By Rashmi Thapaliya
Graphic Designer Melanie Barfield was rewarded with an Excellence Award during the annual Oklahoma College Public Relations Association (OCPRA) summer conference held in Ardmore.
Barfield, a Cameron University graduate and a staff member in the Office of Public Affairs earned second place honors in the Special Publication category. She was awarded for the 2010 Oklahoma Research Day booklet.
“It is always a good surprise to win an award,” Barfield said. “An award makes you feel that you are doing something right.It also looks good in your resume.”
The booklet included the names of people who participated in the research day. The 60-page booklet took Barfield about two weeks to with different categories and the names of the participants under each category.
“The booklet was well organized and user friendly,” Barfield said. “It was not very dynamic but it was easy to read.”
Barfield graduated from CU with a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts with a concentration in Graphic Design in 2005. Her first job after graduation was in the Print Center at Office Depot.
“The job was not a real graphic designer job but it taught me project management and time management,” Barfield said.
Her second job was at Color Graphics where she worked as a graphic designer for a year before gaining employment in the Office of Public Affairs at Cameron in 2007. Barfield’s duties as a graphic designer for CU include designing advertising materials for CU. She also designs posters for events, brochures, billboards, invitations, newspaper advertisements, T-shirt designs, and others.
“It feels great to be an employee at Cameron,” Barfield said. “I enjoyed being a student of Cameron and I enjoy working here as well. Working here is a great experience for me and people who I work with are amazing.”
Barfield said that she would continue to participate in the competition next year.
“We enter in different competitions every year,” Barfield said.
“We participate in different categories and it is always fun to see what gets picked up.”
OCPRA is comprised of public relations professionals from the state’s public and private colleges and universities. The organization endeavors to increase the professional skills of its members, as well as promote higher education.
Colleges and universities across Oklahoma entered more than 500 projects in 30 multifaceted categories. The categories included writing, graphic design, marketing, audio, video and multimedia.
Barfield said that graphic design is fun if you are a creative person.
“It is fun and challenging at the same time,” Barfield said. “You should be fast and creative while trying to get the best result and meeting deadlines.”
Barfield said that she would like to earn her master’s degree in Graphic Design in the future and teach at the college level.
“It will be some time before I start my master’s degree,” Barfield said. “Till then I will keep on working and getting more experience.”