CCS Earns Recognition Across Disciplines at Renowned Design Competition

Multiple CCS students and alumni were recognized in this year’s Communication Arts Design Competition. More than 400 projects were submitted and 152 projects were selected by a panel of judges — including projects from CCS students and alumni. 

This competition was created to recognize the best in visual communications worldwide.

Communication Design Junior, Luke Fabricatore, was awarded an Interaction Award for his historical research project on Susan Kare — created in DGD 211: Intro to Communication Design with Susan LaPorte. Kare was best known for her work on the first Apple Macintosh computer, and worked to build technology that was friendlier — designing iconography, digital typefaces, and window panel designs.

Fabricatore studied her work across decades and composed it into a new format — designing a website that acts as a timeline. He designed the user interface, and coded the user experience. His project will be featured in the March/April 2023 issue of Communication Arts, both digital and print.

Alumnus Thomas McElmeel (‘22, Communication Design) was shortlisted for his project, “Language is Survival.” McElmeel developed an interactive pathway for exploring and translating the Anishinaabemowin language through classic and contemporary Native stories. This was McElmeel’s student project, created in a Fall 2021 CCS sponsored studio course that was then, among other projects, on display at the Detroit Historical Society.

Advertising Design alumni were awarded for their projects created in CCS courses —  “Bang & Olufsen,” a digital campaign by Stephen Sinacori and Adam Dellavecchia, and Adobe “Imagine Something Wonderful,” a branded entertainment advertisement by Andrea Dunn and Skye Scaglione. 

Communications Arts was created to increase diversity in visual communications, and in its 56th year, it has posed as a premier source for graphic designers, art directors, design firms, corporate design departments, advertising agencies, interactive designers, illustrators and photographers.