UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Several graphic design students from the Penn State College of Arts and Architecture’s Stuckeman School were recognized for their designs in the University and College Designers Association's (UCDA) 2024 Design Awards Competition, which honors designers, design educators, photographers and illustrators across the United States.
The UCDA design awards recognizes exceptional and creative design work as part of its mission to support educational institutes and drive the exchange of ideas in both education and in real life, per the UCDA website.
Forough Yazdanpanah, who graduated with her master of fine arts in art with a concentration in graphic design in May, won an Excellence Award for her project titled “‘Flourish’ Wellness Application and Brand Identity Design for Highly Sensitive People,” in the Health and Wellness category, supervised by Emily Burns, assistant professor of graphic design.
Eden Balog, a fourth-year student, also won an Excellence Award for her “Sweet Stories” project in the Classroom Work or Assignments category, supervised by Taylor Shipton, assistant teaching professor of graphic design.
Negar Dehghan, a recent master of fine arts in art with a graphic design concentration alumna, won a Silver Award for her project titled ‘“Glucomood’ Brand Identity Design for health and wellness application that supports Type 1 Diabetes management,’” in the same category with Huiwon Lim, assistant professor of graphic design, as supervisor.
Wyatt Poorman, a fourth-year student, won a Silver Award for his submission titled “Kente Bites Chocolate,” in the same category, supervised by Shipton.
The last honor earned by Penn State students was a Silver Award that went to Colette Albertson, Rachel Lieb, Emma Cohen, Brooke Levey, Madison Laufer, Lindsay Rambo and Balog with Shipton as their instructor. Their project, titled “Warren County Branding,” is the result of Shipton’s interdisciplinary collaboration with Lisa Iulo, professor of architecture and director of the Hamer Center for Community Design, who is working with her architecture students on plans to revitalize the waterfront and central business district in the town of Warren, Pennsylvania, in coordination with Penn State Extension in the College of Agricultural Sciences.
Jess Gordimer, a third-year student, earned an honorable mention for her project “Growing Greener: Sustainable Gardening Magazine” project in the Classroom Work and Assignments, supervised by Burns.
Winning entries were showcased at the 54th annual UCDA Design Conference in Indianapolis, Sept. 26-29.