Brittany Sharitz, librarian, spent the first semester of the 2020-21 school year re-organizing the library’s book collection by genre so it would be easier for students to find their desired book. 

She said the librarians knew the new organization of the books would need new genre signs so students could find books, so she decided to reach out to the Graphic Design 2 class taught by Jamie Wildt to make signs for the library

“I really wanted to emphasize the differences between the signs,” Sharitz said. “So, I was able to teach a lesson about the style, color, fonts and trends of book covers and how that would translate to the signs.”

Sharitz visited the graphic design class and pointed out that genres like horror, dystopian and paranormal have dark colors, so she wanted the signs to reflect that. Conversely, genres like romance have a lot of bright and vibrant colors.  Sharitz wanted designs like the romance sign to have a totally different ambiance than signs like the horror sign. 

Each student made two signs, and Sharitz said she put genres together that would contrast each other.  Then, the students were able to pick which set they wanted to design. 

“There is a bunch of variety,” Sharitz said. “It’s very obvious that each student really let the book covers of the genre inspire their signs.”

Faith Mathys, sophomore, created a sign for the graphic novel section and the horror section. 

“This was one of the most different and difficult things I have done,” Mathys said.  

Mathys said she has been creating art for 10 years and she likes the graphic design classes she has taken at MHS, but she said this particular project was a challenge for her since it required her to base her designs off of the specific genre. 

“The graphic novel sign took me about five to six days to complete the design for,” Mathys said. “I guess I am not that OK with my sign being up in the Library because I feel it is pretty bland.”

Joseph Calvin, senior, said he enjoyed this project because it allowed him to think outside the box.

“I really enjoy the types of projects we got to do in graphic design,” Calvin said. “It is actually something I am now considering majoring in for college.”

Calvin took both Graphic Design 1 and Graphic Design 2, and he said the Library sign project was one of his favorites because it allowed for creative freedom.

Calvin said he liked how Wildt and Sharitz encouraged them to pick which signs they were going to design based on books they enjoyed reading, so he picked short stories and paranormal which made it more interesting to create. 

“It feels really cool to have something up in the library that I made myself,” Calvin said. “Hopefully it will stay up there for a while for a lot of people to see.”