GDES Faculty Recognized with 2025 Graphis Award
Courtney Windham and Mario Bocanegra, faculty in Auburn’s School of Industrial and Graphic Design (SIGD), have been recognized with a 2025 Graphis Poster Design Award.
Windham, an Associate Professor of Graphic Design, and Bocanegra, an Assistant Professor, earned a Gold Award in the “Print Education” category.
Graphis is an international publisher of books and awards for the visual communications industry. The organization hosts this annual competition to honor creative excellence from around the globe in design, advertising, photography and illustration each year.
“Being recognized with a Gold Award by Graphis is incredibly meaningful to us,” stated Bocanegra. “It highlights the value of inventiveness through purposeful play and experimentation in the creative process. This prestigious honor from Graphis not only celebrates our collaborative efforts but also fuels us to challenge ourselves and our students to discover innovative methods to explore and crystallize ideas.”
Windham and Bocanegra teamed up to design a collection of posters to promote their panel session for the Mid-America College Art Association (MACAA) Conference, which took place March 21–23, 2024. The conference’s theme, “Satellite: The Artist and Educator as Orbital Connectors,” inspired the duo to host a panel titled, “Creative Encounters: Exploring the Art of ‘Thinking Through Making’” which examined the design process, namely the moments when unexpected connections are made. A creative encounter, according to Windham and Bocanegra, is the “pivotal moment in design where unexpected connections are made, often in overlooked situations.”
The collaboration involved two experimental sessions dedicated to exploring typography and collage techniques. These sessions led to the creation of four print posters and one animated poster.
“Our session topic is closely related to how Mario and I work independently,” Windham shared, “as it forms a core part of our creative scholarship and process. It made perfect sense to combine our efforts and collaborate for this panel. We received a wonderful response, with eight panelists sharing their ideas, processes, teaching methods and experiences. The discussions truly highlighted the value of ‘thinking through making’ and the unexpected connections that emerge in the design process.”