The Wichita State School of Fine Arts will still host their annual Senior Graphic Design Exhibition Show, albeit virtually. 

The show, themed Design Zoo, was originally supposed to take place at ShiftSpace gallery. It will now be published on May 1. 

“[The students] are definitely going to showcase their work on May 1,” said graphic design professor Irma Puskarevic. “They are going to launch their website, and I can’t say more because it’s kind of a surprise, but there is another media that they are going to present themselves on.”

Puskarevic, who teaches Intro to Graphic Design, Typography II, Capstone, and more, said she sees this switch as an opportunity for the seniors. 

“This is all connected to graphic design and what graphic designers generally do . . . I am looking at the positive side of all of this,” Puskarevic said.

“If they go to work for an organization, an agency, or a graphic design studio, projects like this are very common, where they have to work in teams, they have to collaborate, they have to work under pressure and on deadline . . . It’s kind of preparing [them] for real life, which they wouldn’t have done if the show was physical.”

Jamie Staggs, a senior graphic design student, said that although she’s excited for this project to be published, it’s still somewhat disappointing not to experience an in-person senior exhibition show.

“There’s parts of it where I feel like I really am missing out, like the physical set up of the exhibition, as well as the opportunity of making physical material — print material and T-shirts — that aspect of it, which was something that I was looking forward to,” Staggs said. “We don’t get to do that anymore, but as far as the behind-the-scenes process and all of that, I feel like that hasn’t been affected all too much.

“Really working with the team and working with other people to make one unified design, which I think is the core of the exhibition — to make something together and make it good. I think that part is being accomplished.”

Puskarevic said she elected to help organize a virtual exhibition show so that seniors still feel like they get the experience they have worked so hard for.

“I wanted these guys to still have a great show at the end — I wanted to help them,” Puskarevic said. “So, I organized teams and set them into motion.

“They are covering different aspects and trying to get their online catalogue up as well — working as one. The whole class is having their own particular roles to contribute to the whole thing at the end.”

A livestream for the event is currently not planned.

“I would love them to have a 30-minute livestream part so that people can join in and talk, but we are still talking about that,” Puskarevic said. 

The website will be linked to Design Zoo’s social media accounts on May 1. 

“We want them to have something that is more permanent — not just temporary,” Puskarevic said.