Graphic Design Program Develops Creative Exchange Summer Camp

The Graphic Design program in the School of Industrial + Graphic Design has developed a Creative Exchange through Auburn’s Office of Professional and Continuing Education with Shenzhen University (SZU) in China. A three-week residential camp, the Creative Exchange will bring up to thirty SZU students to Auburn this summer for an American design experience. Organized in a workshop structure that will explore design through drawing, color, photography, collage, typography and digital animation, it will emphasize the exchange of Eastern + Western perspectives. The Creative Exchange will also include field trips to museums and innovative design studios in Atlanta, Georgia.

Carlton Nell, program chair of graphic design, and Wei Wang, Alumni professor of graphic design, led the development of the Creative Exchange workshop and welcomed a group of faculty and administrators from Shenzhen University to the Auburn campus in late January. Hong Wu, Dean and Professor of Design; Ming Zou, Associate Dean and Professor of Design; Yubin Cui, Associate Dean and Professor of Design History; and Fangliang Wang, Associate Professor and Head of Industrial Design, visited from January 26 through January 28 to review the Auburn facilities on their first stop of tours of other American universities that included the Rhode Island School of Design and Cornell University. While in Auburn, they met with President Gogue and Dr. Andy Gillespie, Assistant Provost in the Office of International Programs, and visited the venues that students would see in Atlanta.

Located in the City of Shenzhen, one of China’s most successful Special Economic Zones, Shenzhen University, has 40,000 students and over 2,000 international students. SZU has established cooperative relationships with more than 100 overseas universities.

“We are delighted to be part of Shenzhen University’s engagement with U.S. universities,” says Vini Nathan, Dean and McWhorter Endowed Chair in the College of Architecture, Design and Construction. “Our highly regarded Graphic Design program offers SZU students a unique opportunity to learn about contemporary design. We look forward to collaborating with SZU in other CADC programs as well.”