Master of Fine Arts in Design

My experience at Stout, both as an undergraduate and graduate, has changed me to become a better designer.

The MFA program definitely helped with my project management skills. I do think I’m a better artist and better storyteller overall.”

—TERRI STAN, MFA ‘22

—JACKIE CUMMINGS, MFA ‘22

Terri Stan, MFA ‘22 Terri Stan was a graphic designer at Shopko in Appleton when she decided to switch careers from corporate design work to teaching in higher education. She met her goals even before earning her M.F.A. in design from UW-Stout. Stan is the program director of the Associate of Arts in graphic design at Chippewa Valley Technical College in Eau Claire. But her road to her new career was long, literally– she put in countless hours and miles driving to and from Menomonie and Appleton to earn her degree. “Stan’s master’s thesis on ‘Graphic Design Education and Neurodiversity’ is based on her life experience and allows her to reach her students at CVTC, filling a void in the discourse of design pedagogy,” said Erik Evensen, Program Director for the MFA in Design. “The challenge of earning my M.F.A. was living across the state and traveling to Stout once or twice a week to attend class. I’d leave work at 1 p.m. and arrive home around 1 a.m. But every time I walked on campus, it felt right; this is where I was supposed to be.” How has your Stout education and experience changed you? “My experience at Stout, both as an undergraduate and graduate, has changed me to become a better designer, given me the ability to voice my thoughts and guided me into a job that for the first time I am proud of. The courses provided gave me confidence and the opportunity to become a graduate assistant in a virtual classroom. I am proud of my thesis, design project, research and the friendships that will last beyond graduation.” What stands out about your Stout experience? “What stood out to me was my student colleagues in the School of Art and Design. It was a great group to go through the program with; they were supportive.” What was it like to enroll in a hybrid program?

Jackie Cummings, MFA ‘22 In relationships, a decision, an unexpected event, a behavior can change everything, leading those involved down a path they may not have expected and are unprepared to handle. Octopus Pot is Jackie Cummings’ graduate thesis project, a computer-based, interactive experience that tells a story while making an adventure of it by giving the players options. It operates similar to online dating simulators, which Cummings says are fun to play. Having experienced a relationship breakup, Cummings decided to use the common life experience as the basis for a game, but Octopus Pot also is more than a game. “It provides a cathartic and compassionate look at relationship erosion and eventual breakup to people who’ve had that experience. Everybody has a breakup story, even if it’s not their own,” Cummings said. “I want some people to feel like it was a healing experience to play the game, and I also wanted it to be fun.” Players experience the perspectives of both main characters, Maysa and Shelby, to help them see both sides of a relationship. They have “ownership of the narrative by deciding to do one thing over another” with what Cummings calls branching dialogue, or prompts that force the player to choose. Cummings, of Bemidji, Minn., based the game on more than personal experience. She did qualitative research, conducting a survey and interviewing people who have had breakups. The “affinity mapping” Adapted from a story originally written by Jerry Poling, April 2022

MFA Alumni

research provided themes to help Cummings determine how the game would play out, she said. “The research told me what the characters should be feeling, and that’s what’s important,” she said. “This game is about heartbreak.”

Jackie is now a full-time Lecturer of Game Design at UW-Stout.

Adapted from a story originally written by Jerry Poling, December 2022

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