Alumni Collaboration for a Cause: The Bracks Collective
We love to see a Chatham alum do great things after graduating. But when it’s six Chatham alums who team up to do great things together? That’s what we like to hear!
All photos by Alexa Frankovitch, MAID ‘16. Bracks Collective logo by Bree Rice, MAID ‘17.
Enter: the Bracks Collective, a new collaborative design group made up of six Chatham University Graphic Design alums who each bring their own creative strengths and vision to a collective devoted to bringing collaborative passion projects into reality. Members include Bree Rice, MAID ‘17, Rachel Keeney, MAID ‘17, Alexa Frankovich, MAID ‘16, Cassie Rupert, MAID ‘20, Kandice Hartner, MFAID ‘18, and Sarah Huth, MFAID ‘19.
We sat down with Sarah Huth— a former Marketing and Communications student employee who, among other things, designed the ChathamU GIFs on Instagram Story— to chat about the collective’s founding, advice for students, and their first project called “Protected Pack,” a full-color illustrated deck of playing cards featuring near-threatened, vulnerable, endangered, critically endangered and extinct species.
How did you all meet, and what made you decide to create the collective?
We’re all connected through some sort of overlap or past connection. Rachel and Alexa knew each other before coming to Chatham, and so did Cassie and Bree. Bree, Kandice, and myself all had classes together at one point, and I believe Rachel had classes with Bree and Kandice. I’m pretty sure Bree recommended the program to Cassie, and Alexa may have done the same for Rachel! Regardless of when we met, we all definitely formed great friendships both in and out of the classroom.
We’ve all kept in touch since our graduation from Chatham, and Rachel brought up the concept of collaborating on a project last fall. Part of it definitely came from the isolation of the pandemic and the desire to do more passion projects, but most of it was based in our love of collaboration and working together to achieve a creative goal. This was something that was really instilled in all of us during our time at Chatham, and we knew that while we were all different in our approach to creative work and style, we also knew that each of us was hardworking, organized, and really good at accomplishing a goal. We’re all pretty easy going and have our own strengths, so it’s been easy to break-up and share the workload. Things have all evolved really naturally for us, and it’s been wonderful to have such a supportive group.
Sarah Huth, MFAID ‘19
How do you work as a group in general, and with this project specifically?
Rachel has really acted as a leader from the beginning, and has organized a regular weekly Zoom meeting for us to touch base since January 2021. Sometimes we’re super productive, sometimes we use the time to brainstorm and catch up, but that regular meeting has been a good grounding point for us. We’re all pretty organized, so there’s a shared Dropbox and a lot of shared Google Sheets in play.
We typically will decide on a task for the week on Thursday, break that down into individual jobs for each of us, and then re-group the following week to see what we’ve done. With the playing card illustrations for example, we have a large spreadsheet with categories, who is illustrating what, and their completion level. We all worked together to choose animals based on their endangered status, then went through and “claimed” what we’d like to illustrate, and we mark them off as we go. There’s also a group text where we bounce ideas during the week, or check-in to update each other of creative progress. We’ve done a really nice job of keeping things fun while still maintaining deadlines and setting obtainable goals.
Why did you decide to start with the Protected Pack as your first project?
The Bracks Collective’s Protected Pack of playing cards
We wanted something that both highlighted a cause we all cared about and also gave everyone the chance to express their own unique creative style and really shine. Rachel proposed a deck of cards, which allowed us to explore tons of different themes and illustrative styles within one cohesive project brand. While we went through a few different theme iterations initially, we were all really drawn to the conservation aspect of highlighting endangered and threatened plants, animals, and insects. It was so interesting doing research and learning about all of the subjects we chose to draw, and we all felt that it was a good nod to our roots at Chatham.
As we gear up for back to school time, any tips for students who will be working together on collaborative projects?
The Bracks Collective at Chatham’s Art and Design Center (ADC)
Listen thoughtfully and respectfully to others, and set your ego aside. When it comes time to make a project work, ultimately that’s the end goal, and some ideas aren’t going to make it to the finish line. Ask yourself, what is best for the group? What will move us all forward? Realize that everyone has a different perspective based on their unique life experiences and that everyone deserves a seat at the table to share their ideas. Finding a place where you can move forward together to achieve a common goal is just an important life lesson in general.
Do you have any tips for recent grads who want to enter creative fields?
My go-to advice is to be kind and thoughtful when working with others. So many of the relationships I’ve personally made, especially in a city as small as Pittsburgh, have led to work opportunities, collaborations, or cool freelance projects. Being someone that people enjoy working with, offering thoughtful insights, and sincerely supporting other members of the creative community has always paid off long-term. You obviously also need to work hard and do work that you are passionate about, but being someone that people actually like being around that shows up and truly cares is so incredibly important and valuable.
What’s next for the collective?
Right now we’re really focused on the success of the Kickstarter – we were just awarded a “Projects We Love badge” yesterday so we’re just jazzed that people are as excited about this as we are. Production and fulfillment will take us through the fall, but we’ve definitely got some other fun ideas brewing. You’ll just have to follow us on social media to wait and see what the future has in store!
Interested in combining creativity with sought-after industry skills? Check out our Master of Arts in Graphic Design (MAGD) interdisciplinary program, which prepares students to face the changing role of today’s graphic designers and embrace new creative opportunities.
