For Graphic Design Duo, Sustainability’s in the Cards

12/12/2024
By Ed Brennen

Assoc. Prof. Ingrid Hess had a challenge for graphic design majors Andrea Garcia and Daly Grogan: Create a set of greeting cards that could be given to UMass Lowell donors and supporters that showcased the university’s commitment to sustainability.

The Honors College students accepted the extracurricular challenge and started by asking themselves, “How do you make sustainability visually appealing?”

“A lot of times, you just think of a recycling bin, and you're obviously not going to put a recycling bin on a card that's going to a donor,” Grogan says. 

Instead, the duo researched UML’s eco-friendly initiatives led by the Rist Institute for Sustainability and Energy. For inspiration, they looked to the university’s pollinator gardens, rooftop green spaces, urban agriculture farm and even its peregrine falcon nest atop Fox Hall.

The result is “Earth Nouveau,” a set of nine intricately designed cards that are now available for a $27 donation to the Honors College. Proceeds benefit the Honors Fellowship program.

Garcia, a senior who lives in Nashua, New Hampshire, says the project made her realize the impact graphic designers can make with their work.

“The fact that we were able to share information about what’s happening on campus in a way that's beautiful and easy to digest shows how much influence we as graphic designers can have,” she says. 

Honors College Dean Jenifer Whitten-Woodring recently hosted a reception for an exhibit of the students’ work at University Crossing, where framed, enlarged prints are on display on the second floor. 

Each card features a unique design, showcasing themes like pollinators (a bee, beetle and butterfly) and birds (a falcon, heron and hummingbird). The students, who are both minoring in art history, found inspiration in the Art Nouveau movement, which emerged in Europe in the late 1800s. Known for its focus on nature, intricate designs and earth tones, the style was a perfect fit for the project, they say.

Using Adobe Illustrator, Garcia focused on the main images, while Grogan created the delicate borders.

“Working as a team was new for both of us, but we were already friends, so it was a very smooth process,” Grogan says.

Once their designs were complete, the students worked with a printing company to produce around 300 sets of cards. The printing was paid for by orders they received from the Advancement Office, the Chancellor’s Office, the Rist Institute and the Honors College.

“Neither of us had worked with a printer on a project of this scale, so that was a learning experience for us,” Grogan says.

Garcia, Grogan and Hess assembled the bundles of cards and envelopes themselves, cutting paper, using a tool called a “bone folder” to fold the cards, and banding them together.

“Little things that you don’t learn until you do it,” Garcia says of the production process.

Hess, a member of the Art & Design faculty, has collaborated with the Rist Institute and Honors College on a number of projects over the years, and she came up with the greeting card idea to showcase their work. She had both Garcia and Grogan in several classes and pitched the project to them in the summer of 2023.

“I was aware of how talented they were, both as graphic designers and as illustrators,” Hess says. “I knew they were the right fit.”

Garcia and Grogan earned an honors credit for their work and also used it as a project in their Aesthetics of Graphic Design course with Hess that fall.

Grogan has worked with Hess on several sustainability-related projects, including her Senior Studio capstone, which is an educational program for children called “Next Wave” about the environmental impacts of global warming on the coast of Maine.

“Ingrid is a huge advocate for sustainability, and my interest and knowledge about it has grown greatly just from knowing her,” Grogan says. “It’s great that UMass Lowell, and specifically Ingrid, are speaking up and making sure people are knowledgeable about the issue.”

For her Senior Studio, Garcia is designing a summer camp for teenagers to learn about the intersection of science and art, an area that has become of personal interest to her. She is taking part in a science illustration study abroad trip to Portugal this spring.

“It would be cool if I could do something in that space,” says Garcia, who earned an associate degree from Brigham Young University-Idaho before moving to New England during the pandemic.

“One thing that I appreciated going from a really big university to a smaller space is that it opened up opportunities,” Garcia says. “The professors here really care, and the classes are so personal. I don't think I would have been able to do anything like this at a bigger school.”