Colorful creations for Stander

During the annual Stander Symposium, it’s natural for students presenting their work to feel a little nervous.

Senior Payton Oakes had even more reason to be, as her work was presented publicly, throughout the University of Dayton campus, long before the April 24 presentation day.

Oakes is a graphic design major who was chosen as the senior designer to create original branding materials for the 2019 Stander Symposium.

She said her nerves soon melted into excitement.

“I realized how cool it was to walk through campus and see my designs on banners, windows, merchandise and other signage,” Oakes said. “It is always nice to actually see your work applied to the real world.”

Oakes served as the junior designer for Stander last year. She said she drew on this experience and looked to make her design fun, going along with Stander’s theme of celebrating creativity and discovery for both undergraduate and graduate students. Oakes used a color scheme inspired by CMYK printing, a combination of cyan, magenta, yellow and black.

“The colors overlap with each other and work collectively to create a final image,” Oakes said. “I felt that the overarching idea of CMYK printing related to Stander itself because the whole day is dedicated to students coming together from all disciplines to collaborate and share their work.”

Oakes has worked on a number of branding projects during her time at UD, and she said she is motivated by how each assignment is unique. She tackles a new project from a relevant angle, creating designs that target a specific audience.

“I recently proposed a branding system for a symphony, and certain messaging channels were used that I didn’t use for Stander,” she said. “For example, it wouldn’t be fitting to content if I handed out fanny packs for the symphony, but it was for Stander.”

The fanny packs quickly disappeared from the information table, as students snatched them up on their way to presentations and poster sessions across campus.

“This was a really special opportunity for me to be a part of, and I was really thankful to be chosen for the position because this event has a very high profile on this campus,” Oakes said.