The Transfer who “hates” design
Sienna Privat
Senior ‘18
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Hello, my name is Sienna Privat! I am majoring in Advertising and Graphic Design here at Grand Canyon University. I am a transfer student and finishing up my last two months of college! The start of my college experience was nerve-wracking and a scary thing to choose a filed for my future. With a thousand career options to choose from, I felt lost and unsure. When transferring to GCU I asked my admissions representative what majors do not include math or science in the program. She pointed me to Advertising and Design. So I tried it out and my first semester at GCU, I was truly convinced that I was not made to create or design. I would tell others that I wanted to do anything but design in the creative world. Almost two years later, I find myself staying up late in empty coffee shops and having a passion for design and thriving in my classes. With only two months left of my undergraduate, I am truly blessed to have mentors and professors that have also been leaders in the advertising world. Although I love design, I always wanted to give back to people and charities but did not know how to combine my two passions. Then my junior fall semester, Design United was created.
Design United is a student led ad agency on Grand Canyon University’s campus that is a two-part organization. The first part is the agency part where we have real clients and experience designing and interacting in real time. The second part is the philanthropy side where our team create designs and donate our sold profits to local charities throughout the Arizona community. For example, Design United is partnered with the Arizona Humane Society and as a group we design deliverables that create profits to donate. I have been a part of Design United since the second meeting ever! Design United, almost two years old, has formed into an inspiring group of students and creators. I am the project manager and helping hands on various projects throughout Design United. I help organize designers and the creative director to ensure that projects are met, and deadlines are reachable. I have truly found a liking to this portion of my title in Design United and I cannot wait to hand it off my knowledge to the next project manager.
Without even knowing it, time has truly flown by. Senioritis’s is a real-life thing, but so is the exciting feeling of entering the “real world” and being a part of things that feel bigger then you. Design United has shown me how to communicate to clients and how to meet deadlines appropriately. It has shown me how to be a leader and how to voice my opinions and thoughts. It has also shown me all the many different jobs throughout the agency that is not just design work. I am truly blessed to be apart of Design United team and I am thrilled to come visit in a few years and see who the leaders are and the many new faces that are changing the world through design.
With a full heart, I want to thank the Design United team and every face that fill seats in every meeting. With that said, thank you. Lopes Out.
Student, Advertiser and Designer
Sienna Privat
