Graphic Design – �鶹��Ƶ

Envisioning a Vibrant Downtown State College: Interpreting the SDGs Through Parking Garages Mural Art

Ada Inman — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 18:58:10 +0000

State College Borough aspires to establish a vibrant art and cultural district in the downtown area, while also advancing its ambitious sustainability goals. To that end, an artistic and graphic interpretation of the SDGs has been considered in various applications. Most recently, borough leadership noted mural art applications inside parking garages in towns of similar size and demographic (i.e., East Lansing, MI) and they would like to explore an application in the Fraser Street Garage in downtown State College. The design should brighten the interior space of the garage and should help parking customers get better oriented in the garage. Utilizing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals as a guide to themes and colors provides an excellent connection to the Borough’s sustainability efforts.

Sustainable Communities Collaborative Contact Info

University Faculty Contact
Phil Choo
Professor of Graphic Design
pchoo@psu.edu

Huiwon Lim
Assistant Professor of Graphic Design
hjl5360@psu.edu

Redesigning ClearWater Conservancy: Graphic Design as a Tool in Sustainable Branding

Ada Inman — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 18:29:27 +0000

ClearWater Conservancy is the preeminent conservation organization in the Centre region. The organization’s work includes stewardship activities and land conservation. ClearWater’s premier outreach activity is Centred Outdoors which offers guided walks and hikes in the region to familiarize participants with the natural environment, the work of the organization, and to promote heathy activities. Their logo was developed about 30 years ago, and its appearance is showing its age, not only stylistically but also in content. For example, the depiction of cattails is now considered problematic since many cattail varieties are invasive species. In addition, Centred Outdoors has its own logo, developed about 7 years ago. The two logos are not compatible in font or style, and the organization is seeking a wholistic approach to its visual identity that reflects the organization’s broader mission and vision. Students worked to re-do their visual identity, including recommendations for fonts/typeface, colors, subordinate logos for distinct activities, and application in print and digital media. Mock-ups should include ideas for stickers, t-shirts, signage, etc.and recommendations for website design application.

Sustainable Communities Collaborative Contact Info
University Faculty Contact
Taylor Shipton
Assistant Teaching Professor of Graphic Design
tms5677@psu.edu

Visual System for the Brownfields Assessment Project

Ada Inman — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 15:43:03 +0000

The National City Brownfields Assessment Project is an initiative by the SDSU Center for Regional Sustainability in collaboration with National City. The client needs include a poster, event flyer, a banner, a revision to the logo’s typography and lock-up, and social media collateral. The Brownfields Assessment Project’s aim is to collaborate with the National City community to locate, assess, and plan for the future use of brownfields within the community. As such, the client’s goals included creating a brand system that would help to reinforce community trust, establish strong ties for collaboration, and to push or community-wide engagement and participation. National City is of majority Latino and Asian population, these communities find themselves to be disproportionately affected by environmental racism. National City is a densely populated urban zone within San Diego county. Due to zoning laws not coming into effect until after settlement and industrialization had taken place, a lot of the housing today finds itself next to heavy industry and abandoned sites that formerly or currently are sites for dumping. Because of this proximity between housing and industry the residents of National City are at higher risk of developing health problems than the rest of the residents in San Diego county. This is especially a problem for the population of elderly and youth in the city as they are at the most risk of health issues and death as result from environmental hazards and pollution. The challenges of this project included balancing the amount of information delivered to the public through the design, moving away from alienating academic language towards a more casual and friendlier tone, making sure to be clear on the intentions and limitations of the Brownfield Assessment Project, and to emphasize the need for community input and mutual collaboration between SDSU and the locals of National City. Other considerations included the use of multi-lingual support in choice typography and in the use of messaging, and creating a graphics system that is accessible for reuse to a non-designer. Each designer created a visual system that invigorates and communicates effectively to the general public of National City the need and importance of the Brownfields Assessment Project. This was explored through photographic images that reflect the community, and graphics that echo the call to action. The logo typography was also explored, designers chose type that would be more aligned with the needs of the client and reflective of the system each designer built. As part of the logo explorations, designers created different lock-ups with the existing logo mark or different takes on the existing mark.

Graphic Design Studio: Black Women’s Resilience Project

Ada Inman — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 15:33:23 +0000

At the end of February, our studio met with clients Khea Pollard (Jewish Family Service) and Jessica Barlow (the Sage Project) to discuss the upcoming program, Black Women’s Resilience Project (BWRP). BWRP is a new initiative that supports low-income Black women in San Diego, primarily through guaranteed income and other community-based resources. In the hopes of fostering economic mobility and generational wealth, BWRP aims to redefine the existing models currently used to aid underserved and marginalized communities, starting with one of the most vulnerable populations. We were tasked with developing BWRP’s branding from scratch, including logos, colors, typefaces, patterns, and additional collateral. We were also asked to provide potential name options for the project, as the original name “Black Women’s Resilience Project” was perceived to be too long and better fitting for a tagline. There are three main groups that BWRP is targeting: those who are eligible to receive funding, potential funders for the initiative, and elected officials and staff, with a focus on policymakers. With the launch of this project, BWRP aims to remove the stigma surrounding those who receive support from similar programs. Additionally, BWRP hopes to heighten the understanding of their line of work among San Diegans. Keeping the goals and target audience of BWRP in mind, there were several approaches within our design team. Some explored different name options, while others worked with the existing name and acronym. Some worked solely with the letterforms within their logotype, while others created symbols that could work with the name or by itself.

Brand system for the Greening a New Renewable City program for the City of Lemon Grove

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:40:45 +0000

The SDSU Sage Project working with the City of Lemon Grove is interested in developing a brand system for the Greening a New Renewable City program for the City of Lemon Grove. This program embodies Lemon Grove’s ideals within its Climate Action Plan, helps establish the sense of community, and promotes civic engagement to prevent climate change. This mission is to also spread awareness that Lemon Grove is now designated as a Tree City USA, and to involve the community with related events. The target audience includes a wide group, consisting of youth, families, businesses and community members within the Lemon Grove district. Five designers in San Diego State University’s Design Studio course worked on different original solutions for this design brief. A name for the program was not set, so some designs have different name approaches that best fit their design. A cohesive and harmonious brand system was uniquely created to reflect desired outcomes. Each solution system displays a set of example deliverables to communicate the different aspects and reach of the program.

Regional Assets and Opportunities

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:37:03 +0000

Students will explore identity and messaging strategies to promote the assets and opportunities of the southeast region. Areas of inquiry could include points of community pride, regional landmarks, tourism and marketing opportunities, economic development strengths, and other place-based assets. Students will develop concept proposals that can be used to promote the unique qualities of the [...]