Throughout the year, USD’s American Institute for Graphic Arts (AIGA) chapter used creativity and ingenuity to make different designs and products to celebrate USD.
Through sweatshirts and stickers to design competitions, AIGA spread the word about their group through social media throughout the year.
For the last six years, AIGA has created USD’s Dakota Days sweatshirts to raise money for their annual spring break trip.
The sweatshirts, coined “Verm Drinking Team sweatshirts” sold out this fall as AIGA sold more than 350 shirts and created a Teespring website to create more revenue.
Tyson Schultz, AIGA president and a creator of the 2019 Verm Drinking Team sweatshirts, used social media to promote the sweatshirts which featured a twist on Calvin Klein’s “In my Calvin’s ad campaign.
“We really wanted to make a push with a campaign and we were really successful with our marketing this year,” Schultz said.
After D-Days, AIGA turned its focus to the Design Jam Color Clash graphic design competition against South Dakota State University.
The competition was held the same weekend as the USD versus SDSU football game, but Schultz said the competition was bigger than the rivalry.
“The other designers at State are going to be our future peers and coworkers, so it’s important to reach over the SDSU and USD rivalry and create connections,” Schultz said.
The competition was attended by student and professional artists and was a good opportunity to meet professionals in the industry, Schultz said.
Leading up to Spring Break, AIGA held different Student Art Sales which featured art from many different student artists in the USD Art Department. The proceeds from the sales helped fund AIGA projects and trips.
Before Spring Break, AIGA sold limited edition Drinking Team shirts for Valentine’s Day and Spring Break.
The Valentine’s Day twist on the iconic Drinking Team shirts also sold out this year.
The Spring Break shirts were sold in bright neon colors and featured Charlie Coyote with sunglasses — creating a summer theme on the original Drinking Team shirts.
During March, AIGA sponsored the Design March Madness Skateboard competition where USD artists could submit their own design for skateboards.
The competition was run through Instagram, where people could vote on which design they liked best.
“We really want to emphasize that it is all fun and games, but we always reach over to create connections,” Schultz said.
Since the cancellation of classes, AIGA has not been able to meet and continue to create shirts and products to fund their organization, but look to continue the traditions next year, Schultz said.
