In an international competition designed to celebrate the way print media brings people together across the globe, a team of UW-Stout Polytechnic students won the coveted TAGA Student Choice Award at the 2026 Technical Association of the Graphic Arts, Helmut Kipphan Student Chapter Competition. The award was announced in April during a watch party hosted by Konica Minolta, in Chicago.
The graphic communications and graphic design and interactive media students’ winning design, “Mail Across Minneapolis,” inspired by postcards, is a folding carton mailbox made of paperboard. Their submission included the final deliverable, a journal publication, and detailed production notes, which reinforced their skills in design, technical execution, project management and collaboration.
“Students are pushing new ideas, and industry folks are genuinely interested. It feels collaborative, not just competitive,” said TAGA President Birgit Plautz, adding that TAGA helps “connect new ideas with what’s actually happening in the industry,” creating opportunities for student work to influence real-world practices.
TAGA Student Choice Award team members were:
- Mallory Jakubiak, of Shakopee, Minnesota
- Red Moser, of Manitowoc
- Trevor Anderson, of Menomonie
- Ariel Kissel, of Neenah
- Theo Cerny, of Maple Grove, Minnesota
- Brynn Hessel, of South Range
Other participating student chapters were from Ball State University, California Polytechnic State University, Clemson University, Ferris State University, Illinois State University, Rochester Institute of Technology and Toronto Metropolitan University.
TAGA’s Vice President of Education Celeste Calkins noted, “These students are the future of this industry,” highlighting the importance of providing opportunities for them to grow, connect and exchange ideas.
‘Mail Across Minneapolis’ winning design
During the ideation phase, the team chose to focus on mail in general, noting different types of mail through the iconography in their journal publication, including letters, bills, postcards, newspapers, packages and more.
“We wanted our journal publication to look like a letter arriving in the mail. We cut a sleeve that looked like an envelope to hold the journal and added small details such as a cut-out window to see the address and recipient on the back, like you would an actual letter,” said Kissel, who will serve as UW-Stout Polytechnic TAGA chapter president in 2027-28 during her senior year.
Working in various labs across campus, the team used Adobe Illustrator and InDesign in the GCOM computer labs. They designed and cut out stamps according to official U.S. stamp regulations and requirements and made an ink stamp for the envelope, like the United States Postal Service would place on mail and packages. They used the 3D Printing Lab to make wax seals, as well as the Packaging Lab to cut out the mailboxes and assemble them using an industrial glue gun.
“We decided our overall package design would be a mailbox. We made more stickers to place on the outside to decorate, as someone might actually do to customize their own mailbox, and added a small detail of the address. We wrote ‘2026’ as though it were the house number and made the street name ‘UW-Stout Street,’” Kissel said.
Kissel thinks working in a cross-disciplinary team was really helpful. “We were able to bounce ideas off of each other and build on them as we worked. When we ran into issues, which we did quite often through the process, we found our best method was to adjust what we were doing and try again,” she said.
A big issue the team faced was the splitting of the spines of the journal. They initially planned on printing two journals on one block, binding them, and then splitting them in half when trimming the blocks. “Every time we split the block in half, the pressure being applied by the blade would cause the spine to split,” Kissel explained. “As a team, we bounced off ideas of possible solutions, and when we had something we thought might work, we gave it a try. We repeated the process until we found a solution.”
UW-Stout Polytechnic’s TAGA chapter toured multiple facilities while in Chicago for the award watch party, including Mittera, Specialty Print Communications and Konica Minolta.
This was the chapter’s first time in a decade entering the TAGA competition, and Kissel was extremely proud to be able to show the team’s work to the other competing chapters. “I was even more proud to be a part of the team to bring home an award after a 10-year hiatus! It was an honor to work with such talented designers,” she said.
Kissel has a summer internship at OEC Graphics, in Oshkosh, helping with quality checks on label and carton designs for BP Lubricants products.
“The biggest lesson I’ve been able to apply so far is to work with my team. I’m only one person, and I can really only do so much,” she said. “The same goes for the rest of my peers on the team. We each are given our positions to ensure things run smoothly and efficiently. By working all together, we really are a well-oiled machine (pun intended).”
TAGA student chapters play an important role in shaping how students understand the graphic communications industry and their place within it. Participation in the competition exposes students to current trends, emerging technologies, and evolving industry needs. The experience also underscores the role of research in driving innovation, encouraging students to think beyond individual projects and consider broader industry applications.
UW-Stout Polytechnic’s graphic communications program blends design, technology and business strategy to prepare students for careers in printing, packaging, publishing, and related industries, emphasizing the university’s applied learning and industry collaboration.
With an average starting salary of $50,000, 100% of recent graphic communications graduates are employed or furthering their education within six months of graduation, according to Career Services’ annual First Destination Report.
