Graphic design students will get a leg up for the future with an upcoming event aimed at guiding them in a personalized direction toward success.
Ligature 25 starts Friday from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. and ends Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. It includes two guest speakers, a gallery reception, creative workshops and portfolio reviews.
The event is the product of directors Esteban Arturo, 23, and Sidney Sue Howard, 22, both UF graphic design seniors. Both were given these positions through the club voxGraphis, which caters to students with a “love for graphic design and want to engage in an active design community,” according to its website.
The event’s theme focuses on the ideation, process and endless iterations it takes to get to a final product, according to Ligature 25’s website.
Frankie Ratford, a designer and entrepreneur, and Will Bryant, an illustrator and designer, will lecture Friday from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in Fine Arts Building B, Room 105.
Ratford, 32, is the director of her company, The Design Kids. Her company is devoted to bridging the gap between college students and the graphic design industry.
Ratford has been traveling to cities in Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. to interview professional graphic designers and communicate to colleges, design studios and creative businesses on how to transition into the industry.
Ratford said she is currently road-tripping around the U.S. and Canada for 18 months in Sunny, an RV designed by Bryant.
In her lecture, Ratford will connect her purpose with The Design Kids and Ligature 25’s theme.
Using the same principles and processes as a client or school brief, she will talk about gathering research, developing the work and executing the final product, with a large focus on the journey as well as the end destination, Ratford said.
Bryant will be giving a brief overview of his own work before diving into advice for young designers.
“I will be talking about a range of topics including making personal work, the importance of broadening your influences, empowering the role of the student, how to send a good email and finding your voice,” Bryant said.
The event will then transition into the Gary R. Libby Gallery in Fine Arts Building C from 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday.
There will be 36 submitted art pieces on display, Ratford said.
Ratford and Bryant judged a competitive pool of 97 art pieces and selected 36 to be shown in the gallery, Ratford said. The judges will award titles to five artists.
The submissions were mostly from UF graphic design students ranging from sophomores to graduates.
Ratford and Bryant will each lead a workshop of about 25 graphic design students in Infinity Hall on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Ratford said.
In Ratford’s workshop, she plans to focus on student’s personal strengths, talking through 20 possible jobs and brainstorming what the design community in Gainesville could provide for each of them.
In Bryant’s workshop, he will be covering the differences between concept and variation through visual experiments.
The group will “exercise the notion that iteration leads to discovery,” Bryant said.
UF alumni from all over the country, as well as the guest speakers, will be reviewing portfolios of students who signed up in advance.
UF alumna Natalie Suarez, 24, currently works as a graphic designer for Rhyme & Reason Design. In 2014, she was president of voxGraphis and was involved in the production of Ligature 23.
“As a designer, it’s very important to constantly be talking about your work with others and how to make it better,” Suarez said, “so having a portfolio review by the guest designers or other alumni is so important in helping the students grow.”
