Christopher Olvis and Michiella Sturiano hold their winning umbrella design for Easton Town Center

Easton Town Center in Columbus, OH, offers a perk for visitors and shoppers when the clouds turn grey: a courtesy umbrella. This year the design is brand new thanks to Advertising & Graphic Design students at the Columbus College of Art & Design.

Easton hosts nearly 21 million visitors a year and orders 8,000 umbrellas a year for those customers to use—so when Steiner & Associates, the managing company of Easton, approached CCAD Advertising & Graphic Design classes with this project, the students were beyond excited.

Students had to not only create a design that incorporated Easton’s current brand theme and colors, but also work on an umbrella stand, follow a strict budget, deal with storage issues, consider guidelines for the arc, panels, and handle for the umbrella, and create a communication plan, all within an eight-week time frame.

A group of Easton staff members chose the winning design team, which included then-seniors Christopher Olvis and Jacob Graham and junior Michiella Sturiano.

Their design features a nature-themed pattern including snowflakes, autumn leaves, and tree branches all on the color blue that Easton uses as a brand color.

Easton Town Center is one of several community clients that CCAD has recently partnered with. Others include The Central Ohio Transit Authority, the State of Ohio’s Governor’s office, ScottsMiracleGro Company, and Nationwide Insurance.