Students highlight Senior Exhibition 2025 projects

MIAD seniors Rita Jennings ’25 (Fine Art + New Studio Practice), Noah Teague ’25 (Communication Design) and Fabian Rico Sanchez ’25 (Product Design) explore empathy, connection and innovation through their capstone projects. 

“We started out in September with our research phase, which lasted for the whole first semester,” explains Teague of the Communication Design Senior Exhibition process. “So that began with us choosing a broad topic and then finding a problem within that topic that we wanted to focus on. For me, that was finding a way to reduce recidivism.”

Teague, who recently received the Service Learning Student Award, needed to research his demographic. “I started out with volunteering at the Vel R. Phillips Juvenile Justice Center, where I got to work closely with children, teenagers that were incarcerated,” he explains. Not until the second semester of senior year do Communication Design students start designing their capstone project based on their research. “That include[s] coming up with our branding, our space design and the actual first and second component of our thesis,” finishes Teague.

For Fine Art + New Studio Practice students, the process is similar. “We really began production … in the spring semester,” says Jennings. “In the fall, it was more so time for research or making small projects that would help inform what you’re making for the spring.” However, Jennings “definitely recommend[s] start making in the fall because as fine artists, you never have enough time to create what you want. For my project, I actually did start in the spring, and luckily, because I do small scale paintings and because I am a fast painter, I am able to get it all done.”

Rico Sanchez’s project originated from an internship with Andis that started in 2024. “I thought it’d be pretty cool if I could figure out a problem that I could work on. And so we figured out that this modular, modular design is sort of new to the company,” he explains. “It’s more of a design research project.” After coming up with the original concept, Rico Sanchez collaborated with the marketing intern to find a niche for the market, then with the mechanical engineers to find out how the design could function. “We started figuring out some issues really early on,” he laughs. “From there, I started my design process … figuring out the best way to make it more ergonomic and just more efficient for the user.” Andis has produced and sold Rico Sanchez’s design, and hired him full-time as the company’s first Product Designer.

Learn more about MIAD’s Fine Art + New Studio Practice, Communication Design and Product Design majors, and plan your visit to MIAD’s Senior Exhibition!