The shirts they designed could be seen all over campus. The flyers they made were plastered throughout the Student Center. Their "Save the Date" magnets covered many girls' refrigerators. Whether students needed function T-shirts or wedding invitations, they could count on Red Brick Studios to come up with clean, inspired design. An emerging presence in the world of design on campus, Red Brick Studios worked closely with the Art Department to take on many different design challenges.The goal of Red Brick was to work one-on-one with students in need of design ideas, logos, posters, invitations orT-shirts. "Red Brick ex1sts so designers can get used to the process of one-on-one interaction with actual clients," senior Jonathan Alexander, director of communications for Red Brick, said. "It's not like doing homework anymore." Red Brick functioned to provide experience that helped the art and design students excel, while providing an oncampus service to non-design students as well. Red Brick also looked to give designers an unconventional education. "Red Brick gets designers away from the classroom," senior Jen James, president of Red Brick, said. "Red Brick helps keep you informed-not just on what's going on in design on campus but also with designers around the world." After the earthquake in Haiti in January 2010, a designer at Red Brick had the chance to not only learn about global design but also to touch Iives "around the world." In an effort to help those whose homes had been 1 9 8 organizations destroyed in the earthquake, Harding University staff as well as the Student Association called on Alexander, who was president of Red Br!ck at the time, to come up w1th the design that would be used in Harding's "Together for Haiti" and "Tents and Tarps" campaigns. The basic red T-shirts that Alexander designed, emblazoned with the phrase "Together for Haiti" in both Haitian Creole and English, were a huge success and raised thousands of dollars for relief efforts in Haiti. "I really like that the T-shirt had the Haitian [Creole] language on the front and the English translation on the back," Junior Britney Cothren said. "It showed unity. Even though we speak different languages, we could st1ll work to help the Haitian people." Although much of what Red Brick did happened behind the scenes, that did not stop the designers from feeling rewarded. "Just to hear that people enjoy what you've made, just seeing everybody wear the shirts you designed is rewarding in and of itself," Alexander said. For Alexander, the key to far-reaching design was not rooted in just the look of aT-shirt or a certain color combination. Being aware of others and their needs, whether students or strangers 1,000 miles away, was what made design effective. "The goal is to make things simple, to be creative and to communicate," Alexander said. "As designers, we can't afford to stop moving, thinking, learning. Being act1ve and social 1s integral to being a designer." }ames Taylor/Kelsey Sherrod
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