BCC’s Digital Design program has been partnering with Blackstone LaunchPad to provide students with experiential learning opportunities creating branding campaigns for fellow student entrepreneurs. When Marilyn Dumeng, a Blackstone student entrepreneur, was looking to promote her hair braiding business, “Braided”, she turned to the students in Professor Lisa Amowitz’s Design Portfolio capstone class for assistance.

“Through this initiative, the clients (Blackstone students) learn how to express marketing needs and work with a designer (my students) to accomplish the goal of developing branding for their endeavor,” said Amowitz, who has been collaborating with Blackstone on this project for the past three semesters. “The Digital Design students have the opportunity to with work with an actual client and get real experiential learning right in the classroom.”

The Digital Design students worked to create a logo and branding campaign for Marilyn. They brainstormed as a class and then worked individually to develop a suitable design that would help Marilyn expand and franchise the hair braiding business. Digital Design major Bridget Carey, a recent BCC graduate, won the competition and is now applying to FIT.

“Marilyn was great to work with because she clearly articulated her vision, so we were able to capture what she was looking for,” Carey said. “The goal was to create a bold, clean and classy look that she will hopefully use moving forward. This was such a fun project to work on.”

The Art 91/Design Portfolio class is a required course for all Digital Design students in their final semester. Students who excel in the Digital Design program have the chance to apply for a paid internship in BCC’s Digital Design Studio. The Studio – a one of a kind incubator for underrepresented designers – provides graphic design services for local small businesses, non-profits and CUNY partners.