General Events

Join us for our first Library Friends Webinar of the year where we learn how advanced typography students in the Graphic Design program found unexpected inspiration during a visit to the University Archives. Students examined how scientific records are documented, preserved, and communicated over time. Tasked with translating complex research for public audiences — and drawing from archival materials, such as letters from alumnus John C. Houbolt who served as Chief Aeronautical Scientist at NASA — the visit shaped how students transformed dense, abstract information into engaging typographic systems, visual explanations, and narrative-driven design artifacts. The visit also underscored the interdisciplinary value of archives and how their materiality — along with the information archives contain — can illuminate the development and exchange of scientific knowledge.

This presentation will share examples of student work and walk through how the projects took shape, highlighting how archival collections support research-driven design, interdisciplinary collaboration, and data storytelling. Attendees will see how archival resources, when brought into the design studio, can help students humanize complex ideas and communicate research beyond academic boundaries.

Jena Marble is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Graphic Design and an Affiliate at the Siebel Center for Design. Her research focuses on generative artificial intelligence and graphic design, exploring how GenAI can reshape creative processes and influence the future of the design industry. Named one of GDUSA’s 2025 People to Watch, her design practice is informed by experience across industry, academia, and government.

Bethany Anderson is the Natural and Applied Sciences Archivist and Assistant Professor in the University Archives at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is also a PhD student in the History of Science at the University of Illinois. Her research focuses on the history of anthropology, science and technology studies, cybernetics, scientific archives, and women and gender in science.