Software agreement helps alumnus win Adobe award

“Veins of Life” by David Harper, an IU alumnus, was a winner of the ninth-annual Adobe Design Achievement Awards for Motion Graphics.

The project was also Harper’s May 2009 thesis for the Master of Fine Arts degree from the Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Art and includes three motion design pieces developed with Adobe products to illustrate issues of food production and sustainability.

Harper used the software from IU’s license agreement with Adobe to create the project and said the agreement gave him the opportunity to work on the project both at school and at home while he juggled parenthood, school and teaching.

The software agreement, in its second year, makes Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium available for free download to IU students, faculty and staff. This agreement is the first of its kind.

“Educational programs struggle to offer students access to the latest tools,” said Harper in a press release. “This agreement takes that issue away.”

A panel of industry leaders chose 12 category winners from 3,300 submissions from 37 countries. The award also allowed Harper to travel to China and Icograda World Design Congress 2009 with 3,000 design professionals from around the world.

Harper teaches visual communication at Ivy Tech Community College in Evansville and is a freelance designer.