Wells Chicago El train station. Students have brilliant ideas. I am convinced that the end result will be magnificent.

I am also teaching the first Masters in Communication Design Layout class in which students are creating three books each. All three books share the same information different design concepts: one is in black and white with pure text following the rules of typography; in the second students are encouraged to break the rules and utilize color to represent strong concepts with equal visual impact of text and image, and the third book will be a way to express and decode information into a 90 percent visual book and 10 percent complementary text. So far, the project is coming along great. We are enjoying the design process as much as we will enjoy the end result.

Me: What’s your “official title” now at HCD?

Jaime: My official title is Full Time Communication Design instructor, but I happen to see more Interior Design students per week. I strongly believe in multidisciplinary design. Currently I work with a team of Interior and Graphic designers to create a student Masters level Interior Design journal.

My exposure to Interior Design classes as part of my Masters program, in which I developed a shopping center for Heineken, helps me guide this team in a way so that graphics will complement the interior design projects.

 

We’re glad to have Jaime as a full-time instructor and can’t wait to see what happens next in his classrooms!

 

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Jaime Sandoval Welcomed to Harrington’s Full Time Communication Design Faculty

Jaime Sandoval, Communication Design Instructor at the Harrington College of Design

Designers are formed through their inspirations as well as their life experiences. At Harrington College, our design instructors are vibrant, working professionals who have strong backgrounds in their discipline and a passion for what they do. This semester, we are excited to welcome Jaime Sandoval to our full-time Communication Design program faculty. Back when Jaime was an adjunct instructor, we ran a great feature on him. With his new promotion and popularity with our current students (Jaime was voted 2^nd Favorite Instructor at Harrington last year!), I was excited to touch base with Jaime again to find out more about what originally brought him to Harrington College and his background in the design world.

Me: So what brought you to Harrington?

Jaime: Ironically my relationship with Harrington started the day my brother Armando came to see an Admissions representative at Harrington to compare its Interior Design program with other schools he had already been contemplating. As an older brother and designer, I felt the responsibility to represent him and review the colleges with him before he made his important decision. When we requested to see student work, the the rep realized that I was a multidisciplinary designer. After few minutes of conversation, we discovered that Harrington had just started a Communication design program.

My brother and I both felt in love with Harrington from that day. A few days later I interviewed with Brad Kisner, the Communication Design program Department Chair at Harrington. My passion for design told me that I would be able to teach but my inexperience made me question how successful I would be. From day one, Brad was extremely supportive and made the beginning process so easy: I learned that all I needed to focus on was education, inspiring and motivating students.

After the second semester I received an email where instructors were invited to apply for professor of the year. I opened the email to see who the candidates were, since I have always admired instructors. When I realized that my name was the second out of five on the list, I had one of the most satisfying moments in my life. At that moment I realized that I have a passion for this profession and look forward to become a better educator on a daily basis.

 

Keep reading tomorrow to find out what great projects Jaime has his students working on in his classrooms…

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Harrington CD Students form Design Diversi

At Harrington, students often take their work out of the classroom and into the real world to gain experience before graduation. A great example of this that I recently came across is the partnership of several Communication Design students, Evan Scronce, Christina Varallo and Eric Grimes, who joined together to form Diversi, a design firm they created with the encouragement and help of their instructor, Jaime Sandoval. 

As Evan explained, “Diversi means ‘different’. We’ve created a design company that creates solid designs and branding that can transform a brand into a successful and memorable entity. We are a company that can do just about anything, and if we’re not familiar with what you are looking for, we will learn and figure out how to complete it.”

Recently Evan, Christina and Eric worked on a website and brand identity for a Floral Stylist. After working through several concepts for the identity, as well as addressing real-life challenges of finding the correct team of people with the knowledge and skill set to execute the complicated project, the team successfully completed the project and launched it for their client.

 

As Evan stated, “We came across some challenges we had never encountered before. However, drawing on what we were taught at Harrington, we did research to find out ways to create exactly what the client was asking for. There are so many obstacles that you have to be prepared for in this industry, and Eric, Christina and I have learned this in a short year of working together. It’s important to never stop learning, and to learn from the teachers at Harrington as they have helped us transition what we learn from school work into real world experience.”

Check out Diversi at http://www.designdiversi.com/

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Research and the Red Cross: Communication Design students from the Harrington College of Design take on two Distinct Clients (Part III)

Feature adapted from Spring 2010, Volume 2 Artistik Newsletter, written by Jaime Sandoval and Brad Kisner

With the successful completion of two real client projects, students from the Communication Design Department’s VSC302 class at Harrington College of Design now have real life experience to add to their growing resumes even before graduation.

“As the instructor of this class, I am truly honored to have my students be exposed to clients as important and professional as ArcelorMittal, the American Red Cross and the La Grange Public Library,” Jaime Sandoval stated. “It is becoming a trend for clients to hear of Harrington College of Design and what we do in our classes. They contact Brad Kisner, Department Chair of Communication Design and build new partnerships. I find these partnerships to be very rewarding and an incredible experience for the students in my class and for myself.”

 

Brad Kisner went on to add, “The clients are already lined up for the next two semesters and there is something very exciting about the range of clients that contact us. Jaime is extremely motivated to work with a diverse client base and that excitement is reflected by his students. He creates a very unique chemistry in class among them and with the clients.”

With a recipe of motivation, talent and professionalism, Harrington College of Design students are branding both the city of Chicago, its suburbs and beyond; leaving them with the opportunity to say to their potential employers, family and friends, “When I was in college, I designed that brand identity.”

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Research and the Red Cross: Communication Design students from the Harrington College of Design take on two Distinct Clients (Part II)

Feature adapted from Spring 2010, Volume 2 Artistik Newsletter, written by Jaime Sandoval and Brad Kisner

The Communication Design Department at Harrington College of Design believes exposing students to real life experiences is one of the best teaching methodologies. In VSC302, Logos and Corporate Identity, the students get to work with real clients. Led by instructor Jaime Sandoval during the Fall 2009 semester, students not only aided in the design of a cross-brand logo (see yesterday’s post!) but also designed a complete identity system for La Grange Public Library. 

 Harrington Communication Design students were asked to create the identity system with the La Grange’s Public Library’s mission in mind.

Students worked through the design process all of the way to midterm week, when the final La Grange logo was selected by four library employees and eight board members. Communication Design student Cari Hogan’s design was chosen as the library’s new identity.

The project then continued with students tasked with creating a complete identity system using the chosen logo. The final project included designing stationary for the library, studies for the bookmark, a library card, an e-mail template, an e-mail signature, an 8.5” x 11” flyer, a tri-fold brochure, a print newsletter (distributed to 6,700 households) and library shelf end panels. “Thanksgiving week came and students were so enthusiastic about the project that they didn’t want to take the holiday off, since they still had to develop an entire identity guide,” Sandoval commented. “The holiday left us with two weeks for final design revisions and to create what turned out to be an eighty-one page identity style guide.”

The La Grange Library was very enthusiastic about the process from the start. Jeannie Dilger-Hill, Library Director said, “We were impressed with both the quality and quantity of the students’ work. Being presented with so many outstanding design options made it a challenge to choose the final designs for the library. In addition, the students exhibited professionalism throughout the process. They listened to our needs and desires, and the work showed their attention to detail.”

 

Graphics courtesy Harrington College of Design class VSC302, Logos and Corporate Identity

Keep reading for the wrap-up of what’s to come tomorrow…

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