West Virginia University graphic design students Kelly Barkhurst and Emily Frye address the health of West Virginians in exhibitions that open Monday (Nov. 24) in the Creative Arts Center .

The opening reception for the exhibitions will be at 7 p.m. Friday (Nov. 21) in the Mesaros Galleries . The event is free and open to the public.

Both Barkhurst and Frye will be graduating in December with Master of Fine Arts degrees. Their exhibitions continue through Dec. 5.

Barkhursts exhibition,Design: A [Holistic] Process,will open in the Paul Mesaros Gallery.

Her thesis project is a case study of the complete design process implemented in the creation of theTakeAction! Addressing Asthma and Diabetes in West Virginia Schoolsprogram. This project was broken into two phases: Barkhurst served as design team leader in the first, client-originated phase in 2006 and initiated the second phase during summer 2008.

This team-based design project tackled the larger issue of how to engage a diverse school faculty and staff audience and compel them to feel responsible for their role in studentshealth, specifically asthma and diabetes emergencies.

Barkhurst and her team gained firsthand experience by working with the end-users, the client, and other vested parties to complete all aspects of the community educational projectfrom strategic planning and documentation to creation and the final presentation and promotion.

Design has changed,Barkhurst said.This project is a great example of the role of designer shifting from involvement in only the last step of the development process to integration as a strategic partner throughout the entire process.

TheTakeAction!Web site and CD-ROM contain information on laws and mandates affecting students with asthma and diabetes; animated medical diagrams; specific roles and scenarios for bus drivers, coaches, nurses, dietary staff, teachers, custodial staff, administrators, counselors and support staff; and games (such as one that helps school personnel identify possible triggers of asthma). The program is available for downloading at http://wvde.state.wv.us/takeaction/learn.html .

TheTakeAction!CD-ROM project was a semifinalist for the 2007 Adobe Design Achievement Awards in the interactive and Web design category. Barkhurst was also a semifinalist for her submission in the print design single page category.

Barkhurst received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in graphic design from WVU in 2005. She currently is art director at ImageTree Corp., a Morgantown-based precision forestry company.

Fryes exhibition,Design with BeneFITS,opens in the Laura Mesaros Gallery.

As a West Virginia native studying graphic design at WVU , Frye has taken on ever more complex team-based projects building toward her MFA thesis. Her focus is service design and the leadership role a designer steps into when solving problems.

I believe that as an object maker, I have the choice to create work that will have a positive impact on the way people live,she said.I have used my time at WVU to learn more about the field of design itself, its boundaries and how other fields such as ethnography will aid us in this user-centered process.

Fryes thesis,BeneFIT,is in cooperation with Cecil Pollard , director of the Office of Health Services Research at WVU s Department of Community Medicine . It is aimed at helping rural West Virginia clinics intervene with unhealthy patients and enroll them in a program designed to prepare them for an active lifestyle.

Frye was the project leader of this process and worked with WVU students Marcie Kent and Scott Taylor. The project was designed with user-centered methods and incorporates the transtheoretical model, a six-stage program for making personal change. At this time, BeneFIT is in its testing and evaluation stage.

She has presented a poster on her work at Carnegie Mellon Universitys Emergence Conference in 2007. Her MFA exhibition at WVU will show how her team combined the transtheoretical model and design practices such as storytelling and observation to accommodate its audience at each stage of change.

Frye received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in graphic design from WVU in 2006 and has held graduate assistantships with the WVU Division of Art and Design and the WVU Health Sciences Centers Office of Planning and Marketing. She also served as assistant art director for Studio 2453 in the WVU graphic design program.

All Mesaros Galleries eventsincluding art lectures, exhibitions and receptionsare free and open to the public. Hours are noon-9:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The galleries are closed Sundays and on University holidays. Special individual or group viewing times may be arranged upon request.

For more information, contact Robert Bridges , curator, at 304-293-4841 ext. 3210.