What does the professional design world actually look like? This spring break, 12 Graphic Design students from 四虎影视 of Art and Design traveled to New York City to learn firsthand by visiting major in-house design teams and independent studios across the city.

Organized and led by full-time Graphic Design Faculty member, Lisa Jayne Willard, the group of three sophomores, five juniors, and three seniors鈥攖oured organizations including The New York Times, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, Lublin Design Center, 2×4, Collins, Pentagram, Red Antler, and Squarespace. The itinerary moved quickly: visits to The New York Times and Cooper Hewitt kicked things off, followed by a full day of studio tours in Brooklyn at Lublin Design Center, 2×4, and Collins. Students then met with members of the Pentagram team, including designers affiliated with the Italian designer Giorgia Lupi’s group, and later toured Barbarian, where Ringling alum Nancy Nystr枚m 鈥�15, Graphic and Interactive Communications, shared insights into her professional journey. The final day wrapped up at Red Antler and Squarespace, where alum Nicole Gavrilles 鈥�12, Fine Arts, led a tour and lecture. Between visits, students had time to explore the city independently and shared a group dinner at John’s Pizzeria.

One of the biggest takeaways was that while many studios appear to do similar work, they are fundamentally different in their approach. Each had its own area of focus鈥攂randing, digital experiences, strategy鈥攁nd its own way of solving problems. Some emphasized research and data-driven design; others leaned into conceptual thinking or visual experimentation. As one designer put it during a visit, “There isn’t one path to a solution. What matters is how you think your way there.”

Work culture proved equally defining. Some studios ran on constant collaboration, with teams continuously building on each other’s ideas. Others allowed for independent exploration before converging. The atmosphere, team dynamics, and even the physical spaces all contributed to each studio’s creative identity, a reminder that culture isn’t just a backdrop, it’s a driving force.

Perhaps the most reassuring realization was how closely professional practice mirrors what students are already learning at 四虎影视. Research-driven design, concept development, and critique came up repeatedly across studios. The transition from school to industry may feel like a leap, but this trip showed the foundation is already being built in the classroom.

The professionals themselves reinforced this, with many sharing that their own paths weren’t linear, and that persistence, adaptability, and growth matter as much as technical skill. “Your work should show how you think, not just what you can make,” one speaker noted. For students preparing to enter the field, the message was clear: the skills are relevant, the path is achievable, and there is room to grow into an individual voice as a designer.

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Art Deco takes center stage at Sarasota Art Museum in Art Deco: The Golden Age of Illustration. During one of the Curator’s Tour events at the Museum, Senior Curator Rangsook Yoon, Ph.D., led a group of visitors through an in-depth exploration of one of the early 20th century’s most influential art movements.

This exhibition is pretty much a graphic designer’s dream. The centerpiece is a collection of 100 rare promotional posters from the 1920s and 30s, essentially the early days of modern advertising. The posters are large-scale and cover a wide range of products and experiences, from drinks and cars to luxury travel and sporting events. What’s interesting is that several of the brands featured are still around today: Bouillon Cube, Twinings Tea, Chrysler, and even the London Underground.

I met with a small group of Museum visitors in the second-floor gallery. It was here that we began our journey into the evolution of Art Deco.

Alongside the posters, furniture pieces from the same period on loan from the Wolfsonian Museum at Florida International University in Miami help bring the early 20th century to life. One standout is a round wood and glass table inspired by airplane propeller blades, that also doubles as magazine storage鈥攁 pretty clever design solution. There’s also a curved orange bench that was originally installed in the Cincinnati Union Terminal, one of the best surviving examples of American Art Deco architecture. It’s hard to walk past without stopping to look.

The gallery also features a solid range of other objects from the era, including original poster ads, tea sets, emblems, and toy replicas of vintage aircraft.

One of the more unexpected highlights, though, is the Prohibition era barware. Designed to look like silos, bowling pins, airplanes, and car radiators, these pieces were created specifically to hide illegal alcohol, and they’re an example of just how creative people can get when under pressure.

The Art Deco movement drew heavily from the industrialism of its era, weaving machine-age aesthetics directly into its artistic identity. Its connections to the development of cars, planes, and other vehicles mark the height of the industrial period in the Americas and Western Europe.

As my visit extended into the late afternoon, I had the chance to speak with another visitor on the tour, a pharmacy student who had come to the Museum with his family. Despite his STEM pursuits, he grew up surrounded by artists and has spent his life so far learning to appreciate art, even if not creating it.

My tour mate reflected on the unique impact of seeing the work in person. “You can see pictures online, but they don’t really capture the scale of it,” he said.

His favorite piece was the Normandie poster by A.M. Cassandre (1935), which he called “a really powerful image, scary, almost.” As someone drawn to ships and trains, the sweeping scale of Cassandre’s ocean liner spoke directly to him.

The exhibition鈥檚 appeal spreads through all walks of life, welcoming artists and art enthusiasts alike.

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RaMell Ross, the director behind the Golden Globe-winning, Oscar-nominated historical drama Nickel Boys, brought his unique approach to cinema to 四虎影视. Ross spent a day with students through a series of events across campus. Meeting with multiple groups throughout the day, Ross generously engaged students on a series of topics.

The Morganroth Auditorium buzzed with excitement from both students and faculty. Ross鈥攁 critically acclaimed artist, writer, director, and Brown University professor, and a distinctive voice in contemporary cinema鈥攕pent the day on campus as the featured guest of the 41st Annual Visiting Art Historian Lecture Series, co-hosted by the Liberal Arts and Film Departments.

The day鈥檚 events included meeting with students on the Film Soundstages throughout the day, giving students the opportunity to sit down with the filmmaker, who chatted candidly about filmmaking, his process, and life. In the afternoon, his film Nickel Boys was screened in the Morganroth Auditorium, followed by a talk and Q&A session.

As an artist, Ross deliberately centers Black experience and perspective in his work. His path to cinema was non-linear. Before becoming a filmmaker, Ross played professional basketball for a team in Ireland鈥檚 SuperLeague North Division. Following his basketball career in Ireland, he returned to the United States to teach, a role he continues as an associate professor in the Visual Arts Department at Brown University. He has had numerous art and photography exhibitions.

His documentary debut, Hale County This Morning, This Evening (2018), earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature, along with a Special Jury Award at Sundance and a Peabody Award.

He then made the leap to narrative filmmaking with Nickel Boys, adapted from Colson Whitehead鈥檚 2019 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, which received Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay nominations at the 97th Academy Awards.

Nickel Boys tells the story of two Black teenagers at an abusive Florida reform school during the Jim Crow era, inspired by the real-life horrors of the Dozier School for Boys, informed by the real-life testimonials gathered by Whitehead for the novel. What sets the film apart is its radical formal approach: shot entirely from the first-person point of view of its two protagonists, Ross鈥檚 concept of 鈥渟entient perspective鈥� or 鈥淏lack subjectivity鈥� asks audiences not to observe these young men鈥檚 lives, but to live inside them.

For students who spent the day with Ross, the visit felt like more than an inspiring lecture. Jayde Dauley, Film Senior and Black Student Union President, who also helped give Ross a tour of the film department鈥檚 facilities and showcased Black history in the surrounding area, reflected on the significance of the visit. 鈥淎s a film senior, I was ecstatic at the opportunity to meet and talk with RaMell Ross. Being able to hold conversation and ask questions about his life and work was exciting and entirely welcomed by my peers and I.鈥�

鈥淎s a filmmaker myself, I found it helpful to receive advice from an active filmmaker in industry whose work is intentional and cultured,鈥� Dauley shared.

Daniel Pacheco, who organized the recording of the lecture and Q&A and had the chance to speak with Ross afterwards, was struck by both the filmmaker鈥檚 generosity of spirit and the precision of his artistic thinking. 鈥淚 felt as if my consciousness expanded just listening to him. He鈥檚 not only a true artist in every sense of the word, but also a scholar and one of the most inspiring filmmakers I鈥檝e had the privilege of talking to,鈥� Pacheco shared. 鈥淟earning about his views on cinema and his own approach to art has had a profound impact on me, and I think it鈥檚 already changed my trajectory as an artist.鈥� One line in particular stayed with him: Ross鈥檚 observation that as an artist, 鈥測ou鈥檙e always trying to make something smarter than yourself.鈥�

鈥淚t was one of the best experiences I鈥檝e had at Ringling by far,鈥� Pacheco said. 鈥淚鈥檓 so grateful for Hector Sotomayor and all the people responsible for putting this together.鈥�

The Visiting Art Historian Lecture Series is now in its 41st year, continuing its mission of bringing transformative creative voices to campus.

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Race, who also received a total of four Gold ADDYs, earned her Best in Show recognition for Between Us, an infographic iPad application that visualizes data on loneliness with interconnected personal stories. She also received a Judge鈥檚 Choice award for Two Wheels @Houston, a campaign to promote bicycling as a lower-stress alternative to traffic-heavy commutes.

The other two Judge鈥檚 Choice awards went to Nathan Kipka 鈥�27, Motion Design and Brallan Ramirez 鈥�27, Graphic Design.

In total, 四虎影视 Graphic Design students took home 20 Gold Awards, one Best in Show, and two Judge鈥檚 Choice. Motion Design students won 55 Gold Awards, 12 Silver, and one Judge鈥檚 Choice. Film Students won five Gold Awards and one Silver Award.

The local ADDYs are the first step in a three-tier national competition presented by the American Advertising Federation (AAF). These winners can go on to compete in the district round, and district winners can then compete for a national ADDY Award.

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What is MIT Reality Hack?

MIT Reality Hack is an international XR (extended reality) hackathon held on MIT’s campus that brings together students, engineers, designers, researchers, musicians, and artists to build immersive experiences from scratch in under 72 hours. Teams form largely through networking, which means participants have to walk into a room full of strangers and figure out how to build something meaningful together鈥攆ast.

This year’s event ran January 22鈥�26, 2026, but Mother Nature had other plans: Winter Storm Fern forced the closing ceremony to go virtual. Despite the disruption, Ringling’s crew didn’t skip a beat.

The Ringling Crew

Seven members of the college made the trip:

• Martin Murphy 鈥� VRD department head, attending as a judge
• Justin Gast 鈥� VRD faculty, attending as a mentor
• Vida Villanueva 鈥� 4th year VRD Student, Reality Hack Scholar
• Hyesoo Koh 鈥� 4th year VRD Student
• Linda He 鈥� 4th year VRD Student
• Jimmy Tong 鈥� 4th Year VRD Student
• Natasha Patel 鈥� 3rd Year VRD Student

Junior Ang Barilla, a VRD Tech Tutor, also made the trip as a volunteer.

The students’ attendance was made possible through the generosity of Drs. Joel and Gail Morganroth, whose financial support ensured that cost wasn’t a barrier to participation.

The Projects

The Ringling students went in different directions with their hacks. Their projects ranged from a personal AI companion called Power Pet to apps exploring social issues, called SafeSight and Sunbeam.

But it was JazzCasters that took home hardware.

JazzCasters鈥攁 music-driven, hand-tracking XR experience built in Unity for Meta Quest 3鈥攅arned the Meta sponsor track award for Best Implementation of Hand Tracking on Meta Quest.

Vida Villanueva 鈥�26, Virtual Reality Development, served as the project’s lead artist, creating 3D assets, visuals, and UI. Her interdisciplinary team included a software engineer, project manager, audio specialist, and hardware engineer鈥攁 collaboration she described as one of the most meaningful parts of the whole experience.

“What stood out most to me was the diversity of skill sets and perspectives within my team and across the hackathon as a whole,” Villanueva said. “Our team included people with backgrounds I wouldn’t normally have the chance to collaborate with in a classroom setting, and that variety made the project stronger.”

Villanueva attended as a Reality Hack Scholar, a program designed to expand access and lower financial barriers for participants from diverse backgrounds. As President of Ringling’s VR Club, she also made it a point to actively recruit other students to apply.

“While the award was exciting, it really felt like a celebration of teamwork, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the environment MIT Reality Hack creates to support experimentation and inclusion,” she said.

For the faculty who made the trip, the experience was just as validating.

Virtual Reality Development faculty member Justin Gast called it “an incredible experience,” noting that the opportunity to network with so many like-minded professionals was “inspirational and a joy.” He was also struck by how differently each student approached the challenge鈥攁 sign of genuine creative range.

Game Art and Virtual Reality Development Department Head Marty Murphy described what the weekend meant for the program as a whole.

“MIT Reality Hack was a powerful confidence check for me as a department head and a clear signal that we have arrived as an experiential technology major,” Murphy said. “Even amid the challenges of Winter Storm Fern, our students held their own alongside teams from MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, and USC, often as the only designers in the room.”

He added: “They engaged confidently, brought a strong design perspective into highly technical conversations, and ultimately proved they can compete and win at the highest level.”

Ringling students showed up, showed out, and showed the broader XR world that great design thinking belongs at every table鈥攊ncluding the most competitive ones.

As Villanueva put it: “MIT Reality Hack was not just about building a project鈥攊t was about learning from others, forming lasting connections, and seeing how communities like Ringling’s fit into the broader XR ecosystem.”

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Throughout the three-day event, Destefano attended a number of talks and panels with notable professionals in the children鈥檚 book industry. Outside of the conference, she also visited the New York Public Library鈥檚 100^th anniversary exhibition for The New Yorker and the Society of Illustrators鈥� 45^th Annual Original Art Show and the organization鈥檚 Edward Gorey exhibition.

鈥淏eing surrounded by so much art and so many artists I鈥檝e admired for years was incredibly motivating,鈥� she said.

鈥淎ttending the SCBWI Winter Conference not only strengthened my confidence as an illustrator but also left me feeling refreshed, inspired, and excited to begin my thesis work.鈥�

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In one corner, the Haunted Design Association (HDA) unveiled Little Red: Monster Hunter, an immersive, student-built haunted house that filled the Roskamp Exhibition Hall with eerie lighting, handmade props, and 15 dedicated actors who terrified over 500 guests. 鈥淭his haunt is built on the relationships formed with students and faculty, and we could not be happier with the overall outcome of the haunt,鈥� said HDA President Ryan Winders, who will go on to bring his themed entertainment skills to an internship with Walt Disney Imagineering after graduation in the spring. 鈥淲e are so grateful for the opportunity to have led such a successful project and work with many amazing students and faculty.鈥�

Meanwhile, across campus, the Virtual Reality Department invited guests to step into Tales of Ringling, a fully immersive VR showcase designed and developed by students over the course of a year. 鈥淚 wanted to bridge the gap between the physical and digital,鈥� said Nick Whittle, 2025-2026 Trustee Scholar for Virtual Reality Development. 鈥淐reating a seamless experience where guests could not only try our projects but also meet and talk with the developers behind them.鈥�

Tales of Ringling: A New Chapter in VR Collaboration

Tales of Ringling brought together students from several majors to create a VR haunted house that combined storytelling, design, and technology in one immersive experience. Led by VRD senior Nick Whittle, the project built on last year鈥檚 experimental haunted house to create a fully realized VR Halloween experience. Through a year of cross-department collaboration, six unique virtual haunted stories came to life, complete with original branding, illustrations, and motion design.

鈥淚 wanted to bridge the gap between the physical and digital,鈥� Whittle said, explaining his goal to make VR feel more approachable. 

Posters by Jessica Natoli ’27, Illustration.

Little Red: Monster Hunter鈥擳he Haunted Design Association鈥檚 Fall Fright

At the same time, the Haunted Design Association was hard at work bringing Little Red: Monster Hunter to life鈥攁 physical haunted house built from the ground up by a passionate team of students. Following their spring attraction, The Cult of Camp Ros, the group spent months designing, fabricating, painting, and lighting the sets that filled Roskamp Exhibition Hall.

“The first day of school, we held a meeting with everyone who was working on the event, no matter their level of involvement. We had a full room and discussed the scope, making sure everyone felt supported,” shared Winders. “Everyone on the team worked on the aspects they were drawn to.”

With nearly 500 people in attendance, the dual haunted houses were a huge success and a perfect way to kick off Halloween at Ringling. Both Tales of Ringling and Little Red: Monster Hunter showed just how far creativity and teamwork can go鈥攚hether that means building an entire world in virtual reality or constructing one from wood, paint, and lighting gels.

Each project brought students together across majors, blending skills, ideas, and a shared love of storytelling.

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“Every one of these films has its own voice. From the style, to the subject matter, to the tone, no two Ringling Computer Animation projects are the same,鈥� said Computer Animation Department Head Paul Downs. 鈥淥ur students are telling stories that matter to them, and by the time they graduate, they鈥檙e not just ready for the industry, they’re passionate filmmakers with something to say.”

ASIFA-Hollywood is a prominent professional organization dedicated to promoting the Art of Animation and the largest chapter of the international organization ASIFA (Association Internationale du Film d鈥橝nimation). Current initiatives include the Animation Archive, Animation Aid Foundation, Animation Educators鈥� Forum (AEF), film preservation, open source support, special events, screenings, and the annual Annie Awards.

Animation Educators Forum 2025 Top 5 Student Films

Dogs of Bishkek
Director: Viktor Niksdorf

Holy Cow
Director: Karthik Swaminathan

Beetle Summer
Directors: Ari Chen & Jane Yuan

Jurassic Ward
Director: Max Bellomio

Beautify
Director: Liza Makarenko

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At the start of the semester, students are divided into groups that 鈥渙perate as a small organization with a shared team vision and mission,鈥� explained Dr. Sarita Ren茅 Guillory, who teaches the course. Each group chooses a nonprofit to contact, and together they begin assessing the organization鈥檚 needs and developing a reasonable goal that can be addressed in just a few months.

鈥淎s they apply the strategic management process, they conduct situational assessments, set goals with objectives, formulate strategies and initiatives, define KPIs, and create contingency plans so the team can still provide value if funding falls short or conditions change,鈥� said Guillory.

Not only are they learning valuable business skills, but the students, many of whom are first-years, become personally invested in their projects. Along the way, they discover creative solutions that can work within a restricted timeline and budget.

鈥淭his project not only strengthened our skills in management, planning, and creative problem-solving but also reinforced the importance of empathy and purpose-driven work, said Nora Getchell, whose group worked with Give Kids the World. 鈥淚t was an incredible experience, and we are all honored to have been able to give back to such a fantastic organization.鈥�

In Fall 2024, Jackson Lapsley 鈥�26, Film, and Ella Satterfield 鈥�26, Film, worked together with Oyster River Ecology to create 150 Vertical Oyster Gardens (VOGAs), from fundraising and social media engagement all the way through hosting an on-campus workshop where a dozen students actually made the VOGAs themselves鈥攚hile many more watched via livestream.

鈥淭his project was really good practice for understanding how business relationships work outside of school for Film students like us,鈥� said Lapsley. 鈥淭he whole experience showed us that our filmmaking skills can actually make a difference when we apply some entrepreneurial thinking.鈥�

鈥淲e made something tangible out of an idea and helped leave Manatee County a little better than we found it,鈥� added Satterfield. 鈥淣ot only did I get to learn about the Florida ecosystem and find a new appreciation for it, but I have also found how easy it is to get involved with my community and make a real difference.鈥�

As of Spring 2025, 290 students over 11 semesters have raised more than $26,600 for 42 organizations. Other notable projects include:

• replacing a hurricane-damaged wheelchair ramp and greenhouse
• creating custom, hand-painted garden toolboxes for a school鈥檚 gardening program
• hosting and teaching art to children while supplying all materials
• personalizing interest bags for underserved youth
• verifying material safety so stuffed animals were nontoxic for hospitalized children, and including handwritten encouragement notes
• creating Thanksgiving brown bag meals with all instant ingredients for those without access to cooking spaces
• providing teacher-requested classroom supplies for each teacher at an under-resourced school
• assembling mental health and self-care kits for educators and abuse survivors

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Prisha Shah 鈥�27, who interned with DreamWorks this summer as a TV Production Intern, was featured on the 鈥淒reamWorks Careers鈥� Instagram with a she made about a day in the life of an intern. 

Three recent Computer Animation grads served summer internships at Pixar this year, with one earning special praise and another landing a full-time position with the animation studio. 

Lisa Makarenko 鈥�25 was highlighted in an 鈥淚ntern Spotlight鈥� Pixar social media post for her amazing impact in technical direction and set dressing/modeling departments. (In May, Mazaranko earned a Best of Ringling Gold for her senior thesis film, Beautify.)

Mairin Francis 鈥�25 and Vivian Osness 鈥�24 also served as Pixar interns this summer and were featured in Intern Spotlights. Francis, who was also a technical direction intern at Pixar in 2022, has since been hired full-time at the studio as a crowds/fix animator.

Prestigious summer internships have become an annual tradition for 四虎影视 students and alumni. The real-world work experience and networking opportunities serve as valuable stepping stones into professional positions at a wide range of prestigious companies across numerous industries.

There are currently more than 30 四虎影视 alumni working for Pixar.

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