Anjerie Jarman / Graphic Design 2018

Four years ago my life turned upside down, as life does from time to time. I packed my car and left Washington with my four little girls. I had a brief but thorough melt down. After taking a little time to get myself up off the ground I asked “ok, what next?”

The answer was to go back to school to finish the degree I had started 20 years and four kids earlier. I completed a few missing credits at Walla Walla Community College to earn my AA, and after that CWU was my next move. After touring the Department of Art and Design, meeting the Chair and design faculty, and seeing the student work, I was so impressed that I wanted in.

I felt slightly disadvantaged starting class as a nontraditional student who did not have the same experience in the software programs as some of my classmates. This however, never slowed me down. Every student in the program is given the foundational skills and tools necessary to create high quality work, and continue to build in the Graphic Design program. The projects are designed to push each student in their abilities and produce outstanding portfolio pieces. I continually surprised myself by what I was capable of. The courses in the design program are much more than design. They guide the student through all layers of visual communication. As a graduating senior, and by the time that I was done I was leaving Central with a beautiful and complete portfolio, and the ability and skill to excel in any area of design.

Weeks after graduation my graphic design professor David Bieloh contacted me about an amazing job opportunity as Communications Director for the West Valley School District. I submitted an application that included a letter of recommendation from professor Bieloh, as well as my portfolio. From a very competitive and qualified field of seasoned public relations professionals I landed an interview! The interview was to include a presentation in front of a hiring board two days later. The board was so impressed with my presentation, creativity, and skill as a designer they contacted me almost immediately after the interview and offered me the position! I was and am so thrilled. This position doesn’t only require a graphic designer, but an individual that can successfully communicate across many platforms on behalf of the entire school district. The presentation of myself, my work, and my story was so strong that I was able to succeed in obtaining the position.

I am beyond grateful to the Department of Art in helping me achieve my goals and succeed in ways I never imagined for myself. I feel extremely fortunate to have chosen Central as the place to earn my graphic design degree.

Kelly Jones / Graphic Design 2015

Kelly Jones graduated from Central Washington University in 2015 with a BFA in Graphic Design. She immediately began her summer internship with the Suncadia Real Estate Marketing Team. Once the internship was over she went back to working as a spa concierge at Suncadia until April 2016. The job she wanted in the real estate marketing department had finally opened and she got it right away thanks to CWU design alum, Emily Cook, who was her mentor throughout her summer internship.

Kelly began working full time as the Suncadia Real Estate Marketing Coordinator acting as the right hand to Vice President of Marketing for Suncadia, Richard Seay. At this time, they did not have a marketing manager so her work load was through the roof but she loved every second of the fast-paced marketing world of real estate. It hasn’t really slowed down, but she learned to manage her workload which is key in this field. Kelly’s first large task was helping with the wireframing and production of the Suncadia Real Estate web page. She was never a huge fan of coding in college, but she had to teach herself the basics to make the webpage what it is now and got to work with the amazing team at Real Estate Web Masters along the way.

Kelly designs all of Suncadia Real Estates marketing collateral for homes and neighborhoods and has been the creative behind the launch of 3 Suncadia core neighborhoods: Miner’s Camp, Legacy at Suncadia and River Ridge at Nelson Preserve. Her greatest achievement so far has been designing the logo for River Ridge, Suncadia’s newest $20 Million development property.

Kelly plans to stay with Suncadia for as long as She can. Suncadia has given her every opportunity to grow as a designer and marketing coordinator, but CWU gave her the skills, knowledge and confidence she needed to get her foot in the door and for that she is forever grateful.

Jake Lunde / Graphic Design 2014

During school, I worked at the CWU publicity center making posters, and getting a feel for what agency life could look like. This helped me tremendously to gain experience and confidence in design, but also interpersonal relationships and communication (which is honestly a good portion of working at an agency). With that confidence, I took some extra initiative in my projects for class—an assignment that required us to create a typeface? I went ahead and made it a functional TTF file that I gave away for free online, bringing lots of recruiters and exposure to my design work. Just last month I licensed that very same font to Penguin Books for use on their cover artwork.

After graduation I got connected to a recruiting agency for design work. There are many of these in Seattle and elsewhere—Creative Circle, The Creative Group to name a couple. These meta-agencies connect talent to employers of all types. You can work on contract or look for full time work as well. I was looking exclusively for the latter as I’d want a steady gig for the foreseeable future. The time it took after interviewing at Creative Circle to my first day at Zum Communications was a little less than two weeks. I got a job! Working remotely on PowerPoint presentations (“decks” as they call them) for Microsoft Executives. Not glamorous work, but it paid the bills and allowed me to work on my design skills and learn how to communicate and work a 9-5 in a corporate setting. I worked on PowerPoints for about a year, all the while honing my chops in the growing field of User Interface / User Experience Design. I wanted to work on screens, apps, websites, but more importantly I wanted to solve problems. “Why does that work so poorly?” “Why isn’t this easier?” were common phrases that pushed me forward. Using Creative Circle once more, I got connected with Fresh Consulting, an agency in Bellevue with lots of software developers and a few designers doing UI/UX work, who let me learn UI/UX on the job. That’s what I needed, and they helped me get real experience in the field for my portfolio. After a while I grew tired of the commute, and some of my closest colleagues left for greener pastures. I stuck it out for a few more months, learning as much as I could as quickly as I could. It wasn’t fun, but it was work. I gritted my teeth and pushed through over the one-year mark again. All the while I gained experience working with Microsoft, CBRE, and other larger brands. I began interviewing, using Creative Circle once more, and landed at Pilot Lab- an envisioning lab for more conceptual design as well as UI/UX. Here I worked on the latest version of Skype exclusively for 9 months.

This next move taught me more intricacies and nuances of user experience design, and helped to expand my creativity in solving all sorts of problems. This time I made it back into Seattle—South Lake Union. I could ride my bike to work, my hours were flexible, and I started to really enjoy myself. The only thing that loomed over this job was the fact that it was contract based. I look for security in all of my career moves, and this one was pretty volatile, and not getting any more stable. While working on Skype I met my current boss, Ron Morris, who was the head of another agency called BLAMO (a combination of the principals last names Blanchard and Morris). Ron mentored me while I was at Pilot, more so than anyone at Pilot did. He offered me a position and I started in February. I now work in a beautiful office on Capitol Hill with some of the best people and designers I’ve ever known. Since I’ve been here I’ve gotten the chance to work on projects for KEXP, Vans, and Footlocker, done branding work for startups, and most recently working on a political card game that will be released on Kickstarter very soon. I’ve never been happier. That hip Capitol Hill agency by which I was initially rejected has since closed. I know that I was never meant to work there, but rather do things the right way so I could be prepared to do the work that I do now.

Ryan Moffat / Graphic Design 2017

Ryan Moffat graduated in the the spring of 2017with his BFA degree in graphic design. Having a growing interest in the area of User Experience/User Interface Design, prior to graduation Ryan inquired with Professor David Bieloh about possible connections he might have in the User Experience field. Mr. Bieloh put Ryan in contact with a former student from Denver who worked for IHS Markit in Boulder, to discuss the possiblility of doing an internship at Markit after graduation. Ryan made the initial contact and set up the interview for the internship, which was competitive. He was selected as the intern for Markit and relocated immediately following graduation. Ryan spent 9 weeks working as an intern and was then offered a full-time position as an Associate Designer for the company.

Ryan said, "These past nine weeks have been an amazing experience and I've learned so much about not only design, but also the financial industry since that ties into the type of work I'm doing now. I'm so excited to continue working at IHS Markit and further my work and experience in the graphic design world." 

“Since beginning my career at IHS Markit, I have been creating multiple products. Immersing myself into the financial world has allowed me to understand my approach as a designer. As I develop here, I will be able to apply my design knowledge to every project."

Congratulations Ryan! 

Ross Quesnell / Art Education 2013

Ross Quesnell graduated in the spring of 2013 with a BA in Visual Art Education and minors in Museum Studies and Studio Art. Thanks to Heather Horn Johnson’s recommendation to consider the Museum Studies Minor at CWU, Ross quickly developed an interest in museum work. Shortly after graduating he contacted the Yakima Valley Museum to arrange an internship with its Exhibitions Department. After a highly informative summer with the museum’s Curator, Andrew Granitto, Ross decided to try his luck on the east coast when he had an opportunity to move to Orlando, FL. In Orlando, Ross began work at the Ronald Blocker Educational Leadership Center, where he worked in administrative support to the Arts Director for Orange County Public Schools. During this time he also interned at Orlando Museum of Art.

Fast forward to 2014, and Ross was hired as the Associate Curator of Education & Outreach at the Orlando Museum of Art. In this position he managed over 100 museum programs per year, from sessions for communities with special needs, to large public lecture series. Ross personally provided public and private gallery talks at the OMA, as well as outreach lectures and professional development workshops to groups at University of Central Florida and Orange County Public Schools. In addition to the valuable programming and public speaking skills he acquired, Ross was very fortunate to have met and worked with artists like Maya Lin, Will Cotton, numerous National Geographic photographers, and many others.

Inspired by the art he was in contact with, and by all his past studio professors at CWU, Ross decided to pursue his MFA in 2016. He now attends Arizona State University as an MFA Candidate while working as a Graduate TA, and an Online Sales Assistant at Bentley Gallery. In his past year at ASU, Ross has received multiple scholarships, as well as a travel grant to study at UC, Berkeley’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. Looking back, Ross fondly remembers his time in Ellensburg as the major the source of his professional persistence. His time at CWU taught him how to network, seek out opportunities, and build lasting friendships.