Graphic Design

In this episode of Doom and Bloom, Eric Benson and Marc O’Brien join us to ask some big questions: Why is climate being erased from federal budgets? Why is climate literacy still an elective in design schools and not a required course? And why are we preparing students for AI but not for the climate crisis? We explore the uncertainty of our current political moment and the urgent need to embed climate education into the foundation of every design program. Eric and Marc also explore a bold vision for the future—transforming unused office buildings or local restaurants into pop-up co-learning hubs where designers, students, and communities come together to collaborate, learn, and act. From rethinking how we teach design to reimagining where learning happens, this conversation is a call for creativity, community, and radical inclusion in the face of climate change. https://www.climatedesigners.org/doom-bloom/sudden-skyscrapers

Joshua Pridemore is a graphic designer specializing in visual identity, with a research-driven practice that explores how design intersects with cultural and social narratives. He holds an MFA in Design for Responsible Innovation from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a BFA in Emerging Media from the University of Central Florida. His work spans branding, storytelling, and interactive design, with a focus on socially engaged and ethically grounded creative solutions. Pridemore’s research investigates how design can challenge dominant narratives around gender expression and identity, particularly in relation to masculinity. His creative projects utilize community engagement and digital platforms to foster intergenerational dialogue and support diverse expressions of boyhood and manhood. His work also focuses on creating resources for parents to navigate media literacy, political discourse, and the impact of digital media on identity formation in the information age.

On Friday, June 20, Windy Zhao (Assistant Professor of Architecture) and Molly Briggs presented final work products from their course (co-taught with Sharon Zou (Associate Professor of Recreation, Sport, and Tourism)) to local stakeholders in Xihu, Jiangxi, China. The students’ work was very warmly received by the village residents, and also by the local and regional officials, who are serious about implementing aspects of our design! Below is some additional information, beyond what I shared on Friday: This project was a collaboration among three course sections: ARCH 572 Health and Wellness: Placemaking and Rural Tourism in China (Zhao), ARTD 499 Special Topic in Design: Placemaking and Rural Tourism in China (Briggs), RST 199/594 Placemaking and Rural Tourism in China. The course was supported by the University’s Transdisciplinary Global South Community-Based Learning Programs Grant, which reflects the Illinois Vision 2030 Global Strategy.

The Climate Shift: Action, Optimism & What Matters Now Tuesday, August 5, 2025 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. CDT Hosted by Professor Eric Benson Please visit here for more information and to register.

Professor Deana McDonagh was recently interviewed for Carle Illinois College of Medicine about the (dis)Ability Design Studio. 

The School of Art & Design is pleased to announce William Hohe 2025 BFA, Photography and Charlotte Watson 2025 BFA, Graphic Design received Outstanding for their oral presentation for their project The Interstates Project: The American Mirage, Our Nation's Mother Road, and the Death of the American Highway at the 2025 Undergraduate Research Symposium hosted by the Office of Undergraduate Research.

The School of Art and Design Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition will show the work of nearly 100 students in all disciplines of the school — art education, art history, graphic design, industrial design and studio art, which includes fashion, new media, painting, photography, printmaking and sculpture. The exhibition opens May 10, with a reception at 4 p.m., and runs through May 17. To read more about our artists read the article in the Illinois News Bureau: Seniors in art and design to show their work at Krannert Art Museum.  

The list of Graphic Design USA (GDUSA) Top Design Schools 2025 is out and the Illinois University of Illinois was named. The article may be viewed here.

Graphic Design Professor Eric Benson was recently selected into cohort 3 of the Climate Wisdom Fellowship for 2025. Congratulations Eric!  

Graphic Design Clinical Assistant Professor Jena Marble was recently named a 2025 Designer to Watch by Graphic Design USA. Congratulations Jena!

Samantha Jenae Jones, a graduate student in Design for Responsible Innovation, is part of the 2024–25 "Collisions Across Color Lines" Interseminars project funded by the Mellon Foundation, and was recently interviewed by the Humanities Research Institute (HRI).

Molly Briggs was interviewed by Ricker Library of Architecture and Art talking about her research and her special topics course "Interactive Print: Reading from the Inside Out." Link to interview: Ricker Library: Vera Mak Interviews Molly Briggs https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d6PXThOQmVD5WpW5k-rUX7CANkon3utE/view Link to Exhibition Catalog | Interactive Print: Reading from the Inside Out https://heyzine.com/flip-book/ede718d023.html#page/11  

The Chicago Sukkah Design Festival is named the winner of the 2024 Roberta Feldman Architecture for Social Justice Award. The Chicago Sukkah Design Festival, the public art and architecture festival founded by Assistant Professor Joseph Altshuler, is named the winner of the 2024 Roberta Feldman Architecture for Social Justice Award, administered by the AIA Chicago Foundation. The award recognizes excellence in built projects and design programs guided by the conviction that access to high quality architecture is not a privilege, it is a human right. The AIA Chicago bestows this honor award to one project annually, celebrating the commitment of designers who work on behalf of the public good. The Chicago Sukkah Design Festival’s organizational framework and co-design process builds on the legacy of Roberta Feldman (Professor Emerita at the University of Illinois at Chicago, School of Architecture), a trailblazer with a long career dedicated to democratic design and public-impact work. Altshuler serves as artistic director for the Festival’s first three editions (2022–2024), including the upcoming edition that opens to the public on Sunday, October 6. Collaborators include fellow FAA faculty members Assistant Professor Nekita Thomas, exhibition and landscape design, and Assistant Professor Akima Brackeen, design/build contributor (2023) and community design support (2024).

Professor Deana McDonagh was recently named an Illinois Leadership Center Faculty Fellow. The ILC Faculty Fellows are a group of leadership scholars from a variety of disciplines, all with an interest in leadership research and education.  Funded by the Illinois Leadership® Center, up to four fellows are selected annually and are given a discretionary fund of $2500 per year to support their leadership research and scholarly activities. The appointment lasts for one academic year and may be renewed for up to three years via reapplication.

Graphic Design Clinical Assistant Professor, Jena  Marble, was in the University of Illinois System Annual Report. Marble's article is in the "In Their Own Words" faculty spotlight. She highlights Art & Design with Convergence: Art and design, artificial intelligence.

Fresh Press will be on Prairie Fire on Thursday, September 19, 2024 at 7:30 p.m. on demand on YouTube or PBS Online.

Sharayah Cochran, Art History was recently named as a Humanities Research Institute Graduate Fellow. Grace Eunhyn Bae, Art Education and Samantha Jenae Jones, Design for Responsible Innovation, were named as Graduate Fellows of the Interseminars Initiative, 2024-2025 CONGRATULATIONS!  

Giant Congratulations Ali Ibanez, Graphic Design (2024) for competing in the Paris Paralympics on the women’s basketball team. Go Ali! Also congratulations as well to Phillip Croft, Industrial Design (2025) and Isaiah Rigo, Industrial Design (2024) for making it to the paralympic trials for Track and Field.

Fresh Press Co-Founder and Graphic Design/DRI Associate Professor, Eric Benson, with e. ainsley (MFA 2021 Sculpture), Co-Studio Manager & Program Coordinator and  Meredith Hislope (Art Education major), Co-Studio Manager will be featured on Mid-American Gardner tonight at 7 PM on WILL.