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10 ACUMEN • SPRING 2021 J ustine Gaetano works in an advertising agency based in New York, but her all-time favorite project was as a student in Lehigh’s Fusion Studio, a campus graphic arts agency. “It was one of Fusion’s first big-name clients, which made it exciting, but it was also purposeful work that seemed to have a big impact, even if it was in a small way,” she says. Fusion’s assignment, for the United Nations’ Green Fair—held to inspire UN employees to live more sustainably—was to generate fair attendance. “The studio spent weeks brainstorming how to transform one of the (UN) building’s hallways into a promotional piece for the fair,” Gaetano recalls. “We landed on an interactive pledge wall to drive engagement in an ever-expanding exhibit.” Gaetano ’16, who was Fusion’s creative director during a fifth-year presidential scholar- ship, delegated tasks based on student expertise. “One team worked on the sticker design, quality and logistics. Another worked on the visual display of the board itself,” she says. “One of our senior designers focused on the f lyer design, and I was tasked with the original logomark, which they still use today.” Three years later, despite the temporary closing of the Mountaintop studio space due to the pandemic, Fusion students continue their mission to do purposeful work. “We try to help Lehigh as a whole,” explains Marilyn Jones, associate professor of design and Fusion faculty adviser, herself a graphic designer. Instagram’s Fusion in the Kitchen, for example, highlights Jenny’s Kuali on Bethlehem’s south side and other eateries and provides recipes like banana muffins and homemade hot chocolate—illustrated, of course. Fusion students, scattered throughout Bethlehem, knew that meals might be a chal- lenge, so they decided to present choices and, at the same time, help local businesses, Jones says. The hybrid student-run graphic arts agency and academic four-credit class in the Department of Art, Architecture and Design (AAD) took shape in 2007 when the president’s office learned that His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama would offer lectures in Stabler Arena the following year. Jones, in her first semester of teaching, was asked if her graphic design students could create an exhibition around the visit’s events, including attrac- tive packaging for a planned eight-DVD lecture set. The packaging was designed, but finances intervened, says Jones, and the project was never completed. The silver lining, however, was the beginning of Lehigh’s student design agency. Through the years, Fusion has collaborated with academic departments and offices, including theatre posters. The 100th anni- versary of the business department was celebrated with a Fusion-produced timeline of business educa- tion, which is displayed in the Rauch Business Center. The 2016 “string theory” billboard connected with string the different groups on campus under the guidance of “We’re knot so different.” Fusion has refreshed the exterior of Lehigh’s Fud Truk with a playful rendering of founder Asa Packer and, last year, designed the exterior of the mobile Simply Skewered. Fusing Classroom Learning with Real-World Experience WENDY GREENBERG Fusion Studio provides students with design agency experience while supporting Lehigh clients IMAGES COURTESY OF MARILYN JONES