COOPER UNION SUMMER ARTS INTENSIVE 2025
2024–2025 / VISUAL IDENTITY, BRANDING
Design strategy for the 2025 campaign of CUSAI, an arts summer camp hosted by The Cooper Union for high schoolers in NYC who are looking to develop their practice with college-level arts education.
I worked on the following deliverables: brand system, poster mailer, postcards, and tote bag.
PROJECT DIRECTOR: Samuel ChunDESIGNERS: Elwing Gao, L.ily Nguyen
ANIMATIONS:
Gen Ramirez
THE PROBLEM
The primary challenge was a dual-audience strategy: creating a brand that felt "fun" and accessible to creative teens, while maintaining the academic prestige required to appeal to parents.
THE VISUAL STRATEGY
The visual direction captures a playful summer energy through a high-contrast palette and bold display typography. By weaving a typeface with “paper-cut” inkwells into dynamic patterns, the identity references analog and experimental modes of art-making, while a reconstructed pinwheel logo introduces a modular icon system for each artistic discipline.
Iterative studies exploring form, texture, color, and the integration of the 'paper-cut' aesthetic across disciplines.
Reinterpreting the original CUSAI pinwheel logo, which itself references the iconic Cooper Union box-kite.
Final patterns with the disciplines woven in.
THE PRODUCT
The final identity was deployed across a comprehensive range of touchpoints, bridging the gap between tactile print and digital motion. By utilizing the modular icon system and dynamic patterns, the campaign maintained a high-energy "summer" feel while communicating the program’s rigor.