PAGE — A creative person will tell you, designing something is never an easy task. Every day in offices across the world, newspaper and magazine designers struggle with page layouts, and graphic designers pull their hair out trying to please clients.

The next time you look at a brochure from a local business though, you may not be seeing the work of a frustrated designer from a big city. There is a good chance the work might have been designed by students in the graphic design program at Page High School.

The program, with over 140 enrolled students this school year, is part of the career and technical education curriculum offered at PHS. Its stated goal is to give students career preparation for a position in the graphic design industry. This includes work in traditional print, Web and other multimedia design platforms.

According to graphic design teacher Joshua Pope, the program is working its way to becoming a bona fide feeder for students into the industry. This year marked the insertion of the final missing piece of the puzzle, which will truly allow students to be prepared after graduation to enter the workforce.

Participants in the program can now enroll in Graphic Design III, a full-fledged work experience course. Last year, students started their own design company, Page High Press, in an attempt to gain real world work experience for outside clients. Now the Press, which is run like a student club, and the course have merged to become an immersive experience in the graphic design industry.

“We’re producing real jobs for them,” Pope said. “So they can get that experience of trying to take those skills and now please a customer with it.”

Pope said the Press is mostly performing traditional print media design for organizations and businesses in the community. The course has reached outside the Page area, and the state, to gain work with companies, though.

Currently, students are producing all the concert tickets and programs for the Lake Powell Concert Association’s upcoming performances.

“That became a pretty big item for us last year, was our concert tickets,” Pope said. “People liked them because they looked like a legit concert ticket.”

The Navajo Village Heritage Center has also hired the Press to design and print the brochures, which are handed out to visitors at the village’s performances.

Instead of having students intern at existing companies, Pope said he thinks the Press will provide students with a better overall work experience. Pope said he likes to supervise the learning of his students, and his decades long employment in the graphic design industry allows him to provide them with a solid education.

“I feel like I can provide as good of an experience for them as they can get outside of school,” Pope said.

The district has also been incredibly willing to outfit Pope with any type of equipment the program needs to teach students the highest levels of graphic design. The program now has its own four-color printing press, a full bookbindery, foiling machines and the most up-to-date design software.

“I know that what we have is awesome equipment, and that if they learn this equipment, they’ll be well prepared for the industry,” Pope said.

Any time the district asks the program to complete a project for which it does not possess the necessary equipment, the district is more than willing to purchase it, Pope said.

“They’re really good to say ‘Well if that’s going to provide the good experience for the kids, then let’s buy it,” Pope said. “Let’s give them the maximum ability we can.”

Students are allowed to begin the program in their freshman year by enrolling in the optional introduction to graphic design course, called Graphic Computer Skills. The course gives them an overview of graphics software and the design industry. To fully enroll in the program, students must take Graphic Design I, which provides the principles of design.

From there, students have a choice in which direction they would like to take in the program. The first option is to take Publication Design I and II, which focus on the print aspects of the industry. Students in these courses design and print the Page High School yearbook from start to finish on site.

The second option available to students is to enroll in Graphic Design II. Students following this track learn how to produce all types of graphic design media, including print, electronic and Web.

“Both routes teach the same standards, but they focus on different things,” Pope said.

It absolutely floors Pope the amount of creativity he sees from students in all facets of the program. The students are now working on the theme for this year’s yearbook, and Pope said he is very glad he doesn’t have to choose from the plethora of great ideas.

The more structured elements of design are the only areas where the students initially struggle. Pope said students initially come up with very creative designs. The key is to teach them how to take that design, and put it into a format that can be printed and cut.

“They catch on to it quick,” Pope said. “They may struggle with it for a time, but it comes fairly quickly and then they can do it correctly.”

Pope said the program’s curriculum is headed in the right direction, providing students with a comprehensive and well-rounded education in graphic design. The amount of freelance work available in the industry, and the wide range of skills the students possess, should make them very marketable to companies upon graduation.

“I know that these kids, after going through all three years of my program, are leaving with more knowledge than most of the graphic designers I know,” Pope said.

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