UCSD Design Co Fosters the Largest Pre-professional Design Community in the University of California System.
UCSD Design Co is a student organization focused on bridging the gap between students and a large, ever-growing design industry. It brings together UC San Diego students of various disciplines - design, development, marketing, and much more - to form one big collective. In my role as Creative Director on Design Co's board, I work to oversee and uphold the brand identity and design systems used by UCSD Design Co. Through this process, I strive to maintain DCo’s growing visibility and positive perception amongst industry partners and UCSD students.
I Found my Place at Design Co. I Want Others to Feel the Same.
In my first year at UC San Diego, I was overwhelmed by the amount of opportunities and communities available to students. Very early on, I got a flyer from Design Co - and while I was quite busy, as I found more time to participate I became more engaged and made a lot of unforgettable connections. Moreover, I was really interested interested in what I could offer to the organization as a budding college student and designer, and was delighted to apply for and accept a role on the DCo board. Other students won’t follow the same path as me, and won’t have the exact same experience, but I want to leave the organization in a better place than I left it, and continue to bring people together and allow for as many opportunities for excitement as possible.
Brand
Reinforcing a Reliable, High-quality Identity for a Collective of Student Designers.
All Our Designs Are Made With Intention.
I always strive to maintain and optimize the consistency of Design Co's brand image. With a few notable exceptions, we have a strict set of product guidelines and assets. As a consequence, one can look at any given Design Co visual and say, “That’s Design Co right there.”
Every part of a given graphic is crafted with purpose. DCo’s typographic styles, textures and patterns, and colors come from a rich library developed from the organization's inception. Any design’s copywriting and visual content is meant to stick to a specific tone, and fit within a certain paradigm. For every yes, there is also a no as well - this design system depends on rejecting a lot of avenues that don’t fit stylistically.
Initiatives
Building Engaging Experiences for Large Initiatives.
Certainly, our creative team gets more expressive and flexible with DCo's branding via large-scale efforts. While they still naturally bring about a sense of “Design Co”, these standout visuals and interactions communicate the significance of our initiatives and spark an elevated sense of intrigue.
UP-Grade provides a summer Internship-style program for student designers to group up and help San Diego nonprofits. Furthermore, STRIDE, an annual fall career-fair event, exposes students to industry members and other product builders at UCSD, and Design Frontiers serves as Design Co's yearly spring design sprint. All of these initiatives demand more effort and excitement building on our end, and we approach this need by creating unique and quirky branding and websites that spread the word and instill joy.
Students Find Friendship and Mentorship With 'Pixels and Cursors'.
A huge part of being a professional is making connections. However, there's more to that than networking on LinkedIn. With Pixels and Cursors, Design Co aims to bring about more tight-knit friendship via mentor-mentee pairings. Additionally, we prioritize the experience of having a good time over "experience"! In my time at DCo, I have worked hard with marketing and community members to refine the initiative's branding such that it more accurately reflects a lighthearted and social theme.
Internal
A Talented and Reliable Team Built For Change.
The incredible thing about UCSD Design Co is it's always been by students, for students. However, students grow up! We achieve and shoulder so much given that our board and audience is a revolving door of incoming and outgoing UC San Diego students.
Our Creative Team Keeps Pushing Boundaries.
Design Co's creative team of designers and developers is a machine like no other. I'm endlessly proud of the communication and iterative processes we undergo to create such a large swath of content. By organizing and documenting our projects and their respective progressions, our work becomes useful to locate and reference in the future. Through encouraging the use of our tools to their fullest capability, I've reduced the amount of repetitiveness in our workflows and increased efficiencies. This allows us to raise individual projects to a higher standard and focus on details that demand more time and attention, such as validation and web responsiveness.
Acknowledgements
I’m Ever-grateful For the Connections and Experiences I’ve Made Through Design Co.
I could never have expected the amount of unforgettable projects and experiences I now have behind me. There's still more to come, and I hope it's even greater. Big thanks to the people around me that made things all the better.
From Newbie to Creative Director
As a visual + brand designer at Design Co, I deeply committed myself to understanding the organization's brand and mission. Now, as Creative director, I am just as committed to reinforcing DCo's identity and inspiring other future designers. I'm always working to bring innovation to Design Co and reach new heights!
