Students and faculty entering the Media Arts Center (MAC) this semester may notice the brand new look of the building’s entryway, designed by senior Brady Rudolf.
Rudolf, a graphic design student, said he originally created the colorful new design on the walls of the MAC lobby for a class project in the spring ‘24 semester. Specifically, Rudolf said the design originated as his final project for an upper-level graphic design course last year where the entire class got the opportunity to create new design concepts for the lobby.
“Everybody’s given this opportunity, and then you go through revisions of certain work,” Rudolf said. “Whoever’s concepts seem to be the most promising typically get the privilege of having their logo, or in this case, their design put up.”
For his project, Rudolf said he wanted to create a design that was simple yet expressive and would represent the building to include all of the majors within it.
“Express,” “innovate” and “inspire” are the three main words that are prominently featured in Rudolf’s design, which he said were chosen to represent the goals of the work that students do in the MAC.
In addition, the design features what Rudolf called a “word wall,” which includes many smaller words that are incorporated into the background of the design. Rudolf said all of these words, such as “creativity” and “critical thinking,” were pulled directly from the KSC website descriptions of classes and majors within the MAC in an effort to reflect the skills that students in the building are encouraged to embody.
Another element in the background of Rudolf’s design are what he described as “circles of community.”
“Every shape has a different meaning, every shape represents something different. Some are more aggressive than others. Circles show unity,” Rudolf said. “We’re a community here, in this building amongst the majors and also just within Keene State, so I figured that was the smartest shape to include in this.”
As for the color palette of his design, Rudolf said he chose the bright blue, magenta and yellow combination to bring a feeling of liveliness to the lobby to contrast the dull black coloration of the rest of the area.
“We were looking to create a brighter and refreshing set of signage to light up the lobby,” Rudolf said. “I want people to walk in and just hit them in the face with something bright and expressive. It’s definitely a loud design.”
Rudolf said the biggest challenge he faced during the project’s design process was creating a feeling of cohesion between the two walls on either side of the lobby.
“The hardest part was how do we make the two panels speak the same visual language and make the entrance of the Media Arts Center a more exciting place for students to want to be in,” Rudolf said.
After he had completed the design process, Rudolf said his next steps involved a lengthy revision process and getting as many eyes on his work as he could, including his classmates and professors that work in the building.
“It’s a lot of talking to people and presenting and getting people on board with what you’re doing,” Rudolf explained.
Rudolf said he was able to gather support from his class and the department heads within the MAC to get his visuals up onto the walls after sharing his design with as many people as possible.
“Everybody in my class seemed to agree that this idea was the most practical and promising,” Rudolf said.
According to Rudolf, there was not enough time at the end of that spring semester last year to get his design on the walls, but he returned to campus after the summer break with the continued goal of making his vision a reality.
To accomplish this, Rudolf said he approached Art and Design Professor Randall Hoyt for assistance in the fall semester.
“All last semester, we kept working on it and made some tweaks and then [Hoyt] helped me get it up,” Rudolf said. “He was a really big help in this process.”
In fact, Rudolf credited Hoyt with the idea for the “word wall” in the design’s background, which Rudolf said was the solution to the issue of making the design look cohesive.
“That was not in the original design. He suggested that that would help make it one cohesive thing and also help bring all the majors together,” Rudolf said. “The panels didn’t look the same before I started working with him, so he really helped with the cohesion of the two sides.”
“He definitely helped me the most,” Rudolf continued. “He was here a week before [winter] break. We were standing on chairs, tightening these things, putting them up. He was right there with me.”
Together with Hoyt, Rudolf said he was finally able to put up the panels that featured his design just in time for the spring semester. Now, the MAC’s lobby has a makeover that Rudolf said he hopes will refresh the space and excite everyone who walks into the building.
Randall Hoyt did not respond to a request for comment.
Justin Dearborn can be reached at
