Meet Our Student of the Month: Adrian Martinez

Each month, WhatTheyTh!nk, in partnership with The Foundation for Graphic Communication Education (formerly the Print & Graphics Scholarship Foundation), profiles a promising student in a graphic communications or related program. The goal is to raise awareness of graphic communications programs, as well as help students like Adrian Martinez get a “leg up” on entering the industry after graduation.

This month’s Student of the Month is Adrian Martinez, a third-year student at the Illinois State University majoring in Graphic Communications Technology. Hailing from Chicago, Adrian got into the graphic arts via photography. “Back in high school, I had taken a photography class that had to do with a lot of taking pictures out in the field, and then taking them back and editing them on Adobe software,” he said. “Then in my senior year, I took a graphic design course that really made me fall in love with the idea of digital art and graphic design.”

He says he is more drawn to digital art than the “hands on” printing side of design. “I love using the Adobe Suite software—Photoshop, Illustrator, all that kind of stuff,” he said. “Obviously, I use that software a lot for my classes and my major, but at the same time, I’ve been using them for my fraternity, making graphics for marketing and promotional stuff that we would post on our social media. I found that really, really enjoyable.” Adrian served as head of recruitment for his fraternity this year, and had previously been VP of recruitment and public relations chair.

As has been the case with a number of our Students of the Month, part of the academic experience involves packaging, and in one of his classes Adrian co-led a team in a Make48 Packaging Competition. The class was divided into four teams, each of which had to choose a consumer product and redesign the packaging to eliminate plastic and make it reusable and more environmentally friendly. These four teams would compete with teams from other schools. His team selected a DeWalt drill bit set—after some effort finding a set that DeWalt was still producing. Finally landing on a suitable product, said Adrian, “we designed a simple box with a foam interior that fits the bits perfectly. We did a shake test to make sure nothing would fall out.”

Although Adrian’s team did not win the competition—but one of the teams in his class did—he still found it a great experience, “not only competing with other schools and other levels of the Graphic Communication Department, but it was just a great experience for all of us to learn how the whole process is of getting an object or a product and learning how to package it the best way possible.”

Still, Adrian doesn’t find himself drawn to packaging per se. “Academically, it was kind fun,” he said. “It interested me in the sense of mainly just designing the packaging.” He has also been able to use what he is learning in a color management class. “That’s a big part of the design aspect, what colors you use, what kind of designs you want to put on a certain type  packaging, and then inevitably getting it sent to prepress and then through the press itself.”

Read the Full Artcle about Adrian Martinez Here

Watch Adrian’s interview with WhatTheyTh!nk Here

Learn more about The FGCE Here