Once again this year, I participated in Designathon at the PA College of Art & Design. I did the event last year for the first time, and it was just fantastic. I’d been looking forward to it all year, and this past weekend it was even better than last time.
Designathon is a 24-hour design marathon for the benefit of non-profit organizations. The clients present their graphic design related needs Friday evening at 6pm. The students have 24 hours to complete the work, and present it back to the clients on Saturday at 6pm. Students are broken into teams, and each team handles the work for one organization. Faculty members serve as team leads and advisors for the students and guide the process, while the students do the actual design work.
My team’s client this year was Manos House, a drug rehabilitation organization for teen boys, 15 to 19 years old. There’s also a private school associated with the group, called the Prospect Grove High School. The school was recently renamed, to help separate it from the rehabilitation part of the organization, and it needed a logo to go with the new name. Additionally, the organization was moving to a new location, which needed some signage. We were able to accomplish this, and do some other things that weren’t specifically requested. In addition to the school’s logo, the students also did one for Manos House itself, and designed a new diploma for the graduating students of the school.
The event was nothing but incredible. I once again managed to stay up all night (literally a once-a-year thing for me. The last time I did that was at the previous Designathon). Things were more challenging for me this year, too. Not only did I teach one of my regular classes Friday afternoon, but I also had a continuing education filmmaking class Saturday morning. So from 9 to noon, after having stayed up for over 24 hours, I stepped out to go teach that, as well. It actually went really well, with me being fueled by a combination of coffee, donuts and excitement.
I’m already looking forward to doing it again, whether that ends up being next year, or at some other point in the future. It’s such a positive event, to be able to help out the community and interact with the students in a faster paced environment outside of the classroom.
