By Saveria Symons
West Windsor, N.J. – This spring, seven teams of Mercer County Community College (MCCC) advertising design students had their eyes on the arts. Each developed marketing campaigns for the Mercer County Cultural & Heritage Commission’s “Eyes on Mercer” arts initiative, taking place October 15-17, 2010. The arts, history and culture of Mercer County will be the focus of this weekend-long event. The student work was judged by a panel of experts on May 10; two teams tied for first place.
Using a variety of mediums mastered throughout four semesters of study, the students presented print advertising pieces such as transit and rail posters, public relations media kits, web and new media materials and other promotional items for the event’s launch. Judging the work were three Mercer County Cultural & Heritage Commissioners, Nora Anonos, Deborah Ford, Laura Desai, Division of Culture and Heritage staff members Idamis Pérez Margicin, Tricia Fagan and Martha Runyon, and MCCC Graphic Designer Tracy Patterson. Instructors for the advertising design students included Associate Professor Tina LaPlaca, MCCC Senior Graphic Designer Francis Paixao and Adjunct Faculty member Diane Webster.
Each year, Mercer’s advertising design students choose a nonprofit or governmental organization that can benefit from their pro-bono design work. “It is a rewarding experience for both students and clients to participate in this creative exchange. Our students benefit from having a “real” client relationship that is hard to duplicate in a college setting.” said LaPlaca. “Their collective creativity produced amazing campaigns. I am very proud of their accomplishments.”
According to Division of Culture and Heritage Chief Margicin, the presentations were all extraordinary, which made the selection for first place extremely difficult. “We are excited about using ideas developed by MCCC students,” she said. “All of their presentations were outstanding and extremely professional; Mercer has a great program.”
Commissioner Anonos concurred. “As a professional graphic designer, I really appreciated the students’ fresh ideas and emphasis on team work, which is such a valuable lesson for young people entering this field,” she said.
The Mercer County Cultural and Heritage Commission supports a wide range of artistic activities and projects within the county through special programming and financial grants to local arts and historical organizations. Special emphasis is placed on promoting public interest in local and county history, the visual and performing arts, and the cultural values, goals and traditions of the community.
Pictured is one of the two winning teams. From left are Division of Culture and Heritage staff member Tricia Fagan, MCCC Associate Professor Tina LaPlaca, students Kerry Friedman, Sarah Siddall, Christopher Moore and Natalia Aviles, Division staff member Martha Runyon and Division Chief Idamis Perez Margicin with Commissioner Nora Ananos.
