Proposed logo for Western Washington football team.
Branding a college football team.
Integrating individuals’ compostable household waste into a green network that includes a community garden.
Building a campaign for an ongoing food drive by encouraging, via a popular online comic strip, grocery consumers to purchase “Just One More” item to continually bolster food banks.
Putting together apps to help you shop, cook and travel more enjoyably and efficiently.
Creating tools to keep young girls out of the sex trade, and to extricate them if they’re already there.
Those were just a handful of the roughly two dozen capstone projects on display June 3 in the Robert Family Events Room as graduating seniors in graphic design showcased and talked about the signature works of their academic careers in the College of Business.
The two-hour reception featured a steady bustle of students, faculty, staff and parents, all of whom could view the design work the students had put together and also hear them talk about the projects one on one.
The crowd included various business and design faculty, Dean Ilene Kleinsorge and community members such as Kari Rieck, the executive director for Court Appointed Special Advocates of Benton County. An interview with Rieck was part of the research conducted by student Chloie Parsons, whose work involved branding for nonprofits.
Project topics varied widely. Kevin Bradley’s focused on how to brand a college football team, specifically the one at Western Washington University in Bellingham. The university dropped football several years ago, but if it opts to restore the sport, it could do worse than to lean on the efforts of Bradley, who designed and prototyped everything from game schedules to decals to fan gear to team helmets.
Bradley’s premise is that strong branding leads to potent recruiting and an overall successful program.
He chose the topic simply because he’s passionate about college football. Professor Andrea Marks encourages students embarking on the two-term projects to begin by picking something that truly excites them – that’s the thesis stage – and then branching into considering the design aspects of what they’re doing later as the work progresses.
Marks marveled at the work of the 2015 graphic design cohort, and of OSU graphic design students in general.
“Their interest never wanes,” she said. “Our graphic design graduates go to work in graphic design; they’re not just getting a degree.”
Students Jasmine Hart, left, and Alyssa Johnson, center, visit with professor Andrea Marks.
Each fall the Oregon State University hosts a day that encourages faculty and staff to connect with each other and learn about what other departments and colleges are doing. Intended to inspire and motivate employees for the impending academic year, it is also a day to recognize and honor the people and achievements of its employees.
Taking place September 18, 2014, University Day includes awards to approximately 20 faculty and staff members in various categories for their accomplishments and contributions.
College of Business and School of Human Design Instructor, Brigitte Cluver, who also serves as the Program Coordinator for Apparel Design and Merchandising Management, is the recipient of the OSU Faculty Teaching Excellence Award. This award honors unusually significant and meritorious achievement in teaching and scholarship, greatly enhancing instruction for students.
University Day Award Winner Brigitte Cluver with President Ed Ray.
“Brigitte is an extremely dedicated teacher who finds a balance between empathy and stringency. She is uncompromising in her demand for excellence, and provides ample support for students to succeed in their learning,” said Minjeong Kim, Associate Dean for the School of Design and Human Environment.
Cluver, who holds a B.S. from University of California at Davis and two degrees from Oregon State (M.S. and Ph.D. in Human Behavior in the Near Environment) also worked in the textile and apparel industry as a textile laboratory technician.
“As a life-long learner, Brigitte is open to learning new strategies and commits herself to innovative teaching that results in enhanced student learning. Her courses are always evolving with more effective teaching methods.”
Awards were given by President Ed Ray at the OSU Faculty Teaching Award Reception on Wednesday, September 17 and again acknowledged at an all university presentation held at LaSells Stewart Center in Austin Auditorium on University Day.
Oregon State Graphic Design alumni Darrin Crescenzi and Erin Mintun speak to students at a talk at the LaSells Stewart Center on campus.
As Darrin Crescenzi and Erin Mintun went through their presentation slides a beautiful photograph of the Empire State Building framed in a window flashed across the screen.
“That’s the view from Erin’s office,” Crescenzi said.
Next came a different work shot from a few years earlier. The pair is in the background, blurry, while the camera focuses on a laptop in the foreground with the time front and center.
“That’s at 5:44 a.m. in Fairbanks Hall.”
For Crescenzi and Mintun, Oregon State University graphic design alumni now living their dreams in New York, the two pictures are directly connected. Those late nights at OSU helped lead to the careers they have now, because of the power of design thinking and a lot of hard work.
“It’s not to pat ourselves on the back,” Crescenzi said of the photos, “but more show you that this is a staging point, a launch pad if you take your education seriously.”
The two returned to Corvallis last week as the OSU Alumni Association named Crescenzi an Alumni Fellow, and stopped to give a talk to current students about the lessons they’ve learned since graduating in 2007.
Sponsored by the Oregon State School of Design and Human Environment, the event focused on the value of a design education and design thinking, with OSU Professor of Graphic Design Andrea Marks introducing her former students.
Crescenzi made a name for himself at Nike, designing the branding for LeBron James and the U.S. Olympic basketball team. Fast Co. Magazine named him as one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business. He now works for branding firm Prophet.
Mintun joined Nike after graduating from Oregon State and moved to product design, and now is the active editor for Stylesight in New York.
For each, the career path has been improvised. Within Nike they took advantage of opportunities outside of their daily work and built a reputation as hard-working, creative designers who could take on any task.
They key for Crescenzi was the design education he received at Oregon State, which he said more than anything trained him how to think about creative problems no matter the medium.
“Design is a way of thinking,” he said. “This education is changing your brain, the way you think about the world. You can’t turn it off.”
That mindset makes designers valuable in a wide range of jobs and industries, he said, creating possibilities for those willing to step out of his or her comfort zone.
“Your skills are applicable to a massive field of design and creative fields,” Crescenzi said. “The skills you’re learning are doorways to different jobs if you keep our head up.”
Mintun remembers that when she was initially approached to join Nike as a color designer after an internship, her first thought was ‘What is that?’
“I’ve never known a job existed before I got it,” Mintun said. “You can take it a different direction and apply the same skillset.”
Crescenzi said when he approaches any product he thinks first about the person who is going to be using or experiencing it.
“It’s about the consumer, the end-user,” he said. “You’re empathizing with their experience, the same thing as if you’re designing a poster for a friend’s band. It’s not a logo or a color pattern, but that entire experience.”
Mintun said that while designing footwear for Nike she searched for patterns and colors that conveyed the meaning of her subject — from the London Olympics to the feel of cities like New York and Tokyo.
“It’s all about storytelling,” she said. “We’re communication designers, not graphic designers.”
On top of that skillset is the will and desire to put in the work needed to get what you want.
One of their final slides read “Hard work trumps talent every time.”
“It’s why we love Oregon State and wear the Beaver badge proudly,” Crescenzi said. “This place teaches you how to work.”
Oregon State Graphic Design alumni Darrin Crescenzi and Erin Mintun speak to students at a talk at the LaSells Stewart Center on Campus. Photos by Jeffrey Basinger/OSU Alumni Association
Oregon State Graphic Design alumnus Darrin Crescenzi, senior designer at Prophet, before his talk at the LaSells Stewart Center. Photos by Jeffrey Basinger/OSU Alumni Association
Oregon State Graphic Design alumna Erin Mintun, active editor at Stylesight, speaks to students at a talk at the LaSells Stewart Center on Campus. Photos by Jeffrey Basinger/OSU Alumni Association
Oregon State Professor of Graphic Design Andrea Marks introduces Crescenzi and Mintun. Photos by Jeffrey Basinger/OSU Alumni Association
Oregon State Professor of Graphic Design Andrea Marks introduces Crescenzi and Mintun. Photos by Jeffrey Basinger/OSU Alumni Association
North Carolina State University Professor Meredith Davis gives a talk at Oregon State Oct. 5
Meredith Davis has seen major shifts in the design industry in her nearly 30 years as an educator.
As the complexity of the field has increased so has the need for collaboration across disciplines, both inside and outside the classroom, Davis said at a talk at Oregon State University Oct. 5.
The Professor of Graphic Design and Director of Graduate Programs in Graphic Design at North Carolina State University came as a guest of the Graphic Design faculty at the OSU School of Design and Human Environment.
A leading design educator, Davis is a 2005 National Medalist of the American Institute of Graphic Arts and now serves on the AIGA Visionary Council to define “The Designer of 2015.” (Oregon State alumnus Darrin Crescenzi recently spoke to AIGA about his views on the future of design.)
The talk, titled “The Changing Context for Design Practice,” touched on a some key questions for designers to consider as the craft changes over the coming years.
She sees the rapid advancement of technology making design tools easier for non-designers. That’s moved the industry away from its craft-based tradition to a more strategy-focused role.
“We have to teach collaboration and evaluate it,” Davis said. “If you don’t, you say it doesn’t matter.”
That makes it more important than ever for designers to be able to communicate with those in other areas — specifically business and technology. Davis noted that 65 percent of graphic design is now screen-based only and that a majority of her students are now working in software design.
Davis was impressed with Oregon State’s efforts to bring designers in contact with other disciplines, with SDHE moving into the College of Business last year.
“You’ve made an enormous step by pulling design into business and starting that collaboration,” she said.
While all Oregon State College of Business students face pressure during finals week — studying for exams, finishing up projects and actually taking those dreaded finals — graphic design sophomores have a different type of challenge.
To gain acceptance to the School of Design and Human Environment professional school as graphic design majors, students must pass through a selective and competitive process, capped off by a portfolio review at the end of fall term their sophomore year. That work is displayed and presented — this year at the LaSells Stewart Center on Dec. 5 — for review by faculty students and loved ones.
Over the course of the term students were given specific tasks — illustrate a moment from his or her life, create packaging for a product, a book cover, and other assignments — that were brought together and displayed.
Ayman Alabduljabbar said he enjoyed having his work shown and the feedback he got watching people move through the halls.
“It’s a great feeling to be honest,” Alabduljabbar said. “It’s reaffirming for any student who put tiome and effort into pieces to see people respond.”
Graphic design student Michael McDonald hands out blocks in the new graphic design creative space
Thursday evening the Oregon State University Graphic Design program showed off its new offices and collaboration space with an open house, inviting the OSU community to see the new area it hopes will facilitate more great work from students.
Located in the ground floor of Milam Hall, the new area houses offices for graphic design faculty, a front lounge area and an open meeting room for students.
The meeting area doesn’t have tables and chairs but moveable, stackable blocks that can be rearranged in any format a project requires. Eventually the space will also have whiteboards and flatpanel screens.
“They can bring their laptops, plug into the screens,” said associate professor Andrea Marks. “It’s a place they can kind of call their own, where they don’t have to have teachers around.”
Michael McDonald, a junior in graphic design, was already breaking the space in Thursday evening, handing out blocks to students as they entered.
“It’s a place we can all gather and use as a think tank and for projects with all these resources,” McDonald said.
