Library Creativity Award: Past Winners

2020

Meet the 2020 winners: video

Emily Geest: Best in Show

Emily Geest is a Ph.D. student in integrated biology. Her 3D-printed "Insect Braille Plates" were inspired an article on the lack of resources for visually impaired students. She used library computers to check her grade 1 braille and to access to the Adobe Illustrator to design the illustrations, Blender to convert the illustrations into STL files, and MakerBot Print to get the files to ready to print. She also used the 3D printers in the Edmon Low Creativity Studios to manufacture the plates and the holder. Emily learned many of the skills she needed at the Library's Tech Tuesday at 2 events and Creativity Studios Wednesday workshops

Tori Walach: Motion Winner

Tori Walach is a multimedia journalism major, graduating in 2020. She created her entry, a hype video for a collaborative campaign, "A Seat for Every Seat" was part of her work as a Library intern. Tori shot the video in the library using Library equipment and software provided as part of her internship.

Alydia Stark: Wild Card

Alydia is a strategic communications student. Her entry, "I Love my Wife" is an original short story. Alydia used the Library computers to write this piece.

Kaity Warren: 2D winner

Kaity Warren is a sophomore in graphic design. For her for entry, "The Life of Campus," she drew inspiration from the iconic Edmon Low Library. She used Adobe Suite, which the Library offers in the Creative Studios, to create the design from scratch in Adobe illustrator. She also benefited from the feedback from her Library internship to hone to piece.

2019

Meet the 2019 winners: video

Emily Geest: Best in Show

Emily Geest is a Ph.D. student in integrated biology. Her 3D-printed seadpod business card holder was made by 3D scanning devil’s claw seedpod (Proboscidea spp.), exporting the scan to an .stl, and using the software Blender to add the card holder portion. "I wanted to create an object that was functional and scientific," Emily said. "The long hooks of the seedpod get attached to animal’s feet and fur and are carried away to be dispersed to new areas. Business cards by nature are made to be distributed to others, and the striking appearance of the seedpod combined to make this an attractive and symbolic functional object."

Emily took advantage of the Library's tech workshops, 3D scanning and printing equipment and software in the Creative Studios to complete her project. 

Tori Walach: Motion Winner

Tori Walach is a multimedia journalism major, graduating in 2020. She created her entry, "Google Search Tips," as part of her work as a Library intern. "I wanted these videos to be fun to watch, not just another boring video on how to use Google for research," she said. Tori collaborated with another intern to develop the initial artwork, then used After Effects and Character Animator to bring her script to life. 

"Each video I've made has taught me more and more about the programs I'm using, and I've tried at least one new thing in each video," Tori said. "It's also helped strengthen my skills as a creator, because now I have a new skill set to use when editing videos! This entire project has been fun and a great learning experience, and it's all because of my internship with OSU Library."

Trent Falwell: Wild Card

Trent Falwell is a marketing student. His entry, "Sunrise," is an original musical composition. Trent said he has been creating music for four or five years. He used the mixing equipment available in the Edmon Low Creative Studios to complete his project. "The mixer makes it much easier than trying to edit with a mouse," he said. "The dials and panning switches give me more control than editing on my own computer."

2018

Meet the 2018 winners: video

Emily Geest: Best in Show

Butterflying is quickly gaining popularity as an outdoor wildlife activity. Similar to bird-watching, learning to ID species on thewing (aka in flight) is a necessary skill to gain competency in the hobby. Butterfly field guides are often organized by taxonomy and this can be intimidating to beginner butterfly-watchers. To identify families, size and wing shape are the easiest traits to become familiar with. However, butterfly specimens are delicate and are prone to damage with frequent handling. By creating accurately sized 3D-printed butterfly silhouettes of 13 Oklahoma species, Emily aims to help make butterflying an easier hobby for novices to begin. She used library computers to research butterfly species in Oklahoma, find the maximum wing length of each species, and located Creative Commons licensed images to use. She then used Inkscape and GIMP to remove the backgrounds of the selected images, turn images into silhouettes, refine images, and scale species accordingly. Emily learned about both of these programs in the Tech Talk & Workshop series hosted by the Creative Studios on Wednesdays. She also used library computers to access the online site Tinkercad to turn my altered images into 3D models and Makerbot Print v2.2 to prepare models for printing. Afterwards, she used the 3D printers to physical create the butterfly tiles. Ultimately, I plan on making the 3D print files available on my website so that anyone with access to a 3D printer can create their own set.

Kaydee King: 2D Winner

For this project, Kaydee illustrated and created an accordion book for "A Rose," a short story written by a fellow OSU student. In order to create this book she wanted to use printmaking techniques. She used library resources and books to research the best method to create a book like this. She also used the the library printers in the beginning stages of the project. To create the illustrations, she carved them out of rubber-like materials and pressed ink onto the various pages. To create the text, she used a laser cutter to create stamps out of linoleum. The book includes illustrations and the story on one side and a city pattern on the back.

Amanda Thomas: 3D winner

Amanda created an accurate topographic model of Gloss Mountains State Park, with exaggerated height x10 to help ensure details would be visible. Data was collected by Oklahoma State Parks Service via a private company’s LiDAR equipped airplane. This data was processed and made into an STL by Dr. Adam Mathews, who then gave it to Amanda with instructions to see if printing this was possible. She first tested compatibility with the library’s Makerbot printers using a quadcopter collected orthophotogrammetry model of the OSU library. This demonstrated how much detail the printers are able to create, and how much needed to be simplified out of the Gloss model. The model was sliced into 8 sections using Meshlab to meet build plate and print time requirements. Gloss Mountains does not stand on a flat plane, but on a slight incline. To balance this elevation and make sure the printed sections would interlock closely she extruded the base of the model to create an even ground. After a few failed prints due to warping, with the guidance of a student worker the final model was printed with the Tazbots to take advantage of their heated build plate, and higher detail. While this printed LiDAR data is not the first example of its kind, it is the first time someone has applied it to Oklahoma State Parks.  

Chrishayla Smith: Motion Winner

Chrishayla created this motion graphic to place in the opening segment of the Archives livestreams. Her goal was to create something that looked current and fresh while still appealing to the audience of the Archives page. To create a fresh look, she added the pop of orange in the background with black and white photos found in the Archives' OSU photo index to give it an "archival feel." Chrishayla chose the pictures of Pistol Pete, Old Central and the OSU Library because they are famous areas on campus and resonate with the audience. The camera motion was chosen because she believed it brought all of the graphics elements together while also giving the illusion that the audience is being drawn in. She used the Library's Adobe Creative Suite to create this graphic.

Julia Rush: Wild Card Winner

Kindred is an innovative app that helps fulfill senior citizen's need for social interaction. Kindred brings together youth and senior citizens through the Kindred Buddy matching program. Buddies then complete activities in different categories to take on challenges and earn badges. Senior citizens know when people visit them out of obligation rather than because they actually want to, but Kindred alleviates this awkwardness by pairing people together with similar interests who both desire a Buddy to spend time with. Julia designed the branding, app interface, activity categories and badges to appeal to a wide audience and give the app a playful feel. She used Adobe Illustrator and Adobe XD to create this project in the Library Creative Studios.

2017

Meet the 2017 winners: video

Kaitlyn Cornish: Best in Show 

Kaitlin Cornish is a graphic design senior. Her winning entry began as a class assignment. "The Life of Simon" is a 2D motion design that shows the odd life of a Yeti/mountain goat creature. She was able to research Simon’s story at the library and found inspiration for the kind of creature he would be. Using Adobe Creative Suite, Simon came to life along with his friends.

Meredith Zerby: 2D and Motion Winner

For her 2D project, graphic design major, Meredith Zerby redesigned Har Mar Superstar's album "Bye Bye 17," expanding her new graphic style into a record-album sleeve, record stickers, a poster and a fan booklet that features lyrics to his songs, quotes about
who he is as an artist and performer and quotes from Har Mar himself.

According to Zerby, "This project was completed using the technology of an iMac, scanners and the Adobe programs Illustrator,
Photoshop and Indesign. All of these different tools can be found in the Edmon Low Library. Throughout the process I also had to print out different versions of my project for critique. Now that the library offers colored printing, this is an extremely helpful location on campus to be able to do this."

The second award Zerby took this year recognized her animated short, “1929”, which pays tribute to three major events that occurred during that year. The visual language of this motion piece exemplifies how 1929 was a year of shift and change. While only three events were depicted in this motion piece, over thirty events were researched, sketched and discussed as possible events to include in the final product. This motion piece was created using the Adobe programs Illustrator and After Effects, both available in the Creative Studios. Much of the research was achieved using online resources provided by Edmon Low and Oklahoma State University. 

Carlo Schiavon: 3D winner

Schiavon was awarded for his 3D-printed banana holder in the shape of a banana. He said, "I wanted to design something to really use it, not just to throw it away. So I had the idea of print a banana holder with a banana shape."

Michael Woodard: Wild Card Winner

Woodard's project made use of the Edmon Low's HTC Vive headsets. The game he created is a simple slide puzzle with a twist, the images that are featured are not static but instead are live feeds from the two scenes outside the windows of the small shack. The player can use their views of these scenes as reference points to solve the slide puzzle. Woodard said, "My goal of this project was to involve the user in the freedom of movement that comes with the Vive headset, inclining the user to use the advantages of VR to gain an advantage on the common slide puzzle."

2016

Christian Coletti: Best in Show

Coletti studies aerospace and mechanical engineering and plans to graduate in 2018. Coletti’s winning entry, “The Singularity Triangle” was a series of 3D printed models representing a bubble with the lowest possible surface area relative to its size, a representation of the bubble popping and the wand to create the bubble. The designs were inspired by his studies of mathematics and engineering.

Julia Meier: 2D Winner

Julia Meier is majoring in graphic design and plans to graduate in 2018. Meier’s entry, titled “Clothed in Controversy”, is a social statement designed to raise awareness about the amount of recyclable clothes thrown away each year. Her piece highlights the percentage of unrecycled clothing represented by typography formed from torn clothes.

Deepak Kumar Duraivelu Rajmohan: 3D Winner

Deepak Kumar Duraivelu Rajmohan is seeking master’s degree in food science and plans to graduate in December 2016. Rajmohan’s entry was a series of 3D printed figurines representing his family. He created this family portrait by using two-dimensional images of him and his family’s faces to create accurate representations of his parents and himself. When asked about the purpose for creating this project, Rajmohan said that it was a way of remembering his late father.

William Davis: Motion Winner

Davis is a May 2016 graduate of OSU with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in both marketing and entrepreneurship. Davis’ project, a 360 degree video titled “Vapor Reality v0.3”, as a way to explore the emerging field of virtual reality art. By utilizing software found in the Edmon Low Creative Studios, Davis was able to map out and devise a surreal landscape that surrounds the viewer.