Michael Cina's work can be seen on an ad for a TV show or in an art gallery.

Cina has created graphics for Coke, Pepsi, Disney and Nike and typefaces for various companies and productions, including the USA Network TV show Covert Affairs. He's also received attention for his abstract paintings, which were featured recently in the PBS NewsHour arts blog.

Cina, who attended UNT from 1990 to 1995, says his visual communication and art classes gave him a good foundation for the structure of graphic design and how to use it as a springboard for other art. He also appreciates that he was given the freedom to explore while being taught to have a strong work ethic and extreme attention to detail.

"Those lessons are what I feel set me apart from other designers today," says Cina, who is based in Minneapolis, Minn.

"There is a delicate balance that feeds my creative needs," he says.

"I love the firm structure of designing typefaces and drawing logos, but it is 180 degrees from the free restraints of painting. Graphic design is somewhere in between. The things I do inspire each other in an odd way. It is how I am wired."

See more of Cina's work.