Client: University of Illinois - Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation
Project: Illustration / Graphic Design
OVCRI and I have a long history — for three of my four years as an undergraduate at UIUC, I served as the senior graphic design intern for a department that supports some of the most ambitious research happening on campus. Their work spans ten institutes and twelve research units, covering everything from cancer research and environmental sustainability to animal care and startup incubation. My job was to help all of that feel cohesive, human, and visually compelling. The project I'm most proud of is an asset library of over 150 hand-drawn illustrations — each one built to represent a different institute, campaign, or corner of the university's research ecosystem. Translating such a wide range of complex, serious subject matter into a unified illustration style was exactly the kind of creative problem I live for. Beyond the library, I designed conference merchandise, contributed to an office space redesign, and produced graphics across a range of campaigns throughout my three years. OVCRI taught me how to think like a brand designer inside a large institution — how to find the visual thread that connects wildly different things and make it feel intentional.
