Kennesaw State art students receive top honors in national design competition

KENNESAW, Ga. |
Sep 19, 2025

A group of Kennesaw State University art students recently won top honors at a national
graphic design competition.

Senior art students Maura Nolan, Reagan Jowers, and Abby Paver took top prizes in the digital design
category of the Robert Half contest sanctioned by Graphic Design USA, a national organization
dedicated to promoting both digital and print design at the student and professional
levels. In addition, junior art major Lydia Pruett and spring art graduate Madison
Selby won honors in the package design category.

“These three students winning awards puts KSU’s program in the national spotlight and really elevates our profile,” said Kristine Hwang Kim, associate professor of art in the Robert S. Geer College of the Arts. “They worked hard on these designs, some of them designing apps for the first time, and I’m really proud of their efforts.”

The trio took Kim’s class in interactive media design in Spring 2025, during which Kim encouraged all her students to enter the contest. The projects were chosen from among thousands of entrants in the Student Work category. Honorees will have their projects featured on the Graphic Design USA website as well as in a print magazine circulated nationally.

All three students designed kiosks, websites, and digital apps for theoretical businesses
using minimal instruction. Nolan, an art major focused on graphic communications,
designed for a restaurant called Atlanta Pasta House and used her knowledge of typography
and fonts to create her concept. She had never designed anything like an app or kiosk
prior.

“Graphic communications is similar to graphic design, only a little more human-centered,” said Nolan, also a student the KSU Journey Honors College. “Because I like to work with fonts and typography, I thought those courses would be the most fun, and they have been.”

The course was right up Jowers’ alley, as she focuses on graphic design and minors in interactive media design. Designing a winning project for a fictional cat café channeled her love of cats into her passion for design, and it even has her considering a slight career pivot.

“This has made me lean more toward user interaction or user experience design,” said Jowers, also an Honors student. “I like the idea of designing something that people use daily.”

Paver’s project involved a diner, requiring her to create design elements complete with interactive menus and pictures.

Selby, who focused on graphic communications, and Pruett, who focuses on brand design,
created labels and packaging for craft beers.

–Story by Dave Shelles

Photos provided

Related Stories

A leader in innovative teaching and learning, Kennesaw State University offers undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees to its more than 47,000 students. Kennesaw State is a member of the University System of Georgia with 11 academic colleges. The university’s vibrant campus culture, diverse population, strong global ties, and entrepreneurial spirit draw students from throughout the country and the world. Kennesaw State is a Carnegie-designated doctoral research institution (R2), placing it among an elite group of only 8 percent of U.S. colleges and universities with an R1 or R2 status. For more information, visit kennesaw.edu.