VCD Students Open Resource Site

Two Kent State University Visual Communication Design BFA seniors recently started their own online design resource business called The Warehouse. The recently engaged couple, Jesse Snyder and Brittany Deighton, opened their website to the public earlier this fall, selling a package of icons Deighton designed. The site also offers two free texture packages for other designers to use as resources for their own designs. Snyder and Deighton have been designing together since they were in high school, and they noticed there weren’t many resources offered in their price range when they were starting out. “One of the things we noticed is that a lot of the students early in the VCD program don’t have a lot of access to inexpensive or free things,” Snyder said. “Most of these things cost a lot of money, and there aren’t a lot of resources available. We’re trying to make it inexpensive for people who are just starting out.” “We wanted to make a place for them to go,” Deighton said. “When we were younger, we didn’t have a lot of people guiding us in regards to resources.” As the business expanded, Snyder and Deighton implemented a “pay what you want” policy in lieu of set prices. “For younger students who might not have money, if they want these resources for free, they can do that,” Snyder said. “If they want to pay, they can do that, too.” Many people have downloaded their texture packages, Snyder said. They are most popular within the Kent community and abroad. “We’ve gotten a lot of international downloads from places like France and Brazil,” Snyder said. “For some reason, those are the countries we get the most from.” In the future, the couple hopes to add additional products to the website, such as vector packs and patterns. Upon graduation, they plan to open the website up as an online design studio where they can work on designing for their own clients. “We’ve just been doing this in our spare time,” Snyder said. “It hasn’t taken too long. We’re pretty efficient. We’re always busy with design, though. We don’t usually take much time off to do anything else.” “We have no party life,” Deighton joked. “Strictly design.” Snyder and Deighton were inspired by VCD professor Jillian Coorey and her Graphic Design II course to pursue their own side project. “Jillian’s class really pushed us to keep us thinking conceptually and out of the box,” Deighton said. “I think that’s how we thought up a lot of the website stuff.” Snyder encourages other students to take on personal projects to enhance their learning experience. He said the projects are a good way to attract attention to a student’s portfolio. “It makes you unique if you’re filling a niche that some people haven’t,” Deighton said. For more information about The Warehouse, visit the website.