Seton Hall University 2-D Design and Color students created patterns for use in the home, gift, stationery and textile markets. Illustrations were made in pen and ink, then digitally manipulated and colored in Adobe Illustrator. Students were asked to create an overall balance of shapes and color with no single focal point or element pulling the eye or causing visual tracking. They chose from a variety of layouts or "repeats" including "tossed," "directional," or "multi-directional," depending on the design's intended end-use. Students were also asked to try the pattern in two different "colorways." Some students created a "coordinate" pattern to pair with their main design.

Students from Seton Hall University's Design and Color class kept mixed-media journals where they used paint, ink and collage to explore topics such as Modernism, The Wilderness of Childhood (reflecting on the ideas presented in Michael Chabon's short story of the same name), dreams, synesthesia and the relationship between art and music.

Using Adobe Illustrator, students created vector art for the music industry. These graphic promotions are meant to be dynamic and eye-catching at any size, even when viewed on a small mobile device.

The postcard, whether printed and snail-mailed or digital and emailed, is a great way to promote your business, events or products. In this assignment students met with NYC designer Matt Rockman (www.rockmandesign.com) and learned how to get the biggest bang out of this small design format. They used Photoshop to create their postcard flyers and learned ways to grab the viewer's attention with powerful graphics and great typography.

Students completed one visual journal spread per week in their binders. They used a mixed-media approach inspired by the journals of the late artist and activist Dan Eldon. To see Dan's work go to www.daneldon.org.

This album is a survey of work by my art and design students. Artwork is culled from painting, drawing, design, textile, book arts and collage assignments completed by students ages 14-27.

How do we use pen-and-ink to create light, shadow and texture? The most obvious answer is by using "cross hatching" ... the old, reliable, go-to shading technique. In this assignment students were asked to go beyond cross hatching and invent their own pen and ink patters and themes. Students first created a bird silhouette from a photograph. Then they used pen and ink motifs to give form and dimension to the bird.

In these CD covers students used type, color, texture and photography to create eye-catching designs to sell something we all love: music! This project concludes our MUSIC & ART unit. Students learned to think more poetically about the relationship between visual images and sounds. They listened tons of music during the unit, including the score to the Hollywood film The Dark Night, Kind of Blue by jazz legend Miles Davis and of course pop and hip-hop. Graphic designer and professional DJ Matt Rockman visited our class several times to show us how the pros do it. He talked about how to select the perfect photo and special effects for hip-hop and electronic musical styles. He also encouraged us to keep it simple and let the music speak for itself. This assignment was adapted from educator Kris Fontes' photo quilt exercise.

What do you think about? What are your passions? Who do you love? Students answer these questions in their collages. Students posed for profile portraits, then created collages inside their heads. You'll see friends, family, girlfriends, boyfriends, musicians, entertainers, characters from games and stories, food, sports, technology and symbols representing their cultural heritage. To find interesting photos, students did image research on the Web. They learned to search and navigate the Library of Congress Digital Archive, New York Public Library Archive, The Associated Press Archive and Corbis, a corporate archive. They composited their photos in Adobe Photoshop using layering, feathering and silhouetting techniques.

A short tour of Ms. Muschinske's art classroom at The Academy of the Arts at Henry Snyder High School.

Students looked at faces drawn by Italian artist Bruno Munari. Munari used a variety of marks and lines to create over 25 unique faces. Students then used pencil and marker to draw a face six different ways. Using Adobe Photoshop, each student scanned, colored and retouched their drawings, then duplicated the elements to create a patten. These patterns can be used commercially for wrapping papers, or in apparel design, as the lining of a hoodie or jacket.

Mandalas, or circular symbols, appear across cultures and have many meanings including continuity, harmony and balance. Each student drew a Mandala using a pencil. They scanned their drawings and colored them in Photoshop. Then they used Photoshop to turn the Mandala into a pattern. These designs can be used for fashion, home decor, stationery, web design, etc.

Students looked at samples of textile design, such as the bold and sophisticated quilts created by the women from Gee's Bend, Alabama. Then they used Adobe Photoshop to make their own digital quilts. They cut up photographs and placed the pieces into a template. They used visual problem-solving skills to arrange the pieces into a balanced geometric composition. This assignment was adapted from educator Kris Fontes' photo quilt exercise.