FUSE 2023
I served as the Art Director of the FUSE Production team. This team is responsible for organizing and putting on a two day museum exhibition.
01.
Introduction
FUSE is the Bradley University Interactive Media Department’s end-of-year student showcase. This takes the form of a two-day museum exhibition at the Peoria Riverfront Museum. In 2023, I applied and was accepted to be the Art Director for the FUSE Production Team. The Production Team is responsible for making the show happen. We were responsible for everything except for student projects.
02.
About the Client
Bradley University’s Interactive Media Department is home to top rated programs across many disciplines. To show student work, the department partners with the Peoria Riverfront Museum to create an immersive two-day exhibition. Students work year-round on projects in UI/UX design, animation, art, and game design before presenting them to the public. The Peoria Riverfront Museum is the only multidisciplinary museum of its kind, and partnering with them is a really amazing opportunity. But, balancing the needs of both organizations presents challenges.
03.
Challenges
There were several unique design challenges I faced during my time as the Art Director.
The first challenge was picking a “theme” for FUSE.
The second challenge was the deadline. FUSE would take place the last weekend in April, and either everything was accomplished by then, or we failed. There wasn’t a lot of room for error.
The third challenge was to balance the needs of the Peoria Riverfront Museum, the wants of the Interactive Media department, and the actual abilities of my students. So, I had to make a lot of compromises to make it work.
04.
Solutions
I was in charge of solving these design challenges. As Art Director, I worked directly with a team of 8 designers/artists/programmers and indirectly with the rest of the department. My Art Team was responsible for designing the FUSE 2023 website. Firstly, we needed to pick a “theme” for FUSE. Every show has a theme. In 2021, it was “underwater”. In 2022, it was “electricity”. This year, I talked with the Student Producer, Rachel Rudy, and we came up with a lot of different ideas before landing on “road trip” for the 2023 theme.
After a theme was picked, I had to create an overall visual style guide for the Art Team to work with. I compiled a series of reference pictures that people could draw from. I also created a design guide with a color palette and list of fonts that we would use to keep everything consistent. I wanted to invoke a feeling of vintage travel, as if you were going out west on Route 66 and seeing this art on the way.
From this design guide, we got to work. I developed the main FUSE logo, which is supposed to look like a retro roadside sign. This motif carried into the other logos I created for each major. I worked with the Student Producer to create a list of all of the art assets that needed to be created, and I assigned these tasks to each member of the art team.
I created work myself, but I was also responsible for telling team members what needed to get done. I was part designer, part Project Manager. I used a modified version of an agile methodology to keep people on task each week.We also had to create every art asset that Production needed. This included a wide variety of print and digital materials, including: A logo for FUSE, logos for each individual major, Alumni Postcards to invite them to FUSE, marketing materials for social media, posters, lanyards, t-shirts, banners, and all of the website’s UI.
My job as Art Director was to ensure all of the art assets were finalized by FUSE. I had to stay in constant communication with both the other students at Bradley, and with the board at the Peoria Riverfront Museum. Sometimes, I would get behind on a piece of communication. A good example of this is when I thought the museum needed a website banner on a Friday, and it was actually needed the Monday of that week. I took responsibility and finished the design outside of class time, because I didn’t want my team to take the fall for a mistake that I made. In order to meet the design requirements I took several steps to stay organized: I managed an Asana board to keep on track, I held weekly feedback sessions, I assigned tasks, and I served as a liaison between the students and professionals.
05.
Results
The Bradley University faculty called FUSE 2023 “the best show they’d ever seen.” Every design and art asset was completed on time. We created an informative website about FUSE, which helped attract 1000+ patrons to the museum on the day of the exhibition.. Each of the 300+ interactive media students and faculty received a personalized t-shirt and lanyard. More than just the completed projects, I grew as a designer, artist leader. This was one of the first major projects I’ve ever been in charge of, and even with the stumbling blocks we faced, I am proud of the end result. You can see the 2023 website here.
01. Introduction
FUSE is the Bradley University Interactive Media Department’s end-of-year student showcase. This takes the form of a two-day museum exhibition at the Peoria Riverfront Museum. In 2023, I applied and was accepted to be the Art Director for the FUSE Production Team. The Production Team is responsible for making the show happen. We were responsible for everything except for student projects.
02. About the Client
Bradley University’s Interactive Media Department is home to top rated programs across many disciplines. To show student work, the department partners with the Peoria Riverfront Museum to create an immersive two-day exhibition. Students work year-round on projects in UI/UX design, animation, art, and game design before presenting them to the public. The Peoria Riverfront Museum is the only multidisciplinary museum of its kind, and partnering with them is a really amazing opportunity. But, balancing the needs of both organizations presents challenges.
03. Challenges
There were several unique design challenges I faced during my time as the Art Director.
The first challenge was picking a “theme” for FUSE.
The second challenge was the deadline. FUSE would take place the last weekend in April, and either everything was accomplished by then, or we failed. There wasn’t a lot of room for error.
The third challenge was to balance the needs of the Peoria Riverfront Museum, the wants of the Interactive Media department, and the actual abilities of my students. So, I had to make a lot of compromises to make it work.
04. Solutions
I was in charge of solving these design challenges. As Art Director, I worked directly with a team of 8 designers/artists/programmers and indirectly with the rest of the department. My Art Team was responsible for designing the FUSE 2023 website. Firstly, we needed to pick a “theme” for FUSE. Every show has a theme. In 2021, it was “underwater”. In 2022, it was “electricity”. This year, I talked with the Student Producer, Rachel Rudy, and we came up with a lot of different ideas before landing on “road trip” for the 2023 theme.
After a theme was picked, I had to create an overall visual style guide for the Art Team to work with. I compiled a series of reference pictures that people could draw from. I also created a design guide with a color palette and list of fonts that we would use to keep everything consistent. I wanted to invoke a feeling of vintage travel, as if you were going out west on Route 66 and seeing this art on the way.
From this design guide, we got to work. I developed the main FUSE logo, which is supposed to look like a retro roadside sign. This motif carried into the other logos I created for each major. I worked with the Student Producer to create a list of all of the art assets that needed to be created, and I assigned these tasks to each member of the art team.
I created work myself, but I was also responsible for telling team members what needed to get done. I was part designer, part Project Manager. I used a modified version of an agile methodology to keep people on task each week.We also had to create every art asset that Production needed. This included a wide variety of print and digital materials, including: A logo for FUSE, logos for each individual major, Alumni Postcards to invite them to FUSE, marketing materials for social media, posters, lanyards, t-shirts, banners, and all of the website’s UI.
My job as Art Director was to ensure all of the art assets were finalized by FUSE. I had to stay in constant communication with both the other students at Bradley, and with the board at the Peoria Riverfront Museum. Sometimes, I would get behind on a piece of communication. A good example of this is when I thought the museum needed a website banner on a Friday, and it was actually needed the Monday of that week. I took responsibility and finished the design outside of class time, because I didn’t want my team to take the fall for a mistake that I made. In order to meet the design requirements I took several steps to stay organized: I managed an Asana board to keep on track, I held weekly feedback sessions, I assigned tasks, and I served as a liaison between the students and professionals.
05. Results
The Bradley University faculty called FUSE 2023 “the best show they’d ever seen.” Every design and art asset was completed on time. We created an informative website about FUSE, which helped attract 1000+ patrons to the museum on the day of the exhibition.. Each of the 300+ interactive media students and faculty received a personalized t-shirt and lanyard. More than just the completed projects, I grew as a designer, artist leader. This was one of the first major projects I’ve ever been in charge of, and even with the stumbling blocks we faced, I am proud of the end result.
