Graphic design sophomore Ava Liepert is grateful to San Diego State for the artistic outlets it has provided her.
Liepert said growing up watching shows like “Project Runway” and “America’s Next Top Model” sparked her interest in fashion design. After she took an introductory graphic design class in high school, she realized digital art allowed her to create her own graphics and fashion designs, but she wasn’t able to materialize them yet.
“Graphic design allows me to express myself because I feel like I can show my own personal interests and likes or dislikes through my art,” Liepert said. “Especially on the edits I’ve made of myself where I get to tie in fashion and photography.”
Once she came to San Diego State, Liepert was able to delve more into her passion for linking digital art with fashion. She originally chose SDSU because of its reputable graphic design program.
In college, Liepert has also had the chance to materialize her fashion designs. She joined the sorority Gamma Phi Beta during her freshman year, and a year later, she ran for the position of T-shirt chair. The position lets her print her designs onto shirts and utilize the skills she’s learned in her classes.
“I was so excited to take this opportunity to make original designs for Gamma Phi Beta,” Liepert said. “It’s not a requirement of the position to create your own work … but I really wanted to push myself and do them. It’s super rewarding to see the finished T-shirts in person.”
Liepert hopes that the experience this position is giving her will help with her career aspirations. She hopes to find work either creating fashion catalogues, doing billboard branding or advertising for a fashion company.
This year, she said her classes have developed her skills in typography, Adobe Indesign and Illustrator, and have furthered her digital media knowledge.
“Graphic design (in both digital and print) usually is comprised of a typographic element, so it is crucial for our design students to have a strong type understanding and skill base,” Beth Weeks, Liepert’s professor in Art 242, said. “Ava is doing well in the class. Her work has been creative and strong aesthetically.”
YouTube is another creative outlet Liepert uses for her designs. She incorporates them into the thumbnails, the channel cover and the opening and closing title cards to make her college vlogs more unique. Her channel’s name is “Ava Hanna.”
