Crafting stunning visual designs to draw in and set the scene for listeners, VCD alum Ariel VanNatter ‘15 is the face behind a number of audiobook cover designs for Spotify.VanNatter freelances for a range of clients but was approached by Spotify to design cover art for historical romance books and one of her favorite authors, Jane Austen. After her first design, Spotify was impressed and wanted her to create more.“Jane Austen is my favorite author and that was the first one I got to do because of my passion behind it,” VanNatter said.  Each audiobook cover design is different but fo...

“We call him the synthesizer,” said Jill Woods, managing principle and designer at NAC Architecture in Columbus, Ohio.Woods was speaking about Hamid Estejab, M.S. ’23, M.H.D. ’23, who is rounding out his first year as design and analytics synthesizer for NAC, after graduating from Kent State University in 2023 with dual master’s degrees in healthcare design and emerging media and technology. It was Estejab’s unique set of skills and the hands-on experiences he gained during his time at Kent State that captured NAC’s attention. “When we met with him, just in interviewing [him] he talk...