Graphic Design was introduced into the Journalism Program in Spring 2003, but it has quickly served as a springboard into exciting advanced projects for many students. Jimmy Kuruvilla (Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia) worked for the Knox College PR Department, and Veronica Kehoss (Mequon, WI) completed a summer internship in photography and graphic design with Milwaukee Magazine. Devin Hogan (Lemont, IL) and Chris Etheridge (Stillman Valley, IL) won an honorable mention in the 2004 Illinois College Press Association competition for their design of the sports section of The Knox Student. Three students completed independent studies in graphic design in Winter 2004: Tracy Vahlkamp (Belleville, IL) produced the magazine that this website is based on; Kris Bjork (Mount Vernon, IA) completed redesigns for two Galesburg monthly magazines—Progressive Women and Compass Magazine—and did layouts for four issues (along with copy-editing stories for The Paper); and Helen Kilian (Wamego, KS) produced a children’s activity book for the Galesburg Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The portal to these accomplishments was Graphic Design and Electronic Publishing, taught by instructors Rob and Lori Reed, who also own their own graphic design company. The course surveys the history, theory and techniques of graphic design and electronic publishing, with a focus on print media. By working on real-world projects, students learn publication design and photo editing, using Macintosh computers and the software of QuarkXPress, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator.

Class assignments included a flyer and postcard to promote an upcoming show at the Galesburg Civic Art Center. From the student submissions, the art center director chose a flyer to send to grade school children and a postcard for a membership mailing. For the mid-term project, each student produced an 11x17 poster in the style of a significant graphic artist and gave a presentation on his/her impact on the field. Finished posters were displayed in the College library. For their final project, students produced a cover and several two-page spreads for a magazine of their own design.

Mid-term posters, clockwise from top left, outside: "Roy Lichtenstein" by Alan Vest (Grafton, IL), "Kurt Schwitters" by Tracy Vahlkamp (Belleville, IL), "Kazumasa Nagai" by Phan Nguyen (Hanoi, Vietnam), and "Herbert Bayer" by Kurt Sheffer (Wilmette, IL).