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Brittany Myers, a senior applied engineering and technology management major with a focus in graphic communications, and Eli Brill, a 2017 graduate of the broadcasting and graphic communication programs, make quite the experienced team. Years of training at Millersville University served the pair well when they competed in the 2018 International Corrugated Packaging Foundation (ICPF) Student Packaging Design Competition.
“I was honored to have the opportunity to represent Millersville, because without this school I wouldn’t have the skills needed to make it that far in the competition,” says Myers.
The student team’s journey to the national competition started in the spring of 2017 when Myers and Brill meticulously developed a package for a hypothetical pet product company, Ruff N Tumble. Their design rose to the top in Dr. Mark Snyder’s advanced packaging class, and the applied engineering and technology management professor chose their package to represent MU at the 2018 ICPF competition.
“It was exciting to represent Millersville University,” says Brill. “I had a great time learning the ins and outs of graphic communication from the excellent professors in that department at MU, and I felt validated in the skills I developed throughout my years of study.”
Several weeks after submitting their project, the pair found out they won second place in the design portion of the competition and qualified to compete in the “Best of the Best” ICPF grand finale.
“I was not particularly nervous entering the competition because I had a lot of faith in our design and felt it mostly spoke for itself,” remembers Brill. “We think the simplicity of our design is what made it stand out against the other, busier competitors.”
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t experience a little bit of nervousness,” Myers adds, “but Eli and I were very well prepared for the teleconference.”
The grand finale teleconference took place at the end of February, when the Millersville team competed against students from California Polytechnic State University and the University of Texas at Arlington. On the day of their presentation, Brill and Myers donned t-shirts with the Ruff N Tumble logo and confidently explained their packaging designs. The MU team secured third place, a cash prize and the affirmation of industry professionals.
“The competition was a huge confidence booster for me,” Brill says. “Graphic design is an overwhelmingly subjective field, so it was great to hear some feedback and to get to show off something we were pretty proud of.”
