A University of Wisconsin-Stout undergraduate was honored with the Best in Show for Students award at the annual Minnesota AdFed awards, held March 5 at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis. Senior Taylor Sherack, a graphic design and interactive media major from Crosslake, Minnesota, received the award for her marketing campaign promoting the Red Cedar Trail.
The recognition highlights how student projects can bridge classroom learning and professional exposure. Sherack’s campaign included magazine layouts, trail signs, Snapchat filters, and Spotify playlists designed to encourage people to experience nature along the Red Cedar Trail instead of digital distractions.
Sherack explained that students were tasked with creating multiple forms of advertisements across various media to improve a brand’s perception. “The goal was to increase or improve your brand’s perception and to add a fun twist on your campaign to create a unique selling point for your product or company,” she said. She added that developing a cohesive brand identity across different platforms was challenging: “I met my goals through a lot of trial and error, especially with creating and editing the typeface that I ended up using as my brand’s main display type.”
Professor Nagesh Shinde said competitions like AdFed are important because they expose students to industry standards: “This competition gives them exposure to what is happening in the profession,” he said. Sherack described hearing her name announced as Best in Show as “a shocking yet fantastic experience,” adding that talking with industry professionals was inspiring: “I think that the event opened me up to a whole new world of design and introduced me to some fantastic designers and firms.”
Other UW-Stout students were also recognized by AdFed this year. Junior Zoe Smith received a bronze award for her campaign promoting Notion, focusing on helping people organize their lives more effectively. In previous years, UW-Stout students have consistently earned honors at AdFed competitions.
Two additional graphic design majors recently had their packaging designs featured on Packaging of the World, an international website showcasing high-quality student work from around the globe. Grace Dose redesigned salsa packaging for Mama Torrez Salsa while Grace Weber created branding inspired by Hungarian folk art for apricot pálinka.
According to its official website, University of Wisconsin-Stout features modern labs and studios linked closely with industry needs; it is recognized as Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University due to its practical approach blending theory with application; it operates within the University of Wisconsin System; it emphasizes career readiness through hands-on learning; it supplies laptops through its eStout program; and it builds partnerships with businesses for internships and research opportunities.
