Student-run creative agency wins eight Indigo Design Awards in collegiate competition

Through Open Quote Creative, a creative agency organized within Liberty University’s Department of Studio & Digital Arts, students are working with clients from start to finish as they develop, design, and deliver materials for nonprofits. Earlier this month, Open Quote Creative was announced as the winner of eight Indigo Design Awards (four silver and four bronze) among a field of other college students from around the world.

The Indigo Design awards are an international competition recognizing the work of professionals and students in the field of graphic design, branding, design for social change. (See all of Open Quote Creative’s 2025 awards and design examples below.)

Each semester, Open Quote Creative will partner with three to five local nonprofit clients and create print and digital materials to promote events, initiatives, or their missions as a whole. The students are split into three teams, with each team typically focusing on one to two clients, and some students taking on leadership roles like creative director, art director, and project manager.

“It gives them an excellent resume booster to be able to say that they’re working with real clients,” said Professor Brianna O’Neal, one of three professors who serve as executive creative directors for the agency along with Stacy Cannon and Audra Rygh. “It also enhances their portfolios, because they don’t just have concept projects in their portfolios; they have real client projects. It prepares them, not only with their design skills, but also professionally, because they’re learning to talk to clients, develop briefs, pitch concepts, and effectively create the deliverables for their clients.”

Open Quote Creative is sponsored by the School of Communication & the Arts and funded by the Office of Sponsored Programs & Research

By joining the agency on a semester-to-semester basis, students are learning how to collaborate as designers and professionals before they enter the industry, and O’Neal said the quality of their work is evidenced by the numerous awards the agency has won since launching in 2024.

“We have been really impressed by how quickly the students are able to adapt to new teams and really dive into the projects,” O’Neal said. “They truly build their communities within their teams and become great friends while they’re working through the process, and that’s very helpful because sometimes the process is challenging. Because of their teamwork and their ability to dive into the work, they’ve produced excellent (materials) that are recognized by the clients and the design professionals who serve as judges for these awards.”

2025 Indigo Design Awards

• Promotional Materials Category: Silver — Meals on Wheels Promotional and Fundraising Materials
• Integrated Graphic Design Category: Silver — Parade of Playhouses
• Services-Other Category: Silver — Randolph Memorial Baptist Church branding and collateral
• Promotional Materials Category: Silver — Elkton Volunteer Fire Company: 100 Year Anniversary materials
• Promotional Materials Category: Bronze — Acts promotional materials
• Promotional Materials Category: Bronze — CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate program): Retro Rewind event
• Magazine & Newspaper Design Category: Bronze — The Arc of Central Virginia: Impact Report
• Magazine & Newspaper Design Category: Bronze — Advancing Native Missions publication

In 2024, Open Quote received a Gold Indigo Design Award for branding, a Graphic Design USA awards for their social media and digital work, and three University & College Designers Association Design Awards for their work on “Parade of Playhouses” with Rush Homes, Freedom 4/24’s “40 Million Campaign,” and the Open Quote Creative Agency’s own branding.