If you’ve visited campus lately, it’s likely that you’ve noticed the bright, newly wrapped buses driving around! Now known as the RMCAD Caravans, these wonderful new designs are thanks to the hard work of RMCAD’s Summer A 2024 Design Systems students, Angel Bautista, Owen Campbell, Matthew Fulton, and Cameron Fushimi. These four students worked tirelessly over their 8-week term in order to embrace creativity and overcome hurdles placed before them.
While sitting down with Bautista and Campbell, they described their experiences around the daunting task of working on a canvas such as the RMCAD vehicles. This extremely unique challenge forced them to step outside of their comfort zones, get creative, and pivot when needed in order to succeed on their project. One not only going to be seen by the RMCAD community, but the Denver Metro Area as well.
The Class Behind the Creation
RMCAD’s Design Systems course is offered every term, and focuses on real world application through design and branding. Typically, this class will work with real world clients who may have a variety of needs, from full brand creation to brand guides, logos, system of illustrations, or graphics. Professor Leah Chutz shared, “This [class] really allows students to understand what it entails to create a whole system and not just a logo. We talked a lot about brand positioning, and the different ideas of what the brand needs to be and say, visually.”
This time around, Professor Chutz says that RMCAD approached the class with the opportunity for not only a full redesign of the buses, but a rebrand as well. The students began meeting with the RMCAD marketing department weekly to ensure their designs and caravan branding were staying on track. This aspect of the class helped students learn how to handle client check-ins when they enter the real world as graphic designers. Additionally, the students had to consider ways in which the brand might expand in the future, such as stickers, apparel, or social media applications. With their client and branding needs determined, the students swiftly began their long journey ahead, and started the brainstorming process.
Students At Work
The students started from the ground up, and used vision and mood boards to display each of their own initial ideas for the wrap design. Campbell remarked, “It was surprising how effective the mood boards and vision boards were. I usually just go straight into sketching and that can take a long time because you’re constantly changing things.” Each student included five words on their boards, with color palettes for each. Coming together as a class, they discussed and critiqued their boards until they narrowed it down to three words that would serve as the foundation of their designs: Community, Safety, and Inspiration.
As part of the project research, students took a deeper dive into RMCAD’s brand to best determine which logo and design could properly represent the community. They were surprised to make an unexpected discovery. “Each department had their own color that was rarely used because most of the branding is focused on orange, gray, and white,” explained Campbell. “So, it was a fun discovery to find that each department is unique with the color it brings to the table, so that’s what we focused on for our color palette.”
Using those words and colors, they set out to create their own individual designs. After working on their own, they came together to share their ideas and mold and mesh their concept. Bautista and Campbell described how tricky the process was at first, having to determine the best direction to go. With each student having their own unique style and accustomed to working individually, the process was difficult. However, both students expressed their gratitude for getting to experience the challenge.
“Group projects like this really help an artist, or anyone, overcome negative feelings too. Even if your design doesn’t get picked, at least you’re able to be a part of the whole experience.” Bautista shared. In reality, it is rare that an artist works alone on a project this size, which was evident in their class trip to Ink Monstr.
A Class Trip To Inspire
As part of the project, the class took a field trip to Ink Monstr, a large format printing company based in Denver, CO. As a company specializing in custom graphic designs and large-scale printing services such as banners, wall wraps, and vehicle wraps, the students gained a lot of knowledge for their project within this trip. Campbell shared, “We got to meet a lot of different people that we are not usually introduced to. People that do a lot of manual application and marketing. You see how important all of these jobs are in creating one finished product. It’s not just an artist doing it all.”
Despite the overall excitement of getting to redesign the RMCAD caravans, the team had to stop and consider the smaller details and challenges that they might encounter with a project as unique as this. “[The trip] helped us understand how the wrapping is actually executed. How it’s best to line up your design with the structure and shape of the vehicle.” Campbell remarked. The students discussed these challenges they hadn’t considered before with the Ink Monstr team. The seams, doors, and windows of the vehicle had to be taken into account to make the wrap as seamless as possible across the entire vehicle. This led to having to tweak a lot more minuscule details on the final design than they originally expected.
Bautista described that as a previous bus rider herself, she noticed some of the vehicle’s old window designs resulted in a more dim and dark interior. A not so fun mood for gloomy or rainy days. This was an incredibly helpful insight for their final design, as the team agreed to leave the windows blank to avoid this conundrum. Additionally, the Ink Monstr team walked the students through different options for bus wrap materials and how this might affect the final coloring and appearance of the caravan.
Bautista and Campbell expressed how grateful they were for this hands-on experience and the opportunity to discuss these topics with the experienced workers at Ink Monstr. They explained that it not only made the project more tangible, but helped them understand the practical aspects of design and branding that they would not have otherwise considered. Campbell stated, “It’s different when you’re doing just a 3D model or a 2D model, versus actually seeing it on the finished product, so we did have to pivot in a few spots to make sure everything worked seamlessly.”
Turning Ideas Into Art
Bautista and Campbell emphasized that wanting to properly represent the RMCAD community was constantly at the forefront of their minds and designs. They explained how their final logo and caravan design contained an aspect of each of their individual designs, big and small. “Once we did land on something, we did really well playing off of each other and expanding that concept.” Campbell said. Constructive critiques from one student to another helped shape their changes and artistic choices, and helped bring out each student’s best work, which ultimately led to the strongest final design.
The two shared that by the end of the 8-week course, they were extremely excited and enthusiastic about the design they created with their classmates. Despite being tasked with such a large-scale project, they were proud of what they accomplished throughout the term. “It really helped open up our eyes because we did so much within these eight weeks.” Bautista shared.
The students have since been praised by faculty, staff, and students for their hard work on the vehicles, known as the RMCAD Caravans, for their extensive thought and effort that contributed to the final design, now cruising around campus.
Beyond The Bus
Within the Design Systems class, the students used their creativity and community involvement in new ways they hadn’t considered before. Campbell stated, “It opened my eyes to more of a corporate artistic position that I haven’t really been exposed to otherwise.” Despite the initial daunting nature of the assignment, Bautista and Campbell discussed the elation they felt in completing such an important community project such as this.
Campbell explained how the whole experience has helped him when thinking about his future. “It gives you an introduction to the real world. It’s different when you’re learning something in a classroom versus when you’re actually practicing it for real. I think it made us all stronger as artists. Stronger employees for our futures.” By reimagining these everyday vehicles, these students showcased the range of their artistic abilities and imaginations. As their redesigned buses take to the Denver streets, they stand as a welcome reminder of the daily creativity just waiting to be explored at RMCAD, and in the words of Campbell, “There’s a reason why teamwork makes the dream work.”
Explore Graphic Design At RMCAD
Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design’s Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design allows students to gain hands-on experience inside and outside of the classroom. In this career focused program, you’ll explore a variety of projects and topics that help you take your knowledge and talent to the next level – all while building a comprehensive portfolio of your own unique work. Learn more about our on-campus or online graphic design program by getting in touch today, or get started by filling out your online application for admission.
Many of the quotes in this story have been edited for brevity and clarity by the author, but retain the significance and purpose of the original speaker.