UPH Visual Communication Design
Passionate, Brighter, and Transformational
On Saturday, August 31, 2024, VCD UPH held a gathering at Yugo Restaurant, Hotel Vega, Gading Serpong. This event was organized to launch the latest Final Project book, “EPOCH“, and also to celebrate the graduation of VCD UPH students who completed their studies in the 2023/2024 academic year.
Hello everyone, I’m Angelyn Aurelia, a graduate specializing in Graphic Design from the class of 2020. Currently, I work as a freelance graphic designer and am interning at a design agency.
During my studies in the Visual Communication Design department at UPH, I learned extensively about the fundamentals of design, particularly in composition and technical skills, which I have unknowingly continued to apply in my design work to this day. Additionally, I gained new insights into the creative industry and the challenges I would face after graduation.
The desire to continue learning and exploring deeper into the design process made courses like Basic Studio 2 and Graphic Design 3 incredibly memorable experiences for me. I found brainstorming sessions particularly fascinating because they allowed me to explore new ideas that often resulted in unexpected solutions. This process of ideation will continue to be applied in many design projects, including those in Graphic Design 3. Developing designs for new brands that stand out among competitors while meeting client briefs required ideational exploration. This course also necessitated interaction with students from other disciplines acting as clients, providing insights into effective client communication, delivering design concepts that align with briefs, and designing to highlight brand uniqueness. These learning experiences have been invaluable, especially as I began working and directly engaging with clients.
The creative experiences and guidance I received during my time at UPH inspired me to share them with others, as these experiences helped me become more courageous in realizing ideas and anticipating future creative journeys. The enjoyable journey of studies always came with challenges. Therefore, the quote from Ben Carson, “Do your best and let God do the rest,” has been a source of strength and a meaningful reminder for me to this day.
See Angelyn’s Final project in Epoch.
Highlights of an undergraduate student’s studies are their final projects. A student’s final project is a culmination of their interest and mastery of a certain aspect they wish to explore and pursue. Therefore, this archive is more than just images of visuals that the students have created; it is a representation of their existence as visual communication design students. The tradition of archiving students’ final projects is a testament to the department’s aspiration to appreciate all the work that the students have done, each unique in its own time.
“Epoch” represents the beginning of a distinctive period in the history of someone or something. The term was selected as this book describes the transition, or perhaps the new beginning, of the students’ journeys as visual communication design graduates. As the students complete their final projects, they embark on a new epoch in life: as designers in the outside world. As designers who have graduated, we hope that each of our students may be able to be a blessing in their light and their new world.
Leaving school has always been a prominent change for all students. Many look forward to it, but some may feel that they aren’t ready for it. Dear students, life is full of various seasons, and each season or era is an opportunity to grow in its own way.
Epoch also marks a new era for the department. The previous final project archive showcased the three concentrations: graphic design, cinematography, and animation. In this archive, we also showcase the first graduates of the illustration concentration, which may provide a new nuance to the diverse projects shown in these archives.
Not just about the new concentration, Epoch also marks the end of the ‘pandemic’ era of final projects. Previous archives (“Salute,” “See-saw,” and “Book of Acts”) showcased works that were completed during the COVID-19 pandemic or by students who spent more than half of their study online and in quarantine. We hope that the return to a more optimal learning experience correlates with higher quality projects in this book.
And so, we hope that Epoch may continue to inspire readers through the diverse works showcased. We also hope that the end of an era can teach us to move forward in a better direction: to pursue the best, remember the good, and leave out the rest.
Brian Alvin Hananto, S.Sn., M.Ds.
Head of Visual Communication Design Department
Universitas Pelita Harapan