Mark Nystrom Receives Award of Excellence for Website Design
Graphic Design professor Mark Nystrom recently won an Award of Excellence in the 32nd Annual Communicator Awards for the design and development of the website for Appalachian State University’s Department of Art.
In its 32nd year, the Communicator Awards received more than 3,000 entries from agencies, global brands, design firms, production studios, and in-house creative teams around the world. Award of Excellence recipients—the competition’s highest honor—included organizations such as The Walt Disney Company, PepsiCo, Marriott International, Lenovo, Special Olympics, and Syracuse University.
Entries are evaluated by the Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts (AIVA), an invitation-based body of more than 1,100 industry professionals from organizations including Netflix, FedEx, National Geographic Society, Accenture Song, and The Andy Warhol Museum. Submissions are judged for excellence, effectiveness, and innovation within their category, with Award of Excellence winners typically receiving scores of nine or higher on a 10-point scale.
Work on the website started in the fall of 2024 when Nystrom worked with Graphic Design student Katie Randall on an independent study to develop ideas for a redesign of the department's website. Randall conducted extensive research on similar websites and developed ideas for its organization and design. Throughout the semester, Randall designed prototypes for key pages of the site, emphasizing excellent typography and showing process along with finished work.
Nystrom went on to design and develop the site. Its theme, “We explore the art of …” served as a foundation to show the wide range of activity throughout the department and provide glimpses into the daily experiences of students across its six degree programs. Through photography, the site highlights experimentation, process, classroom culture, and the day-to-day experience of studying art and design at Appalachian State.
Drawing from hundreds of photos of students working in department studios and classrooms (many taken by Nystrom), and images of their work, the site randomly chooses images to show on its pages. The site’s homepage features a gallery of over 60 images that continuously refresh from a library of over 800 images. Other pages show randomly chosen images specifically related to the page’s content.
In addition to showcasing student life and creative work, the redesign emphasized accessibility, responsive design, clearer navigation, and the development of a custom Drupal theme. The redesigned website launched in the fall of 2025 and continues to evolve with new student work, photography, and departmental content.
Nystrom’s interest in graphic design started in college when he was a photographer for the student newspaper and yearbook. He’s always enjoyed using design to tell stories, often with his photographs. “Our students get a great education at Appalachian. I want everyone to see the wonderful work our students and faculty do here. The website gives prospective students and faculty an opportunity to discover what it’s like to study and work here.”
To see a gallery of Communicator Awards winners, visit the Communicator Awards Winners Gallery.
