Inside the SDFC: Emily Strieff

SDFC’s graphic designers work within marketing to develop memorable, eye-catching materials — materials you see around Tempe and the other three ASU campuses, for that matter. Graphic designers take in a high volume of marketing requests and churn out fliers, posters and more. Without them, awesome ASU events wouldn’t get that extra “oomph” needed to really demand your attention. One of the SDFC’s design stars is senior Emily Strieff.

Strieff is a graphic design major who began working at the SDFC last September. She sought out an on-campus job due to her academic schedule. Upon her arrival, she began working on a project that gave her a lot of pride: redesigning the content on the bulletin boards inside the display cases which line the halls of the SDFC.

“That was something different that I’d never done before,” Strieff said. “That was a large-scale project that’s still going on.”

Strieff’s interest in graphic design emerged from an early passion for architecture. At a freshman orientation, she decided to shift from architecture to graphic design, remarking on how organic and spontaneous the major switch was.

“It’s really weird — I didn’t take any classes in anything, but I’ve liked it from the beginning and ASU’s program is really rigorous,” Strieff said.

Through the graphic design program, Strieff has learned how to balance multiple projects at one time. The variety of projects she works on in class — an animated infographic and a large social issue campaign, for example — have helped her become a better designer outside the classroom.

“It’s a lot of different things that you wouldn’t necessarily think of as [similar to] designing a flyer,” Strieff said. “I can apply all my learned skills to do things here [at the SDFC].”

Strieff also talked about her interests aside from graphic design.

“I’ve always been interested in photography, and I grew up camping so I love spending time outdoors,” Strieff said.

As she is graduating in May and will no longer be an SDFC employee, Strieff has started to look at her options and is considering working in Seattle or Portland. But if she leaves Arizona, it’ll be for an opportunity that truly excites her.

“I have done a lot of research on the graphic design firms here in Arizona,” Strieff said. “There’s a lot of advertising agencies — I worked at one over the summer. But it’s not necessarily the work I want to be doing.”