For
Arizona State University
Roles
Graphic Designer
Leaving a mark on Arizona State University
This is the 2nd biggest project I have worked on (literally) and it was an honor to create for the ASU Polytechnic campus (the largest here). After many rounds of design with another designer I was asked to try and create this monumental design. The struggle here, was making something that fit perfectly within ASU’s branding. I had to uphold their rigorous guidelines and make something to be proud of.
The content was researched and created by Claire Beuden and the design by myself. It details the changes in printing from the very beginning to modern day. Designing at this scale was also a challenge. It was about 40 ft long and designing something that large, I had to take into account many things. Such as where people’s eyes would be level with the main content and not be too low or too high. It was a successful attempt and was put up in the Technology center at ASU.
Below is a snippet from an interview from ASU Magazine:
April 29, 2019
The student designer of the History of Print mural, Hunter Wickersham will leave ASU with a graphic information technology degree
Editor’s note: This is part of a series of profiles for spring 2019 commencement.
Hunter Wickersham literally left his mark on Arizona State University.
Go into the Technology Building on the Polytechnic campus, back into the print shops and photo studios and press equipment, and there it is, 10 feet high and 40 feet long: the History of Print wall.
Beginning with 105 B.C., when the Chinese monk Ts’ai Lun invented paper, and moving to 400 A.D., when ink was created from lampblack and used for calligraphy, the timeline of text and graphics moves through intaglio, newspapers, lithography and rotogravure until 2017, when the university print lab acquired a Fuji inkjet flatbed.
“They wanted a design that was about ASU and that was very much on-brand,” said Wickersham, who graduates this month with a BS in graphic information technology. “That was the challenge. It had to be approved by everybody, because it was going on a wall. It had to go through a long approval process, because it’s representing ASU. I went through a lot — I want to say 10 different designs — ranging from different styles and trying to represent ASU in the best way I could, and they picked the most simple one.”
Eventually the San Luis Obispo, California, native wants to run his own creative agency. Right now he’s working at a marketing company startup in Chandler. He’s been there three years. The staff has grown to 15 people in that time.
Wickersham started out as a mechanical engineering major, but the art he always liked doing on the side, like painting, drew him away. His first job in high school was in a print shop. “I got exposed to (graphic design) there, so I grew to like it,” he said. He quickly switched majors.
