�ƹ���Ƶ

She said the strength of her entry was a direct result of her classes, which forced her to experiment with new ideas instead of falling back on what had served her in her career, which includes both freelance and nonprofit design work. In fact, as one of the more experienced students in her class, Chambers admitted she brought “a bit of an ego” to the program, which she will complete in August.

An assignment in a design fundamentals course—which became part of her winning entry—came out just like she hoped, with the simple aesthetic that she enjoys, but it didn’t get the reception she hoped for from her professor.

“She said to me, ‘I can tell this was easy for you. You didn’t need to take my class to do this kind of work,’” Chambers said. “And, she was right. I didn’t come here to be the best, I came here to grow and learn—this is my time to try things I couldn’t do before.”

But it was hard to put into practice. Chambers found herself frustrated when, in trying new approaches to projects, “I just wound up with a lot of stuff that was horrible.” Working with her professor, Parisa Tashakori, she identified one concept with potential that she presented in class, “and people were like, ‘Wow, that’s cool.’ They kept pushing to try other things that made it even better. I never would have made this if Parisa didn’t push me to do it.”

The master’s program is run as a cohort, with students moving through courses as a group. That familiarity encourages a network of ambitious professionals while helping classmates trust one another and seek feedback and insights from their peers.

Chambers, Tashakori said, was an important voice in that room.

“Kate brought a lot of design knowledge to our program, and each time she showed her work in class, everyone would talk about how great it was,” said Tashakori, a teaching assistant professor and director of the strategic communication design program. “And it was good—but our job is to challenge you to be as creative as possible.

“Kate gave me that permission to push her, to have her challenge herself, and I see a very bright future for her, because she puts all of her love, passion and effort into every project she works on.”

Chambers called Tashakori a major influence, but also said she’s also benefited from other faculty and the extensive industry experience they bring to class.

“A lot of our projects are vague on purpose,” Chambers said. “The prompts are very broad, so you can interpret them how you want and bring what you want to the table. My professors have always left a lot of room for me to be creative.”

Alongside creativity is an emphasis on critical thinking, which trains students to approach problems like an entrepreneur who is comfortable rapidly prototyping and iterating to develop the best solutions.

“They teach you a design-thinking mindset, so you look at the problem from different angles and understand the problem space before getting to a solution,” she said. “Instead of being told to design a flyer, we’re told to design a solution to a particular problem. At the end of day, maybe a flyer is the solution, or maybe it’s to build an app. It’s up to you.”

It’s great training for someone who eventually aspires to open her own design shop—a future she feels more confident in thanks to her education and her impressive haul at the AAF awards.

“A lot of really good work gets entered in the awards, which brought to light that I had grown a lot,” she said. “I’m really hard on myself and my work, so it was a really nice moment to celebrate, to look back and appreciate that I couldn’t have made this a year ago.”��