Youngstown Design Works’ Launches Pop-Up Shop
WARREN, Ohio -- Youngstown Design Works is hosting its inaugural Pop-Up Shop this week at 124 N. Park Ave., providing graphic design consultation to nearby businesses and nonprofit organizations for a nominal fee.
Design Works, which began operations in April, is an agency operated by Youngstown State University art students. For the Pop-Up Shop, 11 students are working with clients such as the Warren Business Exchange and the Associated School Employees Credit Union.
“We want to support small businesses, nonprofits and startups with entry-level price design services. We understand that premium design comes with a premium cost and we want to bring premium design at a price point that our friends in the business community can afford,” said R.J. Thompson, director of Youngstown Design Works. “We believe that design can be a really great instrument for communication here.”
Thompson, an associate professor of graphic and interactive design at YSU, said 25 clients have signed up for consultations and he is expecting some walk-ins this week. Clients pay a package price or $50 an hour, fees that funds the student agency’s costs.
Lisa Cahill, owner of Courtyard Square in downtown Salem, was the first client Monday. Courtyard Square was constructed in the 1890s, she said, and known as Quaker Place the last three decades.
“We found that after 30 years, nobody really knew what it was or where it was. We want to have solid corporate identity and an identity for the project,” Cahill said. “We're looking for a very recognizable logo so that people see it often and know exactly where to go.”
Cahill wants a logo the combined the historical aspects of the building with a modern design. Using college students, many of whom have seen the atmosphere of downtown Youngstown change over the years, will help create the type of branding that she is seeking.
“The youth of the artists will be of use. Youngstown State has had a huge amount to do with downtown revitalization in several cities, Youngstown among them, so they're familiar with the content and the spirit of that movement,” Cahill said.
Thompson said that goal is to have all work for the clients completed by July 7.
“If a client were to walk in and expect to have something done by the end of the day or the end of the week, that may not necessarily happen because we are booking a lot of consults at a rapid clip,” Thompson explained. “But through this process, we're able to establish long-term relationships with our peers and the folks coming in. We can do more work with them over a longer period of time, hopefully years.”
In addition to the businesses and nonprofit organizations that Design Works serves, students benefit from participating in Youngstown Design Works, according to Thompson.
“I frequently get criticisms that my students want more entrepreneurial efforts in our program. The Youngstown Design Works initiative is a great solution to that because we're able to get them that experience that they need to interview successfully and freelance and get their own client,” he said. “This gives students the opportunity to engage with real world clients, to understand their concerns and goals are not only with business, but with design.”
So far, the clients that Youngstown Design Works has served since it opened, the Salem Public Library among them, have been pleased with what the students have created, Thompson said.
After a 30-minute meeting Monday with five students and the director, Cahill said that she has high hopes the end of the creative process.
“They really wanted to know where I wanted to go with it, Cahill said. “I'm looking forward to what they come up with because I'm sure they'll do a great job.”
Pictured: RJ Thompson (right) and his students work on a project.
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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