Since relocating to the Warehouse, Syracuse University’s downtown building, the School of Art and Design’s programs in advertising design and communications design have initiated several new projects with community-based companies and organizations. Here’s more about two of their spring semester projects.
Advertising Design Gets a “Jolt”
Students in Assistant Professor Stephen Montgomery’s senior-level branding course helped Rochester, New York, marketer Wet Planet Beverages stage a comeback for its national brand Jolt Cola. Montgomery’s students worked in eight teams in conjunction with New Jersey advertising agency In-House Agency, Inc., a full-service creative marketing firm that worked with Wet Planet on this educational project. The students worked for the entire semester on the re-branding assignment, spending the last six weeks adapting their ideas into graphic and video form for the new Jolt web site.
Jolt creator and Wet Planet CEO and founder C.J. Rapp visited Syracuse on April 11 for a luncheon with the class and presented three awards to the class: best campaign to Josh Smutco and Keith Esernio for “Rise Up;” best video to Ryan Kase, Miriam Langsam and Laura Migdon for “Fun Pops;” and best art direction to Erin Lustig and Noah Phillips for “Jolt Up.” Each team received a $200 cash prize.
A large part of the Jolt re-launch included a revolutionary and never-before-seen re-sealable aluminum bottle, referred to as the “Jolt Battery Bottle,” whose unique high-voltage battery design sets it apart from its competition.
Visiting the Harriet Tubman Home
Undergraduate students in Assistant Professor Iris Magidson’s communications design’s design project management course worked with the Harriet Tubman Home in Auburn, New York, and the AME Zion Church, the not-for-profit owner and manager of the property, to propose exhibitions for the visitor center and design a self-guided walking tour of the site. The relationship is being facilitated through SU’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs Professor Douglas Armstrong and graduate student Anna Hill.
The students’ proposed exhibitions for the visitor center would utilize archeological and historical materials found on the property and would include information addressing a range of themes dealing with Tubman’s life, in addition to interpreting specific materials recovered during archeological surveys and excavations. Many of these excavations have been conducted by students in Armstrong’s anthropology classes and archeology workshops over the last several years. In addition, the students are designing plans for a self-guided walking tour of the site, including signage.
Magidson’s objective for her students is to create exhibitions that present a well-rounded, humanistic perspective on the story of Tubman, in order to excite and empower visitors to the home. They have specifically focused their design efforts on middle school children learning about Tubman, the Underground Railroad and mid-19th century U.S. history, in order to engage them with local history and think critically about social justice.
Comments about this story? E-mail us at chimes@syr.edu.