Organizations

 

Graphic Design Society of Creative Excellence

This is a group of outstanding graphic design and design studies students, including scholarship winners, who are invited to join by faculty. Applicants submit current work in a competitive portfolio examination, usually held in mid-February. Membership in this group represents the best students from all levels of Graphic Design.

 

Design Focus

Design Focus is open to any students interested in graphic design. The organization promotes excellence in design education through on-campus speakers from the professional design community, special events and service projects. Design Focus subsidizes student fees for design conferences and competitions.

 

Other Professional Associations

Graphic Design holds close associations with local, regional and national professional organizations. These include the American Advertising Federation (AAF), the Dallas Society of Visual Communication (DSVC) — the largest art directors’ club in the nation, the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), the Fort Worth Creative Co-op, the Creative Circles Conference, the Texas State Creative Summit and other groups.

DSVC offers a discounted student membership, covering free admission to monthly meetings, informational mailings and collateral material, access to internship and job placement services and more. DSVC also sponsors a national student design conference each spring. This event includes a student competition, prominent speakers from all over the world and valuable portfolio workshops. While participants come from all over, the conference is a mere 30 miles from TCU, making it accessible and affordable.

The AAF offers an annual student competition with opportunities from local, regional and national levels.

The Creative Summit is a major regional student design conference and competition held at Texas State University.

Students regularly participate in DSVC monthly meetings and annual competitions such as the AAF Fort Worth Annual Student Design Competition, Graphis New Talent Annual International Competition and other professionally-relevant events.