Student creative agency earns multiple graphic design awards
April 3, 2026 : By Ryan Klinker - Office of Communications & Public Engagement
Liberty University’s student-run creative agency, Open Quote Creative, recently won multiple awards for its design work, including 15 Indigo Design Awards (nine silver and six bronze) and an American Graphic Design Award in Digital Design from Graphic Design USA.
Open Quote Creative is organized under Liberty’s Department of Studio & Digital Arts and sponsored by the School of Communication & the Arts. The agency allows students to develop, design, and deliver materials for nonprofits and gain professional-level collaborative experience by working with clients from start to finish. Each semester, the agency partners with three to five nonprofit clients and creates print and digital materials to promote events, initiatives, or the organizations’ overall missions.
The Indigo Design Awards recognized the agency’s work in branding, social media design, web design, package design, and integrated graphic design. (View the full list of awards below.) The awards honor designers (both professionals and students) for their bold, innovative, and visionary work across creative disciplines, with jurors coming from top global organizations such as Tesla, Google, UNICEF, Roku, Baron & Baron, Adobe, Meta, Microsoft, Nike, and more. Liberty’s group earned eight awards in last year’s competition.
The American Graphic Design Awards honor excellence in screen-based media, celebrating outstanding work created for desktop, tablet, web, mobile, and video platforms. This spring, the national competition received nearly 3,000 entries from students and professionals, with fewer than 10% receiving awards. Open Quote Creative’s award came from students’ work in the Fall 2025 semester with CORE Apologetics, an organization founded by Liberty alumni that helps churches, organizations, and individuals build disciples and minister to doubters using the apologetics approaches developed by John W. Rawlings School of Divinity Professor Dr. Gary Habermas. Habermas is a renowned New Testament scholar and theologian who specializes in the topic of Jesus’ resurrection. The students developed an array of social media graphics, equipping the organization to promote trainings, curriculum, events, concepts, merchandise, and educational content.
In November 2025, Open Quote won three American Graphic Design Awards for their work the previous spring on the Elkton (Va.) Volunteer Fire Company’s 100th Anniversary campaign, branding for Never Surrender USA (a nonprofit promoting fitness and resilience among youth), and Meals on Wheels’ Giving Tuesday campaign for the Greater Lynchburg area.
Studio & Digital Arts professor Yuchen Sun also received an American Graphic Design Award this spring for her conceptual redesign of the digital interface for XMind, a mind-mapping and brainstorming platform. Addressing issues she recognized as a frequent user herself, Sun developed a case study that produced a clearer, more focused brainstorming experience for those using the platform both online and offline. Her work refined the structure, visual hierarchy, and interactions to make the experience more intuitive and less distracting to users.
2026 Indigo Design Awards (listed by client)
Rush Homes 30th Anniversary Celebration
- Bronze – Branding for Events
Core Apologetics Branding & Collateral
- Silver – Branding for Social Change
Ask Me Curriculum Publication
- Silver – Branding for Graphic Design
- Bronze – Book Design for Social Change
Sole Beans
- Silver – Branding for Social Change
- Silver – Packaging Design for Social Change
SoVa Wings & Waves
- Silver – Branding for Graphic Design
- Silver – Design for Social Media (Graphic Design)
- Bronze – Promotional Materials (Graphic Design)
Technically Saints
- Silver – Website Design (Digital Design)
- Bronze – Branding for NGO & Non-Profit
Never Surrender USA
- Silver – Integrated Graphic Design (Graphic Design)
- Silver – Integrated Graphic Design (Social Change)
- Bronze – Branding for NGO & Non-Profit
Open Quote Creative Website
- Bronze – Website Design (Digital Design)
