Meet the 2023 Visual Communications Seniors
Em Burris
Em Burris is a photojournalist and photo editor based in the Syracuse area. They are visual leads producer for The NewsHouse and enjoy conceptual documentary work that explores themes surrounding gender, sexuality and mental health. As someone who identifies outside the gender binary, their passion is to serve the queer community through visual production and management. As an editor, they aim to create a more diverse community of photographers and amplify their work.
Portfolio Website
Maddi Jane Brown
Maddi Jane Brown is a visual storyteller with a particular interest in culture, music and the natural world. Through her work, she showcases parts of life that most may not be privy to. Maddi has several years of experience as a photographer and has done work in many different settings like studio work, event work and photojournalistic stories. She hopes her work can bring viewers closer to communities they may not otherwise interact with.
Portfolio Website
Scarlett Benson
My name is Scarlett Benson. I value the relationships that can be created through visuals, and I am eager to tie my audience into my work. In my free time, I enjoy cooking and baking, a hobby I have grown to love due to my desire to create. Upon graduating, I am looking to pursue a career in the creative marketing industry. I hope to turn what I have learned at Newhouse into a tool I can use in the future to help create visuals that have an impact on their viewers.
Portfolio Website
Hunter Franklin
Hunter Franklin is a community-oriented individual who believes in collaborating with diverse groups to find common sense solutions. He has a passion for photography, public policy, community activism and solving problems. Through his activities, he has gained real-life skills in public relations, community organizing, policy research, data analysis, photojournalism, video production and leadership of organizational groups.
Portfolio Website
Natalia Deng Yuan
Natalia is a multidisciplinary designer passionate about creating designs that break barriers and promote positive energy. She is proficient in six languages and uses her design skills to connect and build a more inclusive community. Her design work is driven by play through UI/UX design, motion design, immersive design, typography design, pigeons and chickens. Natalia is always curious and hungry to learn about new technologies to create engaging and interactive experiences for people. Natalia graduated from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications with a major in graphic design and minors in Japanese studies and information management and technology.
Portfolio Website
Nya Bragg
Nya Bragg is a graphic design student with a minor in information technology, design and startups from the iSchool. Her experiences at Syracuse University have prepared her for a fulfilling career in social media marketing, equipped with the knowledge, skills and hands-on experience in content creation, management and growth strategies.
Portfolio Website
Maya Goosmann
Maya Goosmann is a graphic designer and illustrator with a passion for creating fun, feel-good designs. She often focuses on incorporating her love for travel and culture into her work. During her time at Syracuse University, she was involved with The Daily Orange where she worked as the digital design director. Maya graduated from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications with a major in graphic design and a minor in geography.
Portfolio Website
Emily Baird
Emily Baird is a 2023 Newhouse graduate with degrees in graphic design and political science. She focuses on human-centric design in UI/UX and immersive experiences with the goal of helping people communicate their ideas visually. She is passionate about finding the intersection of technology and art.
Portfolio Website
Danny Kahn
Danny Kahn is a graphic designer and illustrator focused on creating playful and sophisticated designs. Danny is passionate about bringing people together and engaging community through art. While at Syracuse University, she designed for many on-campus publications like The Daily Orange, University Girl and Live from Studio B. Danny graduated from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications in 2023, majoring in graphic design.
Portfolio Website
Alana Spiro
Alana Spiro is a graphic designer who strives to design thoughtful solutions that create a meaningful impact. Through creative problem solving, an innate curiosity and the power of collaboration, she strives to understand the ‘why’ behind every detail.
Portfolio Website
Bridgette Sanok
Bridgette Sanok is an accomplished graphic designer who leads with compassion and curiosity. She has expertise in typography, illustration and brand design with experience in motion, immersive and UI/UX design. She developed her communication skills as the director of SU’s DanceWorks. With a strong presence in both print and digital spaces, Bridgette graduated from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, where she majored in graphic design and minored in communication and rhetorical studies.
Portfolio Website
Gisele Gosset
Gisele Gosset is a graphic designer from Madison, Wisconsin. She is passionate about UI/UX design, using her minor in psychology to make intuitive web and mobile experiences. She takes inspiration from architecture and pop culture and adds fun to her work with vibrant colors and unique typefaces. In her free time, she likes to add to her collection of Spotify playlists and collect albums and stickers.
Portfolio Website
Shannon Kirkpatrick
Shannon Kirkpatrick is a graphic designer who brings together editorial design, architecture and illustration. Throughout her time at Syracuse University, she developed her design and illustration skills at The Daily Orange as design editor and presentation director. Her curiosity and passion for telling stories through design have led to projects ranging from print to 3-D and immersive design. She graduated with honors with a bachelor of science degree in graphic design, with minors in architecture and English and textual studies.
Portfolio Website
Amanda Smith
Amanda is on a mission to design a better place for future generations by prioritizing mindfulness, reducing the stigma around mental health, encouraging diversity and promoting sustainability throughout her designs. She is an entrepreneur pushing to change the current model of the fashion industry with her sustainable fashion brand — Sust House. Amanda graduated from the S.I. Newhouse School Of Public Communications majoring in graphic design and minoring in information technology, design and startups in the iSchool.
Portfolio Website
Catie Haugen
Catie Haugen is a strong designer and front-end developer passionate about understanding and exploring user experience through all facets of design. She deeply comprehends user experience design principles and knows how to translate them into functional, visually appealing designs. Her skill set and drive create intuitive, user-friendly and engaging digital products that deliver exceptional experiences to use.
Portfolio Website
Zoe Durham
Zoe Durham is a graphic designer who is passionate about making a difference in the world around her. Through her designs she works to build a better future and promote real, meaningful change. She has a deep connection with her surroundings and loves to design with others, thriving in a collaborative environment. She hopes to work on campaigns that inspire people and leave a lasting, positive impact.
Portfolio Website
Gianna Corrente
Gianna Corrente is a graphic designer who uses her design skills to make meaningful connections between people. She has a diverse skill set, and channels her interests in marketing and psychology into her creative works to create impactful human-centered design. Her understanding of others allows her work to resonate with audiences on a deeper level. She thrives in collaborative environments, and enjoys working alongside her peers.
Portfolio Website
Kristin Hauptman
Kristin Hauptman is a driven graphic design major with a keen eye for brand design. With a marketing minor to supplement her creativity, Kristin has honed her skills in visual communication and branding strategies, creating connections through design. Her portfolio showcases her passion for creating impactful designs that resonate with her clients’ target audience. Kristin’s dedication to delivering high-quality work with a strong attention to detail sets her apart from the competition.
Portfolio Website
Lindsey Smiles
Lindsey Smiles is a designer and illustrator from Connecticut. She is passionate about creating beautiful and thoughtful print designs, especially children’s books. Lindsey hopes to continue her illustration skills after graduation and one day write and illustrate her own picture book. When she is not obsessing over beautiful type and adorable character designs on Pinterest, Lindsey can be found listening to audiobooks and going on walks with her friends or her dogs.
Portfolio Website
Reece Nelson
Reece Nelson is a versatile photographer and digital artist dedicated to producing captivating visuals that communicate powerful stories and emotions. His multidisciplinary approach incorporates an array of creative tools, including photography, graphic design, video and CGI. Whether working to elevate brands or simply creating for the love of art, Reece is committed to delivering imagery that captivates and inspires.
Portfolio Website
Matthew Brodsky
I grew up in Chicago, where my interest in graphic design started. In high school, I created commissioned sneaker-themed artwork for friends and family. Since then, my love of graphic design has only grown as I’ve broadened my skills to include the universe of visual media such as storytelling, typography, UI/UX, immersive design and motion design. Recently, my artwork showcased at the 2022 Design Core Sneaker House art exhibit, presented by Footlocker in Detroit.
Portfolio Website
Emily Steinberger
Emily Steinberger is a visual storyteller focusing on remembrance and memory woven into themes of family, religion, environment, nostalgia and tradition. When telling stories, her goal is to bring the viewer into a world that expands beyond what they see and share these experiences like they are their own memories. She hopes these stories allow them to smell the scents, hear the sounds, touch the textures, feel the emotions — even if only in their imagination.
Portfolio Website
Jane Shevlin
I am a graduating senior from Syracuse University, earning a degree in video and photo journalism along with a minor in entrepreneurship. I am a well-versed communicator, cinematographer, photographer and editor with a passion for non-fiction storytelling, thoughtful compositions and human stories. I have gained experience in the development, production and delivery spaces through different internship programs and in 2022, I worked in Los Angeles as a production Intern at Vice Media in the commercial and documentary space.
Portfolio Website
Erica Legaard
Erica Legaard is a food photographer based outside of Philadelphia, with a passion for all things cooking and baking. She currently works as a software engineer, but pursues food-related photography passion projects in her free time.
Portfolio Website
Trent Kaplan
Trent Kaplan loved taking photos and learning about different cultures while traveling the world, starting at a young age. Since then it has grown into a passion to tell stories and spread awareness about various topics. Originally from Boca Raton, Florida, Trent studied photojournalism at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School and psychology at the School of Arts and Sciences. Trent loves to cook, work out or practice yoga.
Portfolio Website
Elizabeth Wolf
Elizabeth Wolf is a graphic designer from outside of Philadelphia. During her time at Syracuse, she majored in graphic design, minored in women and gender studies and earned a milestone in fashion and beauty communications. She is passionate about creating meaningful design that communicates a story in a way that words alone cannot. After graduation, she plans to move to New York City and start her graphic design career.
Portfolio Website
Emily McNeill
Emily McNeill is an incoming associate photographer at the international toy company, Fisher-Price. Outside of commercial photography, she is also passionate about equine photography. She is constantly striving to capture the best “little moments” in life, whether that’s a laughing candid of her best friend or a little girl kissing the nose of her pony. Emily strives to be a producer or studio manager further in her career.
Portfolio Website
Hà Tran
Hà is constantly eager to learn and grow in her journey via art, photography and culture. As an international student from Vietnam, she is always fascinated to learn more about cultures around the world and share hers with others. Her traveling experience, along with her living abroad away from her roots allows her to have a more comprehensive and broader perspective of cultures and diversity. Hà aims to utilize the visual language of photography to transcend and educate others about the beautiful values and heritage of people of minority communities as well as shedding light on communities that have often been overlooked.
Portfolio Website
Bond Demetri Photos
Bond Demetri Photos is a 2023 graduate who studied editorial photography as well as political science. He specializes in using in-body techniques to create images that invoke a strong emotion, telling a story to the viewer with just one image. He has worked as both a photojournalist as well as a commercial photographer and prides himself on being a Swiss Army knife in terms of skills. Yes, his last name is actually Photos.
Portfolio Website
Kathryn Zager
Katie is a photojournalist from Austin, Texas. She earned a B.S. in photojournalism from Syracuse University with a minor in art history. Katie loves animals and educating viewers through her work on the importance wildlife and environmental conservation. Her photographic journey began onboard a National Geographic expedition to the Galapagos. In high school, she applied for a National Geographic student photographer exhibition in Australia, where she photographed Sydney, The Daintree Rainforest and the Outback.
Portfolio Website