School projects that students are proud of are often displayed at home or put into a box of keepsakes. One talented USD 305 student’s project is now wrapped around a 40,000 pound activity bus thanks to a competition that gave students experience with the graphics and sign industry.
Karlyn Brecheisen, a junior at Central High School, won the competition held last year while she was in Teacher Kelley Jones’s Graphic Design 2D class. One of their final projects was designing a bus wrap to be entered into the competition.
Brecheisen enjoyed the creative project, “I made multiple designs and restarted the project two or three times, trying to get every little detail right.” Student designs were judged on graphics, readability, color, creativity and originality, concept and technical requirements.
She explained how this real-life project was a different experience. “Knowing that our design could possibly be on the buses that our schools were going to use was definitely a lot more exciting.”
Between Salina Central and South high schools, over 130 students created sketches using district logos and following specific project requirements. The designs were narrowed down to five which were voted upon by staff members who participated as judges.
Students had to combine Central and South branding on the bus. Brecheisen explained, “Trying to fit the design with the strict rubric while making it my own was difficult.”
After Brecheisen’s design was chosen as winner, the process was put on hold due to COVID-19. It advanced in early August 2020 when she collaborated with a graphic design house to arrive at the final design for the district activity buses. One bus is now completed and ultimately four activity buses will be wrapped with her design.
Her hard work and persistence paid off, “I get to see my peers ride in a bus design that I created.”