MSU design agency bridges gap between academia, practice

hands on laptop working — MSU’s VIS[LAB] bridges the gap between academia and practice while engaging, employing and collaborating with design students to promote excellence in design across the state and beyond. (Photo submitted)

STARKVILLE, Miss.—A full-service, multidisciplinary design and visual communication studio operated by faculty, students and alumni at ��ɫ��Ƶ is helping promote excellence in design while equipping students with real-world experience.

Housed within MSU’s College of Architecture, Art and Design, VIS[LAB]—short for Visual Communication Collaborative Laboratory—was opened in 2023 thanks to the efforts of former Associate Professor and MSU alumna Claire Gipson and a significant grant from the Robert M. Hearin Foundation.

Associate Professor Tek Jung and Assistant Professor Aubrey Pohl serve as the creative directors and advisors for VIS[LAB]. Graphic design alumni are employed as art directors and help guide current students serving as paid graphic designers.

two young students work on laptop — From left: Senor graphic design majors Thomas Bongiolatti of Collierville, Tennessee, and Daniel Hardy of Biloxi work in the Visual Communication Collaborative Laboratory, which targets in-state clients with a focus on culture and the arts, archiving and community support. (Photo submitted)

“VIS[LAB] is an active, real-time example of what you can do with a graphic design degree,” Pohl said. “The classroom can be hypothetical. There’s something very different about the mental approach to a personal class project versus ‘This is a project for a client’—the addition of that real-world factor.”

Both advisors said students are not just learning how to design but also how to manage a real timeline with deadlines and communicate with clients, all while being exposed to budgeting, project management and current industry practices.

“VIS[LAB] is a glimpse into the real-world of graphic design work and a great chance to strengthen classroom skills,” said Ashlyn Triplett, a senior graphic design major from Aberdeen, Maryland, working in the studio. “It is also truly rewarding to see our contributions and ideas come to fruition on some of our major client work and even within our in-house studio experimental work.”

Pohl said he hopes the students’ work will bring in national and international recognition not only for the graphic design program and the studio but also for the university and the state.

“We are very interested in this idea of local impact, but local impact can go further and local impact can bring attention in from elsewhere,” Pohl said. “We are showing what we can do here.”

The studio plays a vital role in successful economic development, providing high-quality branding, advertising and conceptual design work to help local and state non-profits, small businesses and start-ups improve visibility for their clients and increase their success on all fronts.

“We want to work with people in Mississippi that are also working for Mississippi,” Pohl said, adding that the studio will take on other clients. “Yes, we are a for-profit studio, but we are also first and foremost here to provide this experimental learning experience for our students and to support the community of Mississippi with design and visual communication.”

VIS[LAB] offers an evolving variety of design products and services in alignment with the team’s expertise and disciplines. For more information and to view recent work, visit

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MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at .

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