The College of Design ran its first volume of The Student Publication in 1951. The students wanted to honor a professor who had died the previous year and the contributions he had made to the field of design, but they wound up accomplishing much more than that. The college continued with future volumes after the success of the first, and The Student Publication is now one of the oldest student-run design journals in the country.

Savannah Soule, the journal’s design team leader and a senior majoring in design studies, said that the opportunity to contribute to this project has been an enrichment to her academic experience.

“It’s a lot of fun, honestly,” Soule said. “We’ve really had a lot of freedom to develop the content and come up with the theme. It’s been a really good opportunity to see how the things that I’m learning can be applied.”

The design journal has undergone a lot of change in past decades. After a prolonged hiatus from 1985 to 2000, The Student Publication returned with a volume known as The Phoenix. A course centered around its generation was created in 2012. Now, students create each volume in a classroom setting under the guidance of design assistant professor Tania Allen  and convey specific themes through the work of design professionals.

“This year our theme is Flux: Design in Transition,” Soule said. “What we’re trying to explore with that is just the way design has transitioned and the way that it’s not necessarily as solidified as you would think. You can’t just work with designers; you have to collaborate with outsiders. You’re always designing for the public.”

The students researched both design professionals and anyone outside the field of design that work in relation to the theme. Classroom discussions determine who will receive invitations to have their work published in the journal and responses to these invitations ultimately determine the final list of contributors for each volume.

Amanda Nguyen, The Student Publication’s marketing team leader and a senior studying business administration, said that the hope is for these contributors to draw greater public interest in the publication.

“We have gathered contributors from not only the field of design, but those with expertise in anthropology, urban research and branding,” Nguyen said. “These contributors are not all from Raleigh; for example, we have Terry Irwin from Carnegie Mellon University and Michael Rock from the Yale University School of Art. We hope that with these outside contributors, we’ll be able to reach even more new audiences.”

Ashley Pelfrey, a senior majoring in design studies and one of the journal’s co-editors, says that creating the publication and collaborating with others has been both challenging and rewarding. She believes that this experience will greatly benefit her after her graduation.

“I have learned a lot about the amount of time and energy that goes into creating a publication and the time-management, organizational and communication skills it requires,” Pelfrey said. “It’s also been amazing to be able to talk with the contributors. As a soon-to-be graduate of the College of Design, it’s been an invaluable opportunity to discuss how their work is changing and how design itself is changing.”

This year’s volume of The Student Publication and its theme of “flux” revolves around the ways that the field of design will continue to develop and evolve along with the technologies that play such a vital role within it. According to Soule, the contributors and the work they display in the publication will show that.

“One of our contributors, Terry Irwin, has been at the forefront of this design movement called transition design,” Soule said. “It just talks about how systems are evolving and designers have always just tried to respond to that, but now there’s this change where designers are trying to work in transition with the changes and respond preemptively.”

Just like the field of design, The Student Publication tries to keep up with technology and the new challenges and promises that it offers.

“The Student Publication is being archived in the Harrye B. Lyons Design Library, so there’s also kind of this hope that it’s going to be there for students to see generations from now,” Soule said. “Hopefully, it’ll be there for them to have this mark of where we were at this point in history.”

For now, though, those working with The Student Publication are focused on the promotional events that are coming up within the next few months. Soule described a pop-up event that will take place in Leazar Hall the week after Thanksgiving and a launch party that will take place on Dec. 2 at the Fish Market Student Gallery.

Soule said the class has been trying to broaden the journal’s reach and Nguyen said the journal is for anyone interested in new perspectives in design and diversity. Along with Pelfrey, the other two women expressed their love for the publication.

“As long as I’m here, I hope to be a part of it,” Soule said. “It’s been a really good experience.”

Editors Note: Rachel Smith: Editor-in-Chief of Technician is also a co-editor for The Student Publication. Nick Gregory and Mikhail Vasquez, Technician’s design editors, are also involved in The Student Publication.