Professor honored for Poetry on The Rapid designs

Throughout the month of April, passengers on The Rapid may have noticed poetry written by Grand Valley State University faculty on placards as part of the Poetry on The Rapid initiative. Now, the art and design faculty member who brought the words to life through his designs is being recognized for his work.

Vinicius Lima, assistant professor of graphic design, recently received a 2015 American Inhouse Design Award from Graphic Design USA for his Poetry on The Rapid placard designs. The awards honor outstanding in-house designers for their work, talents and value they bring to their institutions. Nearly 6,000 entries were submitted with only 15 percent receiving a Certificate of Excellence.

Lima said this renowned distinction belongs to the entire team who collaborated to display these poems on all 150 Rapid buses during the campaign.

“Design is a problem-solving field, in which we get requests from clients who wish us to communicate something for them. Had I not received the request from GVSU and the direct input from the GVSU committee members I was reporting to, the work would not have evolved the way it did,” Lima said. “We must also acknowledge Patricia Clark’s careful selection of poems that made the final pieces. They were an excellent starting point, with a lot of possibilities for visual metaphors and investigation.”

Along with Lima and Clark, Writing Department chair, the placards featured works by multiple Grand Valley faculty, including Chris Haven, Amorak Huey and Todd Kaneko. Faculty works from Calvin College and Grand Rapids Community College were also on display during the initiative.

The Poetry on The Rapid program celebrates the 50th anniversary of the National Endowment of the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

For more information, contact Gretchen Galbraith, associate dean for faculty resources and sharing in Grand Valley’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, at (616) 331-2495 or [email protected].