Visible on flyers, websites, banners, postcards and more, Student Association Graphics Coordinator Kristen Fuest’s work permeates the campus. Fuest has been working at Geneseo in her current position for over six years. It was her first job in the field after she graduated from the Roberts Wesleyan College studio art program with a focus in graphic design.
Fuest is responsible for a number of designing tasks for Geneseo staff members and student organizations. Her designing entails close work with clients to bring their visions to life.
According to Fuest, typical work in the graphics coordinator position involves making brochures and similar graphic media formats for programs on campus.
“In my job, my favorite thing is to work with a client - to really achieve the vision that they have for the program they’re putting on or for the branding that they have,” she said. “It’s really exciting to see them proud of how what I designed will visually represent what they’re working on.”
Fuest said she also loves to see students become passionate about graphic arts, and in addition to her designing, she works with student interns every spring semester. Her interns learn graphic design topics and are able to work on their own projects that relate to what they’re learning. They also have the chance to work on a joint-internship project with the Student Life interns throughout the semester.
In a similar vein, Fuest is responsible for teaching a seminar on graphic arts every fall semester. She said the 10-week seminar covers an assortment of different topics on graphic design.
One important concept that she teaches is the place that graphic design has in society and the humanities at large.
“The exciting thing is that graphic design is everywhere we go … whether it is in an infographic or on a menu you’re reading when you go out to eat,” Fuest said. “It is on billboards and road signs that we use in order to navigate our way to a location.”
Aside from her professional designing tasks, Fuest involves herself in the visual arts as a whole. She said she enjoys doing graphic design outside of her job, but she also mixes up her personal work by exploring other creative outlets like photography and painting.
“[Graphic design] is the art of communication in our society,” she continued. “It’s a very exciting field in that graphic designers have the chance to visually represent a message. They have the ability to inspire, persuade or give passion to a certain message or group of people. Graphic design is the combination of art and communication together working to convey a message to its audience.”