In Madison Union, just down the hall from the mail room and next to the Center for Multicultural Student Services, there’s a door with Technology and Design inscribed on the door. What goes on in there, and what exactly is Technology and Design?
TAD, as it is better known, creates marketing products for thirteen organizations within University Unions, which consists of Festival and Madison Union. TAD is split into seven teams of students who create the products and two professional staff members who oversee the students and represent them in other professional staff situations. TAD students work in the office for at least two semesters before graduating. Afterwards, they apply the skills they have learned to their careers. Having an experience such as TAD before graduating college is impressive on a resume to employers, and the experience becomes invaluable once they are working on projects and with clients.
The Graphic Design Team creates posters, logos, and graphics for print and online as requested. They are proficient in Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign before joining, and learn how to apply their knowledge to products commissioned by clients after becoming a part of the TAD team. Team members are typically art students with their own projects and passions who apply their skills to professional projects at TAD.
The Video Team creates short promotional videos for clients to post on social media. The team uses Premier and are knowledgeable about video and audio production. Students meet with clients to understand their vision and create videos out of those discussions. Some clients will work with the video team and narrate videos or appear in them, and sometimes other TAD students will get to star in their films. The team is provided with video cameras along with computers to work on in a quiet environment, so they are often in and out of the office.
The Writing Team creates any written work that TAD or its clients need to market their events. Event articles and bios are commissioned most regularly, and editing is needed on other teams projects. Potential writers are knowledgeable about grammar and document design for when they edit designs and clients documents, as well as each other’s writing.
The Web Team is full of CS and CIS majors who work hard to maintain the University Unions website and their subsidiaries. They work with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP to maintain the many sites TAD upkeeps. The team works closely with the writing team because the content the writing team creates is posted on those sites.
The Photo Team is made up of experienced photographers who photograph events as well as University Unions staff. TAD provides all the equipment they need, including cameras, stabilizing equipment, and lighting. The team just needs to bring their knowledge to photo shoots once they’ve checked out equipment. After the shoot, they bring the pictures back to TAD to edit on their designated computer using the program Lightroom.
Around University Unions, there are galleries filled with student photography. The Gallery Team at TAD maintain the galleries and switch out photographer’s albums periodically. Similar to those working in an art gallery, team members have experience in art and photography. They print out high quality versions of the pictures, frame them, and hang them in galleries.
The Content Strategy team is small but powerful. They work with clients to decide how the products TAD is making can be best utilized. TAD’s social media is also run by the Content Strategy team. The momentum at TAD starts with them and flows down to the rest of the teams.
TAD is an office full of fun people with a variety of skills and experiences. The front table is always a melting pot and a discussion center. TAD is always looking for new people because, as with most college clubs and organizations, the members must graduate and move on. If any of these teams grab your attention and match your skill set, apply today on their website. TAD will help you take your skills and apply them to the professional world.