Chippewa Valley Times

A project by Melanie Graves, a graphic designer from St. Paul, has gained international recognition. Her typography design "Create" is featured in the second edition of "Mastering Type: The Essential Guide to Typography for Print and Digital Design." This textbook, published by Bloomsbury Publishing in January, includes works from 272 artists across 36 countries.

Graves described her piece as a digital illustration celebrating creativity in both traditional and digital mediums. She expressed excitement about being selected for the book, stating, “I am really excited to have my work selected for ‘Mastering Type.’ I came across it as a call for art and decided to apply, but I didn’t really expect to be selected for it."

Denise Bosler, the author of the textbook and a design professor at Kutztown University, noted the challenge of selecting designs due to the high quality of submissions. She said, “So many great typographic design works were submitted during the open call that it made the decision-making process challenging. In choosing works, I strove to show a stylistic variety in each chapter. Melanie’s playful, colorful and expressive ‘Create’ type was the perfect complement to the Word chapter.”

The creation of "Create" began as an assignment in Graves' Digital Illustration class at UW-Stout under Program Director Erik Evensen. The task involved designing a mural proposal for the university's Applied Arts Building. Although her proposal was not chosen for installation on campus, "Create" was displayed at Minneapolis' Art on Hennepin Avenue festival.

Evensen praised Graves' contribution to their program: “Melanie came to this program as a senior designer with a breadth of experience and high levels of craft, which make her a wonderful addition to any classroom.”

Graves holds a bachelor's degree in graphic design from UW-Eau Claire and is currently pursuing her Master of Fine Arts in design at UW-Stout. She specializes in graphic design and interactive media while working full-time at Explore Minnesota.

Her ongoing projects include redesigning Explore Minnesota's website and creating national advertisements. Additionally, she participates actively in local art initiatives such as Eau Claire’s Color Block program.

UW-Stout’s School of Art and Design offers various degrees including animation and digital media; game design; graphic design; illustration; industrial design; interior design; studio art; arts administration; fashion design; and video production.