MSUSND

We started out small. When we were kids, computers were thousands of dollars and out of reach. The only way we were going to create the perfect layout for our trifold posters was by hand. If you wanted to pick the perfect complementary color spectrum, you would start by opening a 64-color pack of Crayola crayons and doing your very best to keep it between the lines. And if you were going to align the elements in your baseline grid, you had to meticulously draw out each line and hope that your ruler wouldn’t slip as you drew the pencil across.

And so, we return to our roots. We practice the fundamentals so we can work towards a greater understanding of the big picture. This year, we challenge you to take it back to where it all started. Pull out your old infographics and reimagine the possibilities. Revisit an old newspaper or magazine, and see how far you have come. With each project, our successes grow in both quantity and quality.

Start out small. Reimagine. Reinvent.

Back to Basics.

The Michigan State University Design Contest for College Students began in 2000 as a way for students to enter work done not only for a campus publication, but also projects done for a class, a job or an internship.

There are a number of beginning student designers who have demonstrated incredible talent, but they do so in the classroom or at a part-time job. In much the same way, some of the most talented visual journalists—for a variety of reasons—do not work at their campus newspaper. These students are usually ineligible for other college design competitions, where contest rules often limit entries to work done for a student newspaper or magazine. The MSU Design Contest was established to give those other students a voice in a national competition.

This will be the final design contest run at Michigan State University. However, this will not be the end of the MSUSND design contest for students as you know it. More details to come.

Congrats to the winners, and thank you to all who entered!