When a smiling Democratic donkey is poised to shake hands with a happy Republican elephant, odds are you’re witnessing a high-stakes card game. A new deck illustrated by 52 students from four art schools commemorating the Illustration Conference (ICON5) increases those odds. The reason: the five of clubs carries an illustration by Jamie Stroud, a May 2008 graduate of the Master of Art in Illustration program at the Fashion Institute of Technology, showing the two party symbols about to engage in a forelimb grip.

As a top-tier “Partner Sponsor” of ICON5, July 2 to 5 at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York, Xerox worked in partnership with ICON5 to produce the deck of cards as a commemorative gift for the 400 or so illustrators expected to attend. ICON5 organizers arranged for top students from three New York design schools — the Fashion Institute of Technology, Parsons The New School for Design and the School of Visual Arts — and the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, to contribute their original illustrations and designs.

The playing cards are an excellent example of the inspired work that’s possible when educators, grass-roots professional organizations and technology industry leaders team up to showcase the dynamic talents of tomorrow’s illustration stars. It’s also another fine example of how digital color presses are successfully reproducing some of the most demanding illustration and design work being created today.

To develop the cards, each school was assigned one suit — clubs (FIT), diamonds (MICA), hearts (Parsons) and spades (SVA) — and the school’s chairpersons or deans overseeing illustration programs selected 13 students to provide card designs.

To produce the cards, Xerox engaged Tucker Printers, Henrietta, N.Y., a Consolidated Graphics Company (www.tuckerprinters.com) and a member of the Xerox Graphic Arts Premier Partners, a global network of more than 730 leading digital print providers (www.xerox.com/xpp). Rendered in Adobe InDesign CS3, the cards were printed on a Xerox iGen3® 110 Digital Production Press, on Xerox 100 lb. Elite Gloss Cover, laminated and die-cut. The box also was printed on the Xerox iGen3 press, on 18 pt. Xerox Folding Board, showcasing the power of digital color printing in short-run packaging applications.

Bob Wagner, Vice President
Xerox Creative Services Business
and Premier Partners Program
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Here’s what some of the people involved with the project had to say about it:

“As illustrators, we don’t go to an office everyday, so ICON5 is a great opportunity to be around people who do what we do, to talk about trends and issues and to get re-inspired. It’s important for ICON5 to use projects like the deck of cards to engage our future attendees. And for the students, it’s a great opportunity to get exposure to a few hundred of the world’s top illustrators, designers and others who can influence their careers. And from an academic perspective, the project fits well with contemporary educational models of blending creativity and professional development. It gave students creative freedom and realistic deadlines.”

— Whitney Sherman, President of ICON5 and Chair of the Illustration Department, Maryland Institute College of Art

”I like producing works that are usable, and I also like playing cards — plus this project is a great opportunity for exposure. I do a lot of pattern design, and I have an interactive website where I generate patterns based upon basic questions like, what is your favorite color? I pulled a pattern I liked from that project and worked with it to better fit the diamonds theme.”

— Jessica Neil, MICA ’08, designer of the nine of diamonds and Junior Designer at Spur Design LLC, Baltimore

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Democratic and Republican party symbols are poised to “grasp five” on the five of clubs card designed by recent Fashion Institute of Technology graduate Jamie Stroud for the ICON5 deck.

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Heekyung Hur, Fashion Institute of Technology, displays the queen of clubs card she designed for the ICON5 deck.