Assistant Professor Kimberly Mitchell led an interactive workshop on the pervasive issue of ageism within art and design. In “Designing for Tomorrow: Embracing and Communicating Age-Inclusive Design in Education and Practice,” participants engaged in discussions and hands-on activities that revealed the roots and consequences of age-related biases. Mitchell guided participants through exploring actionable steps to foster a more inclusive and accessible design environment.

Mitchell’s interest in ageism began during her graduate studies, where she took a transformative course, “Design for All People,” which was cross-listed with architecture and gerontology.

“My initial understanding of aging was shaped by common misconceptions, which I quickly realized were wrong,” she said. “The course opened my eyes to the critical role designers play in addressing the needs of older adults, and I pursued a minor in gerontology to deepen my understanding. As I’ve aged and gained more personal experiences, I’ve become even more invested in this work—wanting to design for a future where I, and others, can age in place joyfully and with dignity.”

During the workshop, Mitchell introduced her resource website,��, which provides literature, guidelines, and methodologies to support educators and designers in creating more equitable, joyful, and enriching experiences for all. Participants gained insights into how age bias can unconsciously influence design practices, often excluding older adults unintentionally. Through hands-on activities, such as the Futures Cone exercise, participants were encouraged to think critically about future scenarios related to aging and caregiving, envisioning their own aging journeys and the systems they would want to interact with.

Mitchell emphasized that design can help alleviate many challenges faced by aging populations.

“We can create more intuitive healthcare portals, design user-friendly telehealth systems, and develop easier-to-navigate interfaces for older adults. These improvements may seem small, but they make a huge difference in how older adults access and experience healthcare.”

Reflecting on the workshop’s impact, Mitchell said, “One participant shared that the workshop profoundly shifted her perspective. She admitted that when designing for older adults, she hadn’t previously thought about herself in the process. She came expecting to learn about accessibility features like font size but walked away with a much deeper understanding of how design can shape the future we all want to age in.”

Mitchell hopes to continue expanding the conversation around age-inclusive design, pushing for its integration into design education and advocating for more intergenerational collaboration in practice. Her ultimate goal is to ensure that design solutions for aging populations are not just functional but also beautiful, joyful, and empowering.

Assistant Professor Chris Cote spoke during one of the conference’s design educator community sessions. His presentation, “Typography in the Public Sphere: Design as Public Address,” focused on the transformative possibilities of typography when it escapes the confines of the studio and digital platforms, extending into public spaces where it can address social issues and foster community engagement.

Educators appreciated Cote’s discussion on how traditional design education often limits typographic practice to the classroom, which can hinder students’ exploration of its real-world potential. His session emphasized engaging with public spaces through typographic interventions, showcasing how students can use typography to amplify their voices and contribute to meaningful conversations. Many attendees were impressed and inquired about how they might implement similar projects in their own teaching.

Cote highlighted his studio project, “How Can Designers Alter Public Space Through Typography?”, where students critically examined issues of access, representation, and social justice, deepening their understanding of design’s societal impact and fostering a more inclusive, empathetic design practice.

“The project influenced positive change by amplifying marginalized voices, resisting traditional design paradigms, and fostering community engagement,” said Cote. “For instance, using Riso printing to overlay messages on free newspapers brought overlooked social issues to public attention, while stickers addressing catcalling made gender-based harassment visible and prompted dialogue. By challenging conventional design norms, students expanded the scope of design possibilities, exemplified by the redesign of signs to subvert their original messages and provoke thought about societal norms. Community engagement was fostered through transforming unattractive campus spaces like elevators by gathering user feedback and redesigning with inviting typography to create more engaging and pleasant environments, encouraging positive interactions.”

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, Anthony Titus, September 9

Surface Mining — A Sequel will focus upon the structure of Anthony’s transdisciplinary practice of art and architecture. He will speak about a selection of exhibitions, projects, and teaching pedagogy that spans the past decade, emphasizing the processes and procedures and the final product of the works.

Anthony is looking to explore and discover new possibilities between the spaces of architecture, sculpture and painting. The conversation and exchange between these disciplines serves as a rich space of opportunity to enhance and expand our current understanding of space, form, color, and structure as participants in a larger cultural landscape.

, Javier Sánchez, HFAIA, September 23

JSa is a Mexican architecture studio founded in 1996 by Javier Sánchez, with urban acupuncture as a vision to conceive comprehensive architectural interventions that contribute towards the continuous rehabilitation of the urban fabric.

Today, partners Aisha Ballesteros and Benedikt Fahlbusch —alongside Sánchez— are the core of the practice. And together lead a team headquartered in Mexico City, and a secondary studio in Lima, Peru led by Irvine Torres.

Stemming from the French tradition of the atelier, the team approaches design as a collective process, immersed in a continuous cycle of research, urban approximation, architectural project and adaptability to the ever-evolving social, urban and environmental challenges. With this conviction as premise, the studio gained early recognition with a series of seminal projects that together prompted the renewal of downtown Mexico City at the turn of the century.

Throughout the past three decades, JSa has realized over 180 projects in Mexico, South America and Europe. Encompassing five cross-complementary axes around: the recovery of heritage and promotion of culture; the conception of unique hospitality and dining experiences; the design of versatile community and workspaces; the integration of sustainable solutions; and the continuous exploration of housing as the foundation of the urban ecosystem.

, Kim Yao, FAIA, September 24

In conjunction with the fall 2024 publication of the monograph Architecture. Research. Office., Principal Kim Yao will present the design of the practice as a project in itself. “Architecture” is the firm’s ultimate objective, which for ARO means creating beautifully crafted work that benefits people; “research” grounds its methodology and informs its approach; and “office” reflects the idea that creating architecture in support of people starts with the community and culture of the firm itself. Key projects completed over the past three decades, representing the firm’s diverse body of work, will be the means to describe the principles that guide ARO’s work, the firm’s methodology and its culture.

Yao’s lecture will be held off-campus in collaboration with AIA East Tennessee at 11:50 a.m.–1 p.m. at the Foundry On the Fair Site.

, Lucy McRae, October 28

In 20 to 40 years’ time, technologies such as CRISPR will transform humanity and redefine many of society’s structures. When humans are born outside of the body in labs, who will shape these reproductive habitats– and for what purpose?

Calling forth these likely futures, we explore new and interdisciplinary avenues for architecture and design through a process of narrative prototyping: provoking impossible questions and exploring ways in which science fiction can spark real-world discourse.

Incubating a mind state that trusts the unknown, Lucy develops methods for pioneering new aesthetics, new stories, and new ways of being together in the world.

Regional Globalism in the Tennessee Valley, November 3–December 4

The exhibition will be held in the Ewing Gallery of Art + Architecture. Regional Globalism in the Tennessee Valley is curated by School of Archiecture’s Assistant Professor Micah Rutenberg.

, Mark Lee, November 18

Mark Lee is a founding partner of Johnston Marklee, based in Los Angeles. Since its establishment in 1998, Johnston Marklee has been recognized nationally and internationally with over 50 major awards. Projects undertaken by Johnston Marklee are diverse in scale and type, spanning fourteen countries throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia. Recent projects include the permanent home for the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Study Program (ISP) at Roy Lichtenstein Studio in New York’s Greenwich Village; the Menil Drawing Institute in Houston, Texas; the UCLA Graduate Art Studios campus in Culver City, California; and a renovation of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Current projects include the residential towers, Ray Nashville, in Tennessee, and Ray Phoenix, in Arizona; a renovation of the UCLA Reverend James Lawson Jr. Worker Justice Center in Los Angeles; and the interior architecture and museology within the Kunstmuseum Hauptbau in Basel Switzerland, in collaboration with Christ & Gantenbein.

Support for the College of Architecture and Design’s lecture series is championed by the Robert B. Church III Memorial Lecture Fund.

Unless otherwise noted, lectures are held at 5:30 p.m. in McCarty Auditorium, room 109, in the Art + Architecture Building.

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“They are not in a typical sans serif street sign font. They’re very narrow and rounded. They almost look like Cooper Black, and I’m like this is crazy,” said Fuson, a senior in �����Ƶ’s School of Design.

With a camera always at the ready, Fuson often captures typography that interests him or may be subject to disappearing. As a self-proclaimed perfectionist, he has found comfort in the systematic process of typeface revival, finding abandoned��designs and reworking them to an updated medium—such as digital —so they can be utilized furthermore��and live on, while showcasing his creativity.

After seeing the street signs, Fuson began to drive around the city capturing as many characters as possible.

“There’s a rigid process to reviving a typeface, but it’s also not about sticking to what’s already there. I made the typeface a little bit less narrow and more tracked out, which modernized it in a way.”

“I was scrolling TikTok one night and received an ad for the contest. I began by looking at the brand for visual motifs, their tone of voice, like what line texture they look for,” he said. “My first design was focused on travel because their mantra of ‘never stop exploring,’ but I decided it didn’t work best as a T-shirt design.”

For his second entry, Fuson continued the idea of travel and settled on a badge design which featured the brand’s logo inspiration, Half Dome, a well-known rock formation in Yosemite National Park. Fuson illustrated an illusion of a hiker’s perspective camping in front of the site.

“This design is very outdoorsy, and Oaky felt like the perfect ‘granola’ font to match the scene,” he said. “It’s an amazing feeling to know my typeface is out there.”

In addition to receiving $1,500 in products from The North Face for his winning design, Fuson’s artwork will be available on select The North Face apparel next year.

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“Today marks a significant milestone in the lives of our students,” said Dean Jason Young. “For many members of the Class of 2024, this day is an especially meaningful because their high school graduations and their first year in our program, along with other major life moments, were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We’re thrilled to celebrate them today and we hope this occasion becomes a cherished memory for all in attendance.”

The college’s commencement address was delivered by archimania Cofounder and CEO Barry Alan Yoakum, FAIA. A 1978 graduate of the School of Architecture, Yoakum credits his third-grade teacher for becoming an architect, his uncle Rhea Burns for his love of the Vols, and his father for instilling that he could become whatever he dreamed. In his address, Yoakum asked graduates to remember the first time they dreamed of becoming a graphic designer, a landscape architect, an interior architect, or an architect.

“You have come a long way from that moment,” he said. “Enjoy today. Revel in the moment of being a graduate, then tomorrow, begin dreaming a new dream that helps you to become the very best you. I want to thank you for helping me to remember how I became me. It’s the people and the moments that shape who we become.”

During the college’s celebration for graduates and their families, prior to the commencement ceremony, Yoakum was recognized by the UT chapter of Tau Sigma Delta Honors Society with the Silver Medal. The honor recognizes a professional with a distinction in design in architecture, landscape architecture or the allied arts.

Shakori Carpenter, a bachelors of architecture graduate, addressed her classmates and shared how her mother’s practice of attributing and integrating aspirational words for each year allowed her to reflect upon her five years at UT.

“The education itself is important, but what is more crucial are the relationships we garnered through it. Life is about enrichment, exploration and togetherness. When you have a person or a group of people there for you, it truly makes a difference.”

Watch the college’s commencement ceremony and others .

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“I am honored to be receiving the Bill Moggridge Award,” said Meystrik. “It is a privilege to carry the legacy of such an influential, warm, and innovative designer. Thank you to the directors in the college of architecture and design for their confidence in my work and abilities. I look forward to embracing the doors this distinction could open for me as I continue my journey as a designer.”

She earned the award for her senior capstone project, The FutureFoods Farm Pods, a system of four integrated farm capsules that operate on a closed-loop system and are scalable enough to exist on an urban patio or rural backyard.

The pods host four partner crops, seaweed, mushrooms, insects and snails, and are intended to provide a sustainable source of protein for a family of four. Meystrik, who stopped eating meat four years ago, created the product to represent a fundamental paradigm shift in the way American think about food and farming.

“This award recognizes the potential of Maggie’s product revolutionizing food production, a sustainable approach to addressing climate change through at-home protein farming,” said Dean Jason Young, who presented the award to Meystrik at the college’s annual Brag + B. “She’s not a food scientist. She’s not a hydroponics engineer, biologist or ecologist. She’s a graphic designer focused on creating interventions to challenge current paradigms and promote sustainability for project aims to disrupt conventional thinking and envision a more sustainable future. We are honored and proud to have Maggie as the college’s recipient of the Bill Moggridge Award.”

Moggridge was co-founder of IDEO and a pioneer in interaction design. A recipient of the Student Design Award at the Royal Society of the Arts half century ago, he credited the honor with giving him the confidence to start his own design firm in London in 1969, adding a second office ten years later in Palo Alto, California. In 1991, IDEO was created when he joined his company with those of David Kelley and Mike Nuttall.

The award began at the Royal Society of the Arts in 2014 and has since expanded to the Royal College of Art in London, California College of the Arts in San Francisco, Stanford University’s d.school.

The Bill Moggridge Awards is an annual design awards program sponsored by Techmer PM, IDEO, and the Bill Moggridge Awards Sustaining Committee.

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Lauren Favier

As a second-generation Vol, Favier knew �����Ƶ, felt like home, but didn’t discover her interest in graphic design until she arrived on campus.

Once in the program, she used general education courses to inspire her designs and storytelling. Her recent months-long medieval phase was inspired by a class on Pre-Renaissance Italian Art.

“During my time in the School of Design, I have learned to lean less on what makes me comfortable,” she said. “While my earliest projects predictably use my most reliable color schemes and type choices, I’ve grown to appreciate the value in experimenting, pushing my boundaries, and failing fast. I am learning to constantly expand my ‘style’ and experience is maybe the best lesson I’ve learned in the program.”

Favier manages the school’s two risograph printers and hosts workshops to teach students and faculty about the printing process. The opportunity grew her public speaking, teaching, and management skills.

Jaiden Kasaval

Kasaval entered UT as a computer science major but his artistic and creative background drew him to transferring into the graphic design program where he cultivated passions for printmaking, typography, and publication.

“Near the beginning, I think I was more into these wild methods of form. I would try just about anything,” he said. “Now, I feel as though my style and taste has been refined. I’m inspired by the space between digital and tangible, and where those lines can intersect. Form and function drive my practice, with a passion for storytelling.”

This past summer, Kasaval traveled to Seoul, South Korea as a part of the School of Design’s first study abroad program. While visiting the city, he embarked on many cross-cultural experiences including various multimedia workshops, collaboration with design students from Hongik University, and a class publication documenting their personal and emotional journeys.

“The entire experience was very enriching for me as I was able to explore my normal habits and art and design practices, but in a whole new lens and amongst a totally unknown environment. I was able to perceive an entirely different side of design, one that wasn’t entirely Western-influenced,” he said.

Favier and Kasaval will participate in the school’s senior design show on from 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday, May 16 at the Emporium in downtown �����Ƶ. Read more about each of the students .

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The local awards mark the start of a three-tier national competition. Recipients of Gold Awards are automatically entered into one of 15 district competitions.

Gold Awards

• Sprout Pod, Tala Ghezawi
• Get the Milk Hot Sauce, Tala Ghezawi
• The Studio Kitchen, Tala Ghezawi
• Bionade Packaging, Alexander Long

Ghezawi was recognized with the Best of Student award for her project, Sprout Pod, produced in Professor Cary Staples’ Beginning Graphic Design course. Ghezawi transferred into the graphic design program as a sophomore and participated in the school’s bootcamp in order to graduate within five years.

“I came to UT still exploring my options, and the School of Design instantly caught my eye due to its strong reputation, great resources and some of the best faculty out there. I am very thankful to be able to study what I love,” said Ghezawi. “I am extremely honored to receive these awards from the AAF and very grateful for my professors and the UT School of Design for their constant support and always pushing me to create and strive for more.”

Silver Awards

• Ballplayers on Stage! Cover Design, Ciara Chauncey
• Bridge, Delaney Kohlstedt
• Bonfire Hot Sauce Package Design, Alexander Long
• Bonfire Hot Sauce Illustrations, Alexander Long

Bronze Awards

• SCOOP Magazine, Emily Armstrong and Tanner Dunning (‘23)
• Fast & Fabulous, Kathryne Hirt
• SoleSisters App, Kathryne Hirt��
• SoleSisters Instagram Campaign, Kathryne Hirt
• SoleSisters Logo, Kathryne Hirt
• My Daily Inventory, Alexander Long

SCOOP Magazine is a semester-long product that is mostly student produced with guidance from Steven Friedlander, adjunct lecturer for the School of Journalism and Electronic Media.

The ADDYs were judged by four professionals from outside the region: Thom Blackburn, Executive Producer at Caravan; Seth Gunderson, Senior Director of Growth at Signal Theory; Katie Bernet, Creative Director at LERMA/; and Mark Abellera, Founder of Gypsies Tramps + Thieves.

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After a recent visit to one of the hospital’s playrooms, Assistant Professor Kimberly Mitchell saw an opportunity for students in her Design for Health course to reimagine the spaces using design as a catalyst for healing. Mitchell connected with Megan Debolt, manager of Patient Experience and Child Life at ETCH, to learn more about health requirements and storage needs of the space.

“Our goal is to create a space that promotes normal growth and development and to meet children’s needs through play,” said Debolt. “We do a lot to prepare children for procedures to help them cope with being in the hospital. We are thinking about how to encourage children to get up and out of bed, how do we comfort them, and how do we make this a less scary place.”

Mitchell’s interdisciplinary studio broke into two groups to develop proposals offering different budgetary design driven solutions for the hospital. Students toured different various healthcare facilities for perspectives on the patient experience, and the Muse �����Ƶ and Zoo �����Ƶ to learn more about children’s interactive and imaginative play.

“We gained so much insight into the importance of interactive and immersive elements in both of the locations,” said Ella Hosse, a fourth-year graphic design student. “One of the biggest takeaways included the element of Montessori-inspired play, which fosters both healing and growth. Overall, this discovery became the pivotal aspect within our proposal to ETCH.”

Hosse’s group, the Tree Room, envisioned two themes that transformed the space into a fantasy escape for patients. Debolt was thrilled to see murals and space dividers that enchant patients, as well as Montessori principles, a style of play that encourages natural interests and activities.

Andrew North, a first-year architecture graduate student and architecture intern at BWBR, a Minnesota commercial design firm, applied his current work experience on healthcare projects to his group’s proposal, tHe pOp.

“I was able to bring elements and ideas I was learning on projects, primarily in the realm of safe and easy to clean materials, as well as how to construct such spaces,” he said. “Our team’s approach heavily focused on the interdisciplinary nature of the course. While I know a lot about architecture, I knew very little about graphic design and vice versa for my teammates. We took it upon ourselves to ask all sorts of questions about the other’s design directly pertaining to the project and design and experiences beyond.

To enhance the environment, tHe pOp—which offered a fun alternative name to the hematology and oncology playroom— utilized vibrant colors and geometric graphics to suit toddlers to teenagers. Their vision of a welcoming and inclusive environment took advantage of the existing space’s natural light and incorporated colored glass and custom furniture to encourage play.

The students presented their reimagined designs to the hospitals’ patient experience and advancement staff. Design boards and materials were left with the ETCH personnel to share with potential donors who could fund the development of the playroom.

“I’m so impressed by the students’ diligence and care in the way that they thoughtfully designed that space both to modernize but also to provide the details that we need as a medical organization,” said Debolt. “We are grateful that the students, as well as Kimberly, chose us for their course. There’s a lot of choices in the �����Ƶ area that they could have worked with, and I think we feel honored that they chose to highlight us and to put this much thought and care into East Tennessee Children’s Hospital.”

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In under 12 hours, twenty-seven teams from nine institutions were briefed on their assignment, conducted research, designed, and presented a new logo, two postcards, and four banners to design professionals. UT teams received first and second place awards for their rebranded designs.��

Seniors Evans Baird, Jaiden Kasaval, and Jake Robinette received first place for their design’s reimagined vision and mission statement and technical skills.��

“The caliber of work I witnessed at Design It Forward Kentucky was nothing short of incredible,” said Keith LaRue, judge for the competition and graphic designer at Rev-A-Shelf. “During the judging process, I couldn’t stop ‘ahhing’ and ‘oohing’ at all the incredibly inspiring work coming from these student groups. What I was looking for was consistency, balance and a nod to the original identity.”��

LaRue described the first-place team’s work as a cohesive product that incorporated elements of the original logo while re-envisioning the identity.��

“The nod to the original purple being used as the color of the ‘road leading upward’ so smart,” he said.
“The branding was modern, corporate, and was something that I could see being implemented in real life.”��

In addition to their submissions, Baird developed an animation utilizing the group’s reinvented logo.��

“In the moment, it was stressful and worrying because we went pretty early in the presenting order,” said Baird. “One thing that really stood out for us was when we showed our logo, you could hear an audible gasp, which gave us confidence through the rest of the presentation.”��

Second place was awarded to seniors Lily Caldwell and Ella Hosse. LaRue praised the pair’s submissions as distinctive branding that captivated the judges with its lively and dynamic appeal.��

Caldwell and Hosse conducted remarkable research within a limited timeframe. A standout aspect of their rebranding involved target personas for the nonprofit’s services, as well as a deep dive into typefaces, ultimately selecting one designed by a black-owned type foundry, which was seamlessly integrated into the narrative of their logo.��

Assistant Professor Kimberly Mitchell, who leads their advanced graphic design course and accompanied the students, assisted the teams in their preparations for the competition and emphasized the significance of their presentations.��

“They can create a great design, but if they can’t sell it or present it professionally, then it won’t stand out,” said Mitchell. “At the end of the day, one of the judges inquired about the courses our students had taken, expressing profound admiration for their presentations as a whole. He commended their strong writing skills, solid research capabilities, and excellent technical expertise.”��

While Mitchell was present with her students, she was only able to observe their work. The teams received feedback throughout the competition from young professionals in the design industry who served as mentors. For the UT students, viewing designs from other teams was a valuable experience in identifying areas for improvement in their own submissions.��

“Other schools proved their design skills were there, but I think what made us stand out was the substance, research, and writing behind our designs,” said Kasaval.��

Mitchell views the competition’s outcome as the culmination of everything the students have learned in the graphic design program.��

“It was clear that they took everything they’ve learned in every single class and applied that during the presentations. I am so proud of their success, they worked hard and showed off their skills.”

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