SEGD DAAP Design Excellence Awards, University of Cincinnati, DAAPworks 2023

Each year, the DAAPworks event highlights the creative output of the graduating class from the top-ranked College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio. Students of every design and fine arts discipline work tirelessly throughout their senior undergraduate year, to develop their creative capstone projects.

SEGD DAAP Design Excellence Awards, University of Cincinnati, DAAPworks 2023

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Each year, the DAAPworks event highlights the creative output of the graduating class from the top-ranked College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio. Students of every design and fine arts discipline work tirelessly throughout their senior undergraduate year, to develop their creative capstone projects. DAAPworks as an event exists to celebrate and exhibit the whole of this incredible body of work.

SEGD has a strong history of connection and support with DAAP and the University of Cincinnati, and boasts numerous alumni members who have emerged out of DAAP’s strong legacy of design and design education excellence (SEGD’s CEO Cybelle Jones attended DAAP).

This year, SEGD was proud to support and host a professional juried review of the Class of 2023’s capstone projects and appoint SEGD members to work alongside professors Renee Seward and Muhammad Nafisur Rahman of the Communication Design program, Ullman School of Design to select those cross-disciplinary projects that embodied the best of Experiential Design and connecting people to place. Last year, a judging criteria and review rubric of the projects were co-developed by the Emeritus Professor and SEGD member, Oscar Fernandez.

Fahinaz Ferdous, SEGD member, Adjunct Faculty of Design and Environmental Graphic Designer at Gresham Smith, had this to share about her impression as an jury member:

“It was really intriguing to see the depth of work presented by the students and was especially fascinated by the considerations they made through extensive studies, sketches and surveys in terms of introducing experiential design elements and connecting them with overall spaces, architecture, landscape, history, site and even urban context. I thought the chosen projects have great potential of actually being built and strongly reflected their learning and understanding of integrating various design elements in creating a cohesive experience at different scales for the individual users as well as the community.”

We are proud to announce that the winners of the 2023 SEGD DAAP Design Excellence Awards belong to one student across DAAP. In addition to awarding the top honor, the faculty panel also recognized four students with the Honorable Mention Awards, i.e. one student from each of the programs – Communication Design, Interior Design, Urban Planning, and Fine Arts. DAAP alumni and SEGD members Hannah Anderson, Kolar Design and Joell Angel-Chumbley, City of Cincinnati joined the jury to tour each student’s project and hand out the awards and gifts at the DAAPworks opening on 25th April 2023.

2023 SEGD DAAP Excellence Award (…drumroll please!)
Mak Easterling – “GYMFO” (Wayfinding System)
Bachelor of Science, Communication Design

2023 SEGD DAAP Honorable Mention Awards
Logan Wells – “Small Town, Big Impact” (Placemaking)
Bachelor of Science, Communication Design, School of Design (SOD)

Emily Timm – “Beyond Re-Dress the Skin: The Adaptive Wall Collection” (Interior Strategy)
Bachelor of Science, Interior Design, School of Architecture and Interior Design (SAID)

Thi Tran – “Propaganza”
Bachelor of Fine Arts, School of Art (SOA)

Sarah Tengen – What if…The Purple People Bridge Could be the Catalyst for Biophilic Design in Cincinnati?
Bachelor of Urban Planning, School of Planning (SOP)

Each of these projects, along with the rest of the 2023 student body projects, can be previewed online at https://daapworks.uc.edu. Congratulations to our SEGD DAAP Award Winners and to all graduating design and fine arts students!