Photo by Laura Tode IR Staff - Carroll College senior Shannon O'Brien's brochure design was recently adopted by the Helena Ad Club. The project started as a class assignment in her desktop publishing class.

Carroll student has flair for design

By LAURA TODE - IR Staff Writer - 11/14/03

Last year, Carroll student Shannon O'Brien needed to fill her arts requirement for graduation, and being a computer science and mathematics major, she automatically turned to a desktop publishing class to get the requirement out of the way.

What she didn't know that first day of class, was that she had a natural flair for computer-aided design and her work would one day be in use.

To link learning with real-world experience, O'Brien's teacher, Linda McCray, presented both sections of the desktop publishing class with a series of assignments to redesign print materials for local nonprofit organizations.

One of her students' first projects was a redesign of the brochure used by the Helena Ad Club, a local group of advertising and marketing professionals.

"I just had a regular sheet of paper — eight and a half by 11 — and she just gave us the assignment. I looked at the A and I just thought of the triangle, and it all came through," O'Brien said.

Her design, in bold black and white, and folded into a triangle, was adopted last spring by the organization's board of directors, and the Helena Ad Club met Wednesday evening at the Myrna Loy for the unveiling of the new brochure and a viewing of the Clio Awards — advertising's answer to the Oscars.

The new brochures were well received by the group, and most members gathered up a handful to take with them.

"I can't say that I've ever seen the triangle," McCray said at the gathering. "Because of the shape, it's not mail-able, but for a small group like ours, it doesn't matter."

O'Brien, a native of the Swan Valley, has applied to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg, where she plans to study Human Computer Interaction as a graduate student. While she said she won't be pursuing a career in design, she will continue with computer design on her own when she has free time.

O'Brien wasn't the only student designer to have a project selected for print and distribution. A poster, designed by Chris Curtis, also a student in McCray's desktop publishing class, was selected for print by Spring Meadow Resources.

Reporter Laura Tode can be reached at 447-4081 or by e-mail at laura.tode@helenair.com.

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