Cleo Kendrick, Austin Taylor are named GDUSA Students to Watch for 2024

Congratulations to Cleo Kendrick and Austin Taylor, who have been named to GDUSA’s 2024 Students to Watch list. These Graphic Design seniors, both veterans of The Agency, PCA&D’s in-house branding and design organization, join more than 100 other students from across the country in being awarded this honor. 

CLEO KENDRICK

A Graphic Design student with a minor in Business in the Creative Industry, Kendrick is originally from a dairy farm in western New York. An “art kid” throughout her childhood, she became interested in Graphic Design after a day job shadowing in middle school. “I decided to go to an art school so I could be surrounded by fellow creatives and get a bit out of my comfort zone. These past four years I’ve gained a greater confidence in my own abilities as a designer.” Part of PCA&D’s winning team for the 2022 America250PA’s statewide marketing competition. she’s an officer for the campus AIGA club, and has pursued her love of typography in college. “I’ve always been fascinated with letters and how they can be depicted,” Kendrick says. Outside of classes, designing, and a part-time job, she spends her time “being furniture for my cat Diva, hanging with friends, or going on adventures with my fiancé.”

• What makes you feel inspired?

I’m inspired by everything around me, design is everywhere you look. I love to look at how design has evolved over the years and often take inspiration from past design trends.

• What area of design are you hoping to work in or specialize in?

Whenever I’m asked what I want to do in the design field I always say entertainment media, print, or digital. I’m a go-with-the-flow kind of gal, so I really don’t mind where I end up, as long
as it’s design-related.

• What is one thing that design school has taught you that you did not expect?

That the Adobe Creative Suite is actually not as scary as I thought it would be.

• Who is someone you look up to in your field? Either today or historically?

I’m kinda bad at keeping up with the big names in design, focusing more on works. But I’ve always been inspired by the designers working around me, from peers like my friend Paige Alana Bowermaster, professors such as Jeremy Friend, or random designers I stumble across on social media, like Justin R. Stewart.

• What are you reading, listening to, watching (books, movies, TV, social media, music)?

I’m currently on my fourth rewatch of X-Files, and as for music, some of my top artists are Seether, Girli, and Wheeler Walker Jr.

• Do you currently, or do you plan to, design for any causes or charities?

I’ve done work for nonprofits throughout my college years for PCA&D’s in-house design team The Agency, as well as for our annual Designathon. For my senior thesis, I’m working on creating an organization that will advocate for farmers’ mental health and stress management.

• Do you feel that design school has prepared you to search for and find a job?

Absolutely. Learning in an environment focused on design, with professors who are actively working in the design field, is a great asset. They know what it’s like dealing with clients and coursework can easily be applied to real-world situations to better our understanding of the design process.

AUSTIN TAYLOR

Over the past three years, Taylor says, “I realized that I enjoy Graphic Design more than I thought I would. Before going to college I didn’t know what I was going to do, all I knew was that I liked creating stuff. So I took a shot in the dark and went to school for Graphic Design and I’ve been enjoying it ever since.” Taylor was part of PCA&D’s 2022 winning team for the statewide America250PA marketing competition. A big fan of the automotive industry, “when I have the chance to design something related to that, it’s always a fun time. As a designer, I want to push myself to be the best version I can be by taking on unique challenges and seeing how far I can go.”

• What makes you feel inspired?

The thing that makes me feel inspired would have to be seeing well-designed art that improves a community or business. It reminds me that graphic design is an important part of bringing people and companies together.

• What area of design are you hoping to work in or specialize in?

I hope to work in all design areas because I feel it’s important to know something about everything. However, I would like to specialize in Advertising/Branding Design.

• What is one thing that design school has taught you that you did not expect?

The one thing design school taught me that I didn’t expect was how important your design problem-solving skills have to be.

• Who is someone you look up to in your field? Either today or historically?

The person that I look up to would have to be my design teacher from high school, Mr. Lewis. He was the one who showed me what the design world was and that I could make a living from it.

• What are you reading, listening to, watching (books, movies, TV, social media, music)?

When it comes to music I listen to a lot of different types of genres. For movies, I am a big fan of Fast & Furious, Marvel, and anything that has Greek mythology in it.

• Do you currently, or do you plan to, design for any causes or charities?

As part of the college’s in-house design team, The Agency, I’ve created the branding for several area non-profits. I also participated on Designathon teams for two years, creating one-day branding work for non-profit organizations.

• Do you feel that design school has prepared you to search for and find a job?

Yes, I feel that design school helped me prepare for finding jobs. One way is through my work with The Agency, where I took on a leadership role as the Creative Director, learning how to manage the workflow for several projects and supervise and assign work. As The Agency’s first student leader, I also created a Guidebook to help those who take on this role after me.