“For me, it’s just something fun to do. I didn’t start because I thought I was an artist.”

  In spring of 2013, senior Jake Smith took his first graphic design class with art teacher Wade Bowers as a freshman, finding a hobby that may not inspire a career path but is a passion nonetheless.

  “[Over the past four years] Jake has really started to understand modern font and modern designs, and I think he’s done an excellent job creating very professional, simple designs,” said Bowers.

  Smith’s design trademark is really his choice of fonts and colors to create something that is pleasing to the eye and easy to understand. Focusing on minimalism in his designs, he mainly creates logos for real and fictitious businesses.

  “I just think fonts are how you’re conveying the most important information, and it really impacts how people read what you write, how people perceive it…,” said Smith.

  Smith has created a plethora of work including The Susquehannock Courier’s new simplistic logo and a portrait of Ilana Wexler from Broad City made completely out of typography. Currently, Smith is designing a logo for Paul Smith Library in Shrewsbury.

  Senior Dan Pergrin has seen Smith’s work as his style developed over the past four years and commends him for his distinct work.

  “[When] most people go minimalistic, it just kind of comes off not professional or not well done, but Jake has a good way to make something minimalistic but also something that is very professional,” said Pergrin. “He definitely has a good sense of font and typography.”

  Although Smith may be known as the “font master” to his electronic arts classmates, he’s a very active participant in many other school activities. Smith is president of student council, co-assistant editor-in-chief of The Courier, vice-president of Aevidum, and an active participant of Debate Club due to his interest in politics.

  A career in graphic design doesn’t seem to be in Smith’s future despite his knack for logo creation. Instead, he sees himself working on a magazine staff in ten years, where he may employ some of the aesthetic skills he acquired at Susquehannock. As a senior this year, Smith plans to go onto college as a magazine journalism major, using words in place of fonts to convey his opinions.