News and Media

Article By: Jennifer Long
Published: Mar 25, 2009

While Eckburg Hall, home of the SCAD fashion department, has seen its fair share of undergarments in its classrooms, Poetter Hall is more the milieu for posters, packaging, publications and other graphic design mediums. But graduate students in graphic design professor Rhonda Arntsen's class are busy designing the print pattern and collateral material for a Vanity Fair bra that will be used to raise awareness of breast cancer.

Arntsen's winter quarter class, GRDS 726: The Role of Graphic Design in Social Awareness, examines the vital role of visual communication within the dialog of a society, specifically regarding issues that affect the well being of its cultural integrity.

Shortly before winter quarter, representatives from Vanity Fair Brands contacted SCAD about collaborating on a project to help relaunch a popular bra in their series with a new twist: it would feature a design and packaging related to breast cancer awareness. Graphic design chair Quentin Currie put Vanity Fair in contact with Arntsen, since the collaboration seemed to be a good fit for the GRDS 726 class.

Vanity Fair Brands has worked with SCAD in various ways before, including hiring interns for different departments, but the company wanted to launch a different kind of project that would enable students to give the company more creative input.

On Tuesday, Feb. 17, Cressida Rose, product merchandise manager for Vanity Fair, a division of Fruit of the Loom, met with the class to give them samples of the bra and discuss the creative brief for the project. "The students are very excited," said Arntsen. "They getting to work on something beautiful, and they also get to work on a project that can help people."

Rose said that the students will need to consider what will entice consumers to buy the bra, what emotive qualities the graphics have, and how the design and look of the bra will make the consumer feel. She urged students to think about how bullet-molding affects fabric printed elements, trends in color and other trends in the apparel industry.

Students are working on concepts and will check in with Vanity Fair through the rest of the quarter, with final designs to be submitted by the end of the quarter. "The project is a good blend of working on materials related to a social issue but also working in a corporate environment," said Arnsten.

The student with the chosen design will receive artwork credit on the bra via collateral material and will get to see their design grace Vanity Fair bras at department stores nationwide, beginning as early as Winter 2010.