Designing for a purpose

DesignUP stands for Design Ut Prosim— that I may serve. So there's 20 graphic design students that have been helping with the branding and planning of the event itself. And then we have 60 graphic design undergraduate students that are helping on the day of. And so that's actually two thirds of the graphic design program here at Virginia Tech, so pretty good student turnout. And then in addition to that, we've got 13 design professionals that are serving as volunteers to help oversee each of the teams. DesignUP is really special. It brings students together with different professional mentors and together, they as a group, create projects pro bono for different community members. They're doing great work that a lot of these organizations being nonprofit can't always afford. And it also builds their portfolio as having real world work, out in the environment. So my design professional is Rene. She works within like, trademark and branding within Virginia Tech. And then the nonprofit that I'm working with is the Cinderella and Prince Charming boutique. So mainly today, we're working on creating something that will be a little more lasting in their branding. So we're really working on giving her stuff like a logo and style guidelines in order to make it like a cohesive and just bigger project, so it can get the biggest outreach possible. So I took the DesignUP class. So there's a class specifically to organize this event. It's the first time we've done it. I think in the future, if I were to have to organize designs for a whole event, that will help me wherever I go. Just seeing your designs manifested in a physical world, that is very valuable. And it will help me in my future career. I really hope that designers leave our program not with design skills, but thinking about what they can do with those skills. Also, learning how to work with community partners, I think is a huge skill to have. And that's quite different than what would be in a typical classroom experience. So really emphasizing that experiential learning and helping them understand what life is like beyond the walls of the classroom.