Position Overview
Every spring, St. Olaf College and The Flaten Art Museum celebrate graduating studio art seniors through a campus-wide exhibition. In collaboration with designer Adriana Flemming, I developed the brand identity for the St. Olaf Class of 2026 Senior Art Show, creating visual materials that market the exhibition to the college community while positioning the graduating class's work as significant and deserving of institutional support. The project required balancing the diverse aesthetics of thirty-plus graduating artists while maintaining a cohesive, recognizable visual system across promotional materials, signage, and collateral.
Exhibition Poster
The poster anchors the Senior Art Show's visual identity, communicating through design alone whether the exhibition registers as significant or marginal on campus. We developed a poster that strategically positioned graduating studio artists as serious practitioners worthy of institutional support, establishing a visual language that carried across all promotional materials and reinforced the exhibition's value to the broader community.
Problem
The poster needed to authentically represent 30+ graduating artists working across diverse mediums and aesthetics without reducing them to generic thumbnail images or creating visual chaos. A single image or concept risked privileging certain work over others; a flat list of names felt impersonal and failed to celebrate the individuals launching their careers.
Solution
We constructed a composite visual identity using artist headshots arranged within a mixed-media collage framework, where each portrait was integrated into a dynamic layout that emphasized individual personality alongside collective presence. Rather than treating headshots as uniform elements, we layered them with mixed-media imagery (fragments, textures, varied scales) that reflected the diversity of their studio practices. This approach elevated each artist as a distinct voice while creating visual cohesion through intentional composition.
Outcome
The poster became a bold, attention-grabbing graphic that stood out across campus, registering as something significant rather than routine. The strategy worked: hundreds of students, faculty, and community members attended the opening reception. The design effectively communicated that this wasn't a conventional student show, but a celebration of 30+ emerging artists ready for the next chapter of their careers. The poster's visual impact directly translated to measurable institutional and community engagement.