Core77

Hello! I am Adrian Politzer, and I am in the 2020 graduating class at the UIC School of Design. I am a graphic designer, a writer, a musician, and an artist. My practice investigates the origins, limitations, and possible extensions of different media. I embrace inherent constraints and also strive to overcome them. During my final year thesis course, I produced (1) an interactive website that demonstrates how users' actions can be thwarted by design, (2) a Risograph-printed psychedelic mushroom-trip guide, including a 4-color pullout 'mandala,' and (3) a generative original poem, video piece, and spoken performance. My personal journey in meditation and mindfulness fosters patience, and enables me to look beyond the given and trust the organic process that distinguishes my work.

Bethany is a Chicago native, designer and artist—currently in her last year pursuing a Bachelors in Industrial and Graphic Design and a Minor in Art at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has served as the Chair on both IDSA and AIGA student chapters during her time at UIC and currently leads visual communication on the non-profit Advanced Design. She has worked with brands including Holly Hunt, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Wrigley, Pampered Chef, Coca Cola, and more. She is currently working with Flowspoke as a graphic and UI designer. Bethany is interested in the intersection of design, art, and other practices and believes in creating work that reflects such ideologies through an interdisciplinary approach that encompasses brand, product, experience, and more.

I am a graphic/motion designer based in Chicago and a recent graduate from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a bachelor's degree in graphic design. I am always intrigued by new media and the intersection of design and technology. My current interests are in virtual/augmented reality, motion graphics and 360 video.

One of my favorite projects during my undergraduate studies was using Unity to create TRNQWRLD, an immersive VR experience in UIC's CAVE2 VR simulator. TRNQWRLD explores nature in abstraction with the use of calming colors, organic shapes, and animals. The project gives the audience a chance to experience the true wonders of nature through virtual reality. Seeing the many reactions to the project always brings me joy. TRNQWRLD is a regular demo in the UIC Electronic Visualization Laboratory, as well as it was recognized in a student vr exhibit at the Video Game and Art Gallery in Chicago.

Hey there, I'm Sarah, a recent graphic design graduate from UIC! My journey into graphic design started with drawing and painting, and I strive to keep that background present in my work today. The work presented here stems from my exploration into the idea that disruption is vital.

We are used to seeing things in a certain way. We expect a degree of fidelity and cohesion. But design is inherently experimental, and designers continue to disrupt, or reimagine, what design is. (Let's face it, the discipline is impossible to pin down. It's this, it's that, and so on.) I start with the unified and the expected, then break it apart, creating jarring images that aim to startle, mesmerize, and intrigue the viewer; arresting and sustaining their attention for a prolonged period of time. While unexpected and eclectic, I seek to create harmony from dissonant fragments, and to deepen the visual experience with the addition of poetic language that, in a way, makes sense of nonsense. Trained as a visual artist as well as a graphic designer, I prefer to work on an iPad with a pen; it's more natural to use my drawing hand rather than fingers on a keyboard. In this way I endeavor to create mis-matched wholes from independent fragments; breathe new, startling life into the antiquated and familiar; to produce what I call elegant fusions.

Being deaf is hard. Many of those inflicted with deafness struggle within their own home to recognize important sounds that help them navigate life. Although there are many devices out there that do alert deaf people of sounds around the home, many of them take up unnecessary space and fail to be an all in one solution for sounds throughout the whole home. The HearRing Gem is a product that integrates itself seamlessly into the daily lives of a deaf person. The HearRing Gem alerts those with hearing loss of important sounds around their home by flashing an LED light while displaying icons or vibrating. The HearRing Gem fits perfectly into the palm of your hand, in your pockets, under your pillow or can even be mounted to your wall. The user can change the position of the gem as well. The HearRing Gem contains a hidden hinge allowing the user to adjust the LED screen into an upright position when displayed on a flat surface. The HearRing Gem also connects to the HearRing app, which you can use to customize alerts and manage your HearRing devices. Users can customize the alerts by color, icon while also managing whether they want the HearRing Gem to glow or vibrate. One HearRing Gem can pick up all of the sounds that happen in a single room. The user can also connect different rooms' HearRing Gems to each other and be alerted of sounds happening in multiple rooms at once.