Design Illinois

Written by Megan Krok

Students and Alumni Alike Experience First ‘Design Illinois’ Event Held on Illinois Campus

The Design Illinois mentorship fair was held at the Siebel Center for Design on March 7. The fair, which has been previously held in Chicago, allowed current design students to connect and learn from Illinois alumni.

Design Illinois is catered toward Illinois students studying graphic, industrial, and sustainable design as well as UI/UX students. Previous Design Illinois fairs were only available to graphic design students. In recent years, the fair has been opened up to industrial design, but this is the first time sustainable design students could attend.

The event featured an array of activities and opportunities for students, including alumni speakers, one-on-one meetings with industry insiders, resume and portfolio reviews, and a mentorship fair.

Key organizer of the event Ana Rodas, Assistant Director for Career Services in the College of Applied and Fine Arts, said there was a “definite excitement from everybody” at the event.

Since the event has traditionally been held in Chicago, Rodas and the committee for Design Illinois pushed for the event to be held in Champaign in order to provide more access to Illinois students, she said.

“It allows everyone to have a say and support the program in a way that maybe we didn’t have before,” Rodas said.

A key part of Design Illinois was the alumni who returned to present to students and connect one-on-one with them through different mentorship opportunities. 

Graphic Design alum Abel Sanchez spoke on behalf of his company at the event. He presented information about his career in graphic design to students and had conversations with students long after the presentation, answering questions and offering words of advice.

Sanchez said he thinks design students at Illinois “identify with him” because he was once in their shoes, which is why he chose to speak at the fair. 

“I want to give back to my community and that’s who I met today,” he continued, “and I found [the students] to be inspiring. I learned from them as well as teaching them a thing or two about my experience as a professional graphic designer.”

These feelings were reciprocated by many students who attended the event.

Angelan Lin, a sophomore in Graphic Design, found meeting people currently in the design industry to be most impactful.

“I think [the mentors] have been really helpful and like just given me a lot of insight on the industry,” Lin continued, “I feel like being a student is a kind of like a bubble but they’ve had a lot of different kinds of experiences and it helps me further understand like how I can utilize my experience as a student.”

Design Illinois also offered students the opportunity to interview with potential employers. Students submitted resumes and portfolios during the registration process and received interviews on an invite-only basis.

Attendee Ben Tairy, a junior in Graphic Design, was able to land some interviews at the fair. 

“This is really good for experience and learning how to interview because this is some of my first experiences interviewing,” Tairy said. “I think we need more stuff like this in our major. I think it’s really good for us and our people.

Interviews were one of the many ways students could gain more professional development experience at Design Illinois. Siebel Center for Design affiliate and clinical assistant professor of graphic design Jena Marble assists students in preparing for the design workforce.”

“This is really good for experience and learning how to interview because this is some of my first experiences interviewing,” Tairy said. “I think we need more stuff like this in our major. I think it’s really good for us and our people.

Interviews were one of the many ways students could gain more professional development experience at Design Illinois. Siebel Center for Design affiliate and clinical assistant professor of graphic design Jena Marble assists students in preparing for the design workforce. 

“I work with a lot of seniors so it’s really exciting to see all the work we’ve been doing in our classes, in our capstone courses and our advanced courses, see all that come to fruition when we’ve been practicing so hard on our introductions and talking about our work and working on our portfolios, so it’s really nice to see all of that come to life,” she said.

Overall, students and staff at Design Illinois alike felt there needs to be more opportunities like this for design students on campus.

“I’m really excited for next year and making this with more alums coming back and what it could be, so I think this is a good first step,” said Eric Benson, a department head in Graphic Design.