The AIGA Blue Ridge’s Flux Design Competition is an annual event that celebrates the best art created by undergraduate and graduate students across the United States. During the 2020 competition season, a group composed of JSU art students Abby Deason, Alden Guinn, Hannah Jones, and Carleigh Peters won Honorable Mention in the “Identity” category for their Potters Guild Style Guide. Hannah Jones also won Best in Category for her The Footstool Co. packaging. There were 749 entries for the competition, with only 165 getting selected and JSU winning two of the fifteen awards given on February 6.

Abby Deason is a JSU Art and Design alumna from Sumiton, AL, who now works as a videographer for Down in Front Productions and and as a private wedding videographer.

Hannah Jones is a JSU Art and Design senior from Rome, GA, who will graduate with her B.F.A. in Graphic Design in May 2021. Her post-graduation plans currently consist of working for a design firm or advertising agency.

Alden Guinn is a senior art major from Clay County, AL. After his graduation, Guinn plans to find a job working as a designer for an advertising agency or design firm.

About the Potters Guild Style Guide, group member Hannah Jones says that, “This style guide reflects a proposed branding of The Potters Guild at Jacksonville State University. The inspiration for the logo came from the natural earthen qualities in clay. The layered bowl along with a crack represents the uniqueness of the guild.

The design of this branding style guide required around one month to complete. One of the main challenges that came with this project was working with a real-world client for the first time. “As students, this was our first encounter making a brand for a client and receiving feedback; it was a learning curve from our usual classroom setting but proved to be beneficial. Although there were many components to this branding, the finished product was rewarding for each team member.”

Alden Guinn states that his favorite part about the creation of the Potters Guild Style Guide is his group members. “We all come from very different backgrounds in many ways and that is what makes this group project so strong! Our combined ideas and concepts really pushed this project to another level that we were so eager to create.”

Images of both the Potters Guild Style Guide and The Footstool Co. packaging can be seen below.