Each spring, Bachelor of Fine Arts candidates in graphic design present their work in an exhibition at ShiftSpace, Wichita State’s student-run, downtown gallery.

Students began working on the exhibition in January in their graphic design capstone class. When the university cancelled in-person gatherings, they realized they couldn’t present their work as planned.

“We had two weeks of uncertainly where we didn’t really know what was going on, and things kind of stalemated,” said Jamie Staggs, a graphic design senior.

“We had a video call to brainstorm how we can take everything online now that we wouldn’t have the use of a physical art gallery,” said graphic design student Sofia Burnett. “Normally at senior shows people are walking around, looking at all the senior projects, sometimes even flipping through portfolios. There were a lot of factors we had to think about with taking everything online.”

Student Katelynn Sears said Irma Puškarević, visiting assistant professor of graphic design, helped them form a new plan.

“Irma was our guiding light in moving forward, Sears said. “We didn’t really know what to do. It was a lot of back and forth and a lot of discussion in order to decide.”

Puškarević had already given the show its name, if unintentionally.

“We had a whole class where we brainstormed a list of themes for the show, and then Irma made a group on Slack and she just randomly called it Design Zoo,” Burnett said. “It wasn’t even on our list, but everyone saw that and said, ‘Hey, that’s a pretty cool idea.’ We talked about it in our next class, and everyone agreed that they liked it. It just kind of happened.”

“I wanted to make it fun for them,” Puškarević said. “Like these designers, each animal in the zoo is distinctly different.” She gave herself the role of zookeeper.

The 21 students had taken most of their design classes together over the past three years, so they were already close, but this was the first time they had produced a project as a group.

To present themselves, each student assumed an animal identity. Their profiles describe their “habitats,” “hours of activity” and “eating habits,” and they gave themselves Latinate scientific names. Each student chose a design campaign or other project to present with their profile, which includes links to the designer’s own online portfolio.

The class originally planned to create stickers, flyers, vinyl type and graphics, and environmental design that emphasized their zoological theme to accompany the exhibition.

Instead, they created an online catalog at wsudesignzoo.com, a virtual exhibition video that introduces each student, and a collective art project to go with their Instagram and Facebook accounts. Student teams worked on each element, and another group of students tackled the exhibition’s visual identity.

In place of a traditional First Friday reception, students will present their exhibition live on their Facebook page at 6 p.m. May 1. A question-and-answer period will follow.

Both Puškarević and her students agree that there were benefits to making the drastic change in format.

“In the beginning they were devastated, of course, and understandably,” Puškarević said. “But it all turned around once we figured out the other possibilities. Online opens some possibilities that we would not have had if the show was in physical form.

“It may be even be better, because they got to expand the exhibition so much more than they would have if it was just in ShiftSpace.”

For Sears, having to pivot was an extreme version of what designers deal with all the time.

“There are always moments when you have an idea and it doesn’t work out the way you thought it would,” she said. “You have to rethink and come up with a new solution.”

Staggs viewed the experience as an opportunity for growth.

“It taught me how to get things organized on my own time, on my own schedule, and how to motivate myself,” she said.

For Burnett, the pandemic has caused her to slow down, rest and think.

“I think of plants and growing crops, and every once in awhile you have to have to have a season of nothing happening so new growth can come,” Burnett said.

“I hope this show encourages people, and we can show that even though we do have this stay at home order, creators can still make things, and life is still going on.

“Just because we can’t gather in large groups doesn’t mean that we can’t do cool things in our community.”