BOZEMAN — To some, a yellow sign reading “Mechanical Room” in Montana State University’s Cheever Hall might simply be a yellow sign. Grace Anne Monroe, a junior studying graphic design, sees more.  

Its bright color, popping against black stripes, signals “warning,” she said. The letter spacing and typeface were selected specifically for readability. Each design choice, no matter how small, influences how people perceive the message and whether it captures their attention. 

This fall, Monroe explored how design choices can effectively promote a social cause in the School of Art’s Design for Society class. In teams of four, 16 students created multimedia campaigns to promote student awareness surrounding medical and recreational services offered at MSU’s Student Wellness Center. Teams presented their campaigns on Nov. 19 and may be able to implement their concepts in the future.  

“The fact that we're able to collaborate with our community and learn about different user experiences in this way is super special,” said Monroe, who moved to Bozeman from Dallas to explore art and music in a beautiful environment. “Health care is something that is so deeply personal to people — it affects their familial relationships, the way they spend their money and kind of every aspect of life.” 

Students used health care design and artificial intelligence to educate Bobcats about the Student Wellness Center, Student Health Services, sexually transmitted infection testing and awareness, and how to prevent sickness. Teams spent hours touring the center and speaking with staff to determine their needs before researching their target audience: students.   

“Typically, you don't get to design for your own audience, and I think that's exciting — that fresh perspective of college students developing campaigns and ideas for other college students,” said course instructor William Culpepper, who researches how designers can meaningfully impact health care design, including the ways in which generative and traditional AI intersect in an evolving health care design space. 

Students surveyed fellow Bobcats across campus about their perceptions and knowledge of the center’s resources. Monroe’s team, which created a campaign for Student Health Services, gathered 96 respondents and learned many students weren’t aware of MSU’s dental, nutrition and X-ray resources, and they had trouble finding them in the Student Wellness Center. 
 

This research provided the foundation for students’ deliverables, ranging from brand guides to environmental design. Monroe’s team created a guide to make each health service identifiable and approachable. They also developed packaging for items like toothbrushes and stickers — which they handed out to attendees at their presentation — and explored how they could use branded wall decals on each floor of the Student Wellness Center to help with navigation.  

“Wayfinding” was an important aspect of other students’ campaigns as well. Two teams created digital kiosks with interactive maps, workout class sign-ups and hours for medical services. The team creating a campaign for STI awareness filmed a walk-through of the testing process to help students find their way and feel more comfortable making an appointment as part of their “Gear Up and Get Tested” campaign. They surveyed 48 students, more than half of whom were not aware of testing services on campus despite nearly one in four college students in the U.S. testing positive for an STI, according to Student Health Services.  

Students also presented app designs for one of their deliverables. Henry Janzen, a junior graphic design major from Bozeman, and his team created FitCat as part of their “Protect Your 9 Lives” campaign encouraging Bobcats to stay ahead of sickness. The app allows students to make medical appointments, chat with other students and receive preventative health advice from Chip, a mascot Janzen describes as Champ the Bobcat’s little brother. Chip, like most teams’ app chatbots, uses AI to function.  

“It’s rewarding to see what graphic design can be,” Janzen said. “It’s not just posters, and it’s not just pamphlets. It’s app design, environmental design, wayfinding and more. Having this semester-long project to really dive in and do research was fun.”  

To prepare for their final presentations, students received feedback midway through the semester from MSU alumni at the Bozeman firm A&E + SMA Design. Monroe said their advice was valuable, particularly when they mentioned a designer’s priority must be to solve the problem at hand rather than adjusting and re-adjusting smaller details like colors or sizing.  

“It was an eye-opening experience to hear that art and design are always going to be super subjective, but as long as you're telling a story, that's the point of it all,” Monroe said. “At the end of the day, that's your solution.” 

Betsy Asserson, MSU’s associate vice president of student wellness, said she took note of solutions students demonstrated in their presentations, as well as their feedback on the navigability and accessibility of the Student Wellness Center. She and Culpepper will begin discussing how some student concepts, such as wall decals and videos for social media, might be implemented at the center in the future.  

Asserson said it was inspiring to see students become passionate about making health care accessible in spaces that can often be intimidating for students entering them for the first time. 

“I had this feeling of, ‘The future is bright with our upcoming graduates from MSU,’” she said. “They’re really thoughtful and informed students who were so professional. I’m excited to see how they’re going to make a difference in the work they do.”