The Taylor Swift Society at UIUC
My sophomore year of college some friends and I got together with an idea… we set out to start a new club on campus. It was just supposed to be a fun club to get swifties together. It turned into the fastest growing registered student organization in campus history and the second largest RSO on campus. I spearheaded social media as well as merchandise. As the VP of Design and Communications I got a chance to firsthand see this growth on our socials.
We went from 0 followers to 830 in my time as VPDC.
I am so proud of what this club has become and what it has accomplished.
Long live,
TSS
VPDC
Midnights came out just before our exec board was to be announced, so I created my template based on the design of the album cover and worked to create intro posts for each member of the exec board. This will forever be one of my favorite posts I made because it not only matched the album very closely, but I learned so much about Photoshop through this process. I also loved that it gave a quick insight into each exec member through their favorite songs and albums. I will say my favorite albums have changed since this initial post, but so have I in the past two years. If I were to do this again, I would have gone through and taken pictures with each exec member so we had better photos to represent the club.
Merchandise
An essential part of fandom and clubs is the merchandise. It advertises the club in a more personal way than social media. I worked with a friend at UpMerch to design multiple merch drops throughout my time as VPDC. One of my favorite drops was our
St. Patrick's Day The Lucky One merchandise drop. It featured a crewneck and hoodie with the same design just inverse colors as well as a baby t. The baby t and hoodie were two of our best-selling items ever! It was simple merch that I still see all around campus and I wear it all the time. Through my time I got more comfortable with my design. Starting with concepts to work with the merchandise person at UpMerch but ending the position with full designs ready to go only needing small edits for the execution. Creating merch for an organization taught me a lot about design as well as catering to a group's interest.
CSLOT Custom Record Design
While not part of a formal class or internship, this personal project drew heavily on the creative and strategic skills I developed through my social media and campaign work. I created a custom vinyl record for a close friend, featuring songs from each concert we’ve attended together. From curating the tracklist to designing the record’s cover and packaging, this project was a meaningful opportunity to blend storytelling, design, and music into something tangible. It was a rewarding creative experience, and a gift she now has as a keepsake to remember our favorite moments.
Connie and Sarah Live on Tour
