For Ellen Lupton, her love for graphic design began at a young age. As a child, she grew up reading Richard Scarry’s “Busytown,” learning how to associate the images that she saw on the page to words in the story.
“This formed my love of words and pictures going together and living in a word of labels,” Lupton said.
It was only when she went to art school at Coopers Union in New York City she learned what it truly meant to be a graphic designer and how much she enjoyed practicing the art form.
“Graphic design was exciting to me because it was something that people needed,” she said.
Lupton, author of “Thinking With Type” and “Graphic Designer: The New Basics,” visited the campus on Wednesday, April 23, to give a lecture on the evolution and constantly changing field of graphic design.
“We’re expected to work faster, often for less money,” Lupton said. “More temporary employment, less health insurance, more software updates, more ‘as you wait’ graphic design, more clients wanting to look over your shoulder.”
In this new world of technology, graphic designers have abandoned the myriad of tools that they have used in the past for computer software.
In this ever-changing field, Lupton aims to help students through her books and her advice during lectures.
“I dedicated a lot of my life to writing and creating books about design intended to be tools for designers,” she said.
Her lecture provided many graphic design students in the audience with useful advice on how to better their craft.
“I thought it was fantastic,” junior graphic design major Tim Grimscom said. “I began to reconsider things I’ve done in the past.”
Lupton’s often humorous presentation attracted students of all majors at the College who were interested in all aspects of graphic design.
“I thought it was very interesting. She made a lot of good jokes,” senior psychology major Marissa Bryant said about Lupton’s presentation.
