UC Student Wins National Design Contest in Unanimous Vote by Industry Leaders
Even though shes just finished her first year in the University of Cincinnatis top-ranked School of Design, graphic design student Allison Raters, 19, can already say shes a national medal winner.
Thats because she recently won the American Institute of Graphic Arts
My Favorite Medalist national competition
, earning the first-time ever unanimous vote by the industry leaders judging the student contest.
The AIGA is the oldest and largest professional membership organization for design, and it annually holds a contest for students in which they are asked to submit a design that in some way embodies the work of a prestigious professional designer who has earned an AIGA medal.
, 19, of Huber Heights, Ohio, submitted a design inspired by the work of Italian designer Massimo Vignelli, who passed away earlier this year. She states, He did some extraordinary things for the world of design. For the furniture company Knoll, he created a graphics program that included an
iconic poster in which he overlayed three different colors of letters spelling out Knoll
while still maintaining legibility in the design.
For my entry, I followed this concept, but I used the word Vignelli and chose slightly different colors. It was challenging to create the legibility that Vignelli had in his poster, but I believe I got a nice result similar to Vignellis design. Im really proud of how mine turned out.
Judging Raters winning entry were well-known professional designers
- Michael Bierut, partner, Pentragram
- Rick Valicent, principal, Thirst
- Michael Vanderbyl, principal, Vanderbyl Design
Having such well-known designers agree to recognize her design as the overall winner in the competition means a lot to Raters, a 2013 graduate of Wayne High School: Since the judges were three extraordinary AIGA medalists, even one of them liking my work would have been amazing for me. It means the world to me that all three of them thought my work was exceptional. It is a huge honor for me to receive the award. I had a lot of fun creating the design and receiving the award definitely gives me a lot of hope for how successful I can be as a designer in the future.
Raters and her fellow students entered the contest at the suggestion of College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) associate professor of practice Dan Bittman, and shes now glad she did, stating, The most important thing I learned from participating in the competition is that even if you do not have a large amount of experience, you can still be successful if you push yourself and are passionate about what you are doing.
- Apply to UCs undergraduate Graphic Communication Design program.
Related Stories
Information Security Roadshow spreads awareness
May 3, 2024
The University of Cincinnati's Office of Information Security launched a series of 18 in-person sessions from January to April 2024, drawing nearly 350 attendees from the staff of various UC colleges and units. The Information Security Roadshow series aimed to equip the audience with knowledge on prevailing cyber threats, prevention strategies, how to report incidents and resources to stay informed and secure.
DAAP Fashion Show 2024: Graduating with high energy and high...
May 1, 2024
Graduating seniors in fashion design at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) show their wares at the 71st DAAP Fashion Show on April 26 at MegaCorp Pavilion in Covington, Kentucky.
UC recognizes students for innovation achievement and leadership
April 30, 2024
Read about the University of Cincinnati’s undergraduate innovation awards for 2024.