Art Institute Summer Studio
Can learning the creative industries be fun? High school teens found out at Summer Studio in Portland Oregon and Salt Lake City.
At Art Institutes in Portland, Oregon and Salt Lake City high school students got a taste of what it’s like to be a professional designer at the school’s annual “Summer Studio.” This week-long program gave youth a choice of programs from fashion design and marketing to video, photography, animation, and interior design.
Though students collaborated in groups with their peers based on their chosen industry, each discipline worked on a unified design challenge presented to them by faculty at the beginning of the week.
For ten years, from 2007 – 2017, our founder developed and led Summer Studio workshops in collaboration with faculty and the admissions department at the campus.
Laying the Groundwork: Framing the Creative Challenge
Developing Client Focus and Solving Problems
The world of creative industries differs from traditional fine art. Students shift their perspective from what they’ve learned in past art classes, applying their creativity to real-world communication and design challenges, exploring ways to solve problems that others face.
Each year, the faculty and staff developed a theme for the event. For example, when the theme was “Rock Band,” interior designers planned the layout of a recording studio and hangout space, photographers styled lighting and directed photo shoots, and animators produced a music video.
By learning to see and create through someone else’s lens, students gained insight into the day-to-day work of professionals in the creative industries.
The following deck introduced the 2010 design challenge before students began their projects.
Students worked diligently throughout the week, producing mood boards, story boards, mockups, launch or promotion plans, posters, animations and other designs.
At the end of the week, this video, filmed by our team and edited during the week of production, showcased the work students put in prior to presenting their projects.
Ready to develop and document meaningful workshops that impact careers and change lives?
Contact Murdock Media Production today. We’ll help you develop your program from concept through implementation, and document the work for your portfolio along the way.