Syracuse University graphic design students will design materials starting Thursday for an organization in an intensive workshop. The twist: Students only have 48 hours to complete the project.

“Pixels & Print,” a graphic design workshop at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, gathers students from the Newhouse School’s multimedia, photography and design department. In this three-day workshop, design students will work with industry professionals to create designs for an organization.

Forty students will participate in the workshop, according to the Newhouse School website.

The workshop, now in its third year, will run through Sunday. With a goal to “design for social good,” Pixels & Print started out as a passion project for Renée Stevens, MPD assistant professor and the creative and managing director of the workshop.

“Trying to find places where design can help solve problems is something I do in my own personal work,” Stevens said. “I always try to see how design can impact the community around us.”

Last fall, the workshop requested proposals from organizations or businesses in need of design services. Students then voted on a client they would like to work with, and selected Syracuse’s South Side neighborhood this year. The South Side area of Syracuse, which struggles with unemployment, poverty and under-performing schools, is looking to inspire change in its neighborhood.

The project, powered by the not-for-profit organization TNT Southside Housing Task Force, asks students to rebrand the community. Students will be designing a website, neighborhood signage, a publication, neighborhood maps, campaign posters and the organization’s first official logo.

The workshop also plans to create T-shirt designs and logos for other merchandise for the organization.

Additionally, students will work on social media campaigns addressing the organization’s key issues and an e-newsletter to effectively relay information to the community.

Kelli Mosher, a senior graphic design major, is participating in the workshop for the first time. This year in particular, Mosher said she likes “how close to home this project is.”

“This project directly affects the community we are largely a part of,” Mosher said. “As a senior, I can speak to how easy it can be to separate ourselves as students from the wider Syracuse community.”

Pixels & Print kicks off Thursday night, where “almost no one touches a computer,” said Stevens. The first day is dedicated to bringing students and coaches together in brainstorming ideas before designing. Stevens then assigns everyone to teams, with each team focusing on a different design project.

With 40 students and six coaches, Stevens said the challenge is ensuring that every design is consistent.

“Even though everyone is doing something individually, it all has to look unified,” Stevens said. “So because of that, we all have to start at the same page and constantly be checking in.”

The 48-hour time frame also poses a challenge for students. During the workshop’s first year, designers were given more time to complete their projects. However, Stevens found that designers produce their best work under a tight deadline.

“The trick about designers, is they’ll get it done but they won’t get it done until deadline,” Stevens said. “It doesn’t matter how much time you give someone to get things done, especially for designers.”

On the second day of the workshop, designers will spend the entire day working and providing critiques to each other. Designers will then present to their client for feedback, and have their community presentations on Saturday. This is open to anyone in the Southside area, city officials and the SU community.

Professional designers, some of whom are Newhouse alumni, will serve as the students’ coaches throughout the workshop. They will provide artistic direction and guidance.

This collaborative spirit between designers and students is what Mosher finds most exciting about the workshop.

“Designers come from all over to volunteer their time, which I think inherently speaks for itself,” Mosher said. “Everyone wants to be there and has fun doing it, which I personally believe leads to quality results.”

One of the coaches in the workshop, Jon Chonko, is the design director of Studio Rodrigo, a start-up company in New York City. Chonko, whose previous clients include Google Creative Lab and Tribeca Enterprises, graduated from SU in 2007.

Along with the chance to come back to Syracuse, Chonko found the premise of the workshop most appealing.

“This intensive, design binge is really exciting to me,” Chonko said. “I like working like that, with a crazy deadline, and working really closely with people in that pressure-cooked environment.”

Chonko said he is especially looking forward to collaborating with the students and seeing the designs that come out of the workshop.

“I’m mostly excited to see the students’ take on it, their energy and the ideas they bring to the project as well,” Chonko said. “I remember being that age, being excited and motivated, and I want to steal some of that energy and take it back with me to my day-to-day job.”

When students finish their project, Stevens hopes they will take away the main purpose of the workshop: to show the power of design.

“The goal is to see how design can make a change but also have an impact in ways beyond people can expect,” Stevens said. “Design isn’t just making a pretty logo — it’s making a functional logo or design that’s going to impact humans.”

Published on February 8, 2017 at 9:03 pm