{"id":1326,"date":"2013-10-29T10:55:28","date_gmt":"2013-10-29T18:55:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/business\/?p=1326"},"modified":"2013-10-29T15:02:33","modified_gmt":"2013-10-29T23:02:33","slug":"education-changing-brain-graphic-design-alumni-discuss-value-design-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/business\/2013\/10\/29\/education-changing-brain-graphic-design-alumni-discuss-value-design-thinking\/","title":{"rendered":"“This education is changing your brain”: Graphic design alumni discuss value of design thinking"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Oregon<\/a>
Oregon State Graphic Design alumni Darrin Crescenzi and Erin Mintun speak to students at a talk at the LaSells Stewart Center on campus.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the view from Erin\u2019s office,\u201d Crescenzi said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s at 5:44 a.m. in Fairbanks Hall.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not to pat ourselves on the back,\u201d Crescenzi said of the photos, \u201cbut more show you that this is a staging point, a launch pad if you take your education seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019ve learned since graduating in 2007.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Crescenzi made a name for himself at Nike, designing the branding for LeBron James and the U.S. Olympic basketball team.\u00a0Fast Co. Magazine named him as one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business. He now works for branding firm Prophet.<\/p>\n

Mintun joined Nike after graduating from Oregon State and moved to product design, and now is the active editor for Stylesight in New York.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

“Design is a way of thinking,” he said. “This education is changing your brain, the way you think about the world. You can\u2019t turn it off.”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour skills are applicable to a massive field of design and creative fields,\u201d Crescenzi said. \u201cThe skills you\u2019re learning are doorways to different jobs if you keep our head up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mintun remembers that when she was initially approached to join Nike as a color designer after an internship, her first thought was \u2018What is that?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never known a job existed before I got it,\u201d Mintun said. \u201cYou can take it a different direction and apply the same skillset.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crescenzi said when he approaches any product he thinks first about the person who is going to be using or experiencing it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about the consumer, the end-user,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re empathizing with their experience, the same thing as if you\u2019re designing a poster for a friend\u2019s band. It\u2019s not a logo or a color pattern, but that entire experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mintun said that while designing footwear for Nike she searched for patterns and colors that conveyed the meaning of her subject \u2014 from the London Olympics to the feel of cities like New York and Tokyo.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about storytelling,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re communication designers, not graphic designers.\u201d<\/p>\n

On top of that skillset is the will and desire to put in the work needed to get what you want.<\/p>\n

One of their final slides read \u201cHard work trumps talent every time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s why we love Oregon State and wear the Beaver badge proudly,\u201d Crescenzi said. \u201cThis place teaches you how to work.\u201d<\/p>\n