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The student-run Fusion design agency is dedicated to providing clients with quality design and creative solutions. She is partial to a College of Business project, a 14-page booklet for prospective students. “Knowing that the booklet would be distrib- uted to more than 500 prospective students made the stakes high and the accomplishment of completing it even sweeter,” Thomas says. Part of the learning curve is “digging the content out of the client,” Jones notes. “Learning design is one third interaction with the client, one third technical integrity (can it be produced?) and one third design.” Jones came to Lehigh 13 years ago from a 30-year career as a designer, art director and creative director of her own design firm, so she knows the field. “I tell my students, it all adds up, your general knowledge and skills,” she says. “Students, when given the responsibility, step up. They like being in charge and take the initiative. It excites me watching the students take charge. There is a different level of potential than if I gave an assignment.” Thomas, who is now a designer with a branding agency in Morristown, N.J., says Fusion taught her lessons not found in a textbook. “One of the most important of these that I have brought into my professional career and personal life is the ability to roll with the punches,” she says. “Our projects during Fusion rarely went perfectly as planned—and how could they have? We were all just learning how to design, manage our time and communicate in client relationships. “But when we ran into roadblocks, we just kept moving forward and making it work,” Thomas says. “Whether one is pursuing a career in design or not, this type of perseverance and willing- ness to change course to achieve an ultimate goal is invaluable to any college graduate.” ● There have been times Jones has had to push back on requests to “hold a contest” to create a logo. “We have a curriculum,” she explains. “And design is not free.” That design has value is a lesson she imparts to her 13 to 20 students each semester. Undeniably, they know the value of their work before they graduate. Kate Morrell ’19, a business and economics major now working as a senior human resources assistant at Amazon in New Haven, Conn., trea- sures the art exhibition poster she created for Karyn Olivier, AAD’s 2018 Horger Artist-in-Residence. “For this project, I was responsible for taking various portrait photos of Karyn that were to be used for the poster and other various advertising materials in prepara- tion for the opening night exhibition,” she says. “At the time, I was very nervous to take on this responsibility, since this project was one of my first Fusion projects ever. I was unsure how the photos would turn out, but our team used my photos to design a spectacular poster that was printed and posted all across campus.” Although Fusion bills clients (which allows for occasional pizza parties), Jones has learned that students are not as motivated by money as they are by gaining experience. “The dilemma for students who are looking for jobs is that the employers want experience,” says Jones. “Fusion serves as a bridge. They are working with clients and get production experience. Students say that when showing their portfolios, they really can talk about them, including the technical aspects.” According to Gaetano, Fusion set a standard by outlining exactly what she wanted to do post- graduation—work with start-ups and small businesses to achieve a brand voice through visual communica- tion—although she did need the skill of “resiliency” to see her through early job applications. “As far as technical skills go, having experience with client interaction was a big plus,” she says. “Once I began in my first role, I felt accustomed to the pace of project timelines, having regular communication with clients and understanding how to translate a business’ goals through design and branding.” As a Fusion designer, Jackie Thomas ’19 collaborated closely with her peers to work on a variety of logos, posters and infographics and, as her leader- ship role grew, provided direc- tion and educational design resources to Fusion members. “ Whether one is pursuing a career in design or not, this type of perseverance and willingness to change course to achieve an ultimate goal is invaluable to any college graduate.”