A Dordt University student’s observation during a workout eventually turned into three new murals inside the school’s Rec Center.
Senior graphic design major Austin Anderson of Nowthen, Minnesota, noticed that several graphics inside the facility still featured an outdated Dordt athletic logo. Anderson, who works as a student employee in Dordt’s Marketing and Communication Office, then asked whether he could help update them.
“I remember looking at the wall and thinking, ‘That’s the old athletic logo. That needs to be updated,’” Anderson said. “Then I kept noticing the old branding in other places throughout the Rec Center.”
Before the project, Anderson’s painting experience primarily consisted of helping paint rooms in his parents’ home and creating theatre backdrops in high school. By the end of the summer, however, he had helped design, plan, and paint three 12-foot murals inside the Rozenboom Family Athletic Center.
Project Expands to Three Locations
Anderson originally planned to update the medicine ball wall across from the Rec Center entrance. The effort later expanded to include a mural along the indoor track and another inside the community weight room.
Working with Dordt Graphic Designer Brooklyn Rozeboom and Digital Content Specialist Emma McGaughey, Anderson photographed and measured the three spaces before creating digital mock-ups in Adobe Illustrator.
The designs were reviewed several times to determine how they would fit into each physical space while remaining consistent with Dordt’s athletic branding.
“What works in print or digital design doesn’t always work on a wall,” McGaughey said. “It requires a completely different way of thinking: How do you make a design work within a physical space and on such a large scale? Austin did that really well.”
Once the designs were approved, the team prepared the walls and borrowed a projector from the Dordt University Library. Anderson used the brickwork as a grid to align the projected designs before tracing the outlines and labeling each section by color.
“I labeled each section by color so that, once the projector was turned off, it essentially became paint-by-number,” Anderson said.
Murals Required Time and Teamwork
The painting process required more time than Anderson initially expected. He estimated that the lettering on one mural took eight hours to outline and cover with two coats of paint. He also learned to operate a lift to complete another mural.
McGaughey said Anderson worked with Dordt’s facilities staff and returned during evenings to continue tracing and painting.
Anderson, however, described the murals as a collaborative effort. He said Dordt’s facilities, athletics and theatre departments, along with the Hulst Library, each contributed to the project.
The murals now display Dordt’s current athletic identity in three areas used by students, athletes and community members.
The artwork on the medicine ball wall is expected to accumulate some wear as athletes continue throwing equipment against it. Anderson said he views that wear as part of the mural’s purpose.
“That’s actually kind of cool, I think,” Anderson said. “It means it’s working and being used.”
PICTURES SUBMITTED BY DORDT UNIVERSITY
