Team Members
David Xie
Greta Kenyon
Rowan Mulholland
Irene Sheng
Wenxi Zhu
Advisors
Nancy Bernardo, Stephanie Ashenfelder
Problem Statement
One of college’s biggest advantages is the community and proximity with like-minded people. However, Formal clubs can feel like extra obligations rather than creating with friends, and interactions with others often don’t extend beyond immediate class time.
Ultimately, our project looks to answer:
“How can we foster a creative environment where peer relationships can grow beyond a formal structure?
Project Description
NO CLEAN SURFACES is a student – founded design collective that aims to inspire a community where students are inspired by the work they see around them through a series of creative works, as well as public events.
No Clean Surfaces operates across two areas: Community Events and Brand Projects.
Our events create open, casual spaces for people to connect while exploring creative mediums they may not have encountered before, with a focus on accessibility and creative freedom.
Alongside this, we develop our brand through logos, marketing materials, color systems, and zines, building an identity that can be worn, printed, and shared as a signal of community rather than promotion.
Deliverables
COLLAGE
An event focused on the production of collaged “zines”, self-published booklets featuring archival material from the Art and Music Library.
THROWBACK
An arts and crafts event featuring material from the early 2000s, primarily in the form of fuse beads and air dry clay. The prominent feature of the event was the personalization of each project, and providing the materials for keychains and magnets, allowing people to take them home.
SPRING CLEANING
Prior to the event, our team prepared 6 designs for screen printing, and printed 35 pieces of thrifted clothing. We then gave them away during our event, asking participants to simply share something that they made recently that made them happy. We also encouraged students to bring their own articles of clothing, which we then printed live with our designs. Our events garnered 100+ attendees across different majors and class years, and had 500+ impressions across social media platforms. Our events garnered the attention of the Barbara J. Burger iZone, and we received the Make It Happen Prize, a $1,400 investment from River Campus Libraries to pursue our deliverables.
Reflection
This project gave us the opportunity to create deliverables using our individual skillsets to build a name and brand that represents our perspective of community.
Through this project, we gained a greater appreciation of event planning as well. Organizing our workshops taught us the importance of collaboration, scheduling, and attention to detail. But through improvement in our communication and teamwork, we were able to make consistent progress and growth throughout the academic year.
Overall, No Clean Surfaces was a successful exploration into the ingredients of creative community, and establishing an environment where cool people can do cool things without a barrier to entry.