The article can be found here, but is also below.
Student designs CaringBridge Web pages
Jan. 21, 2010
About seven years ago, when Kayd Mustonen was in high school, she visited the CaringBridge Web site for the same reason that most people go there: to keep track of someone she knew who was sick.
At that time, Mustonen had two classmates in Eagan, Minn., with cancer, and they had CaringBridge Web pages where friends and relatives could read about the patient’s history and current medical condition, see photos and leave encouraging notes.
When Mustonen went back to CaringBridge in the summer of 2009, she had a different mission: use graphic design skills she is learning at the University of Wisconsin-Stout to make CaringBridge an even better virtual meeting place.
As an intern at CaringBridge headquarters in Eagan, Mustonen designed 50 Web site templates for patients using the site. Each new template gives patients another option to personalize their page and help express themselves during a trying time in their lives.
Mustonen designed pages that appeal to various groups of patients, including children, women and men. Among her many colorful themes were unicorns, ladybugs, hunting and such intangibles as hope, joy, laughter, peace and love. The latter pages were a tribute to one of her ill high school classmates, who relied on those words while hospitalized.
“I’m so proud of my work because it helps somebody. I love that personalization. I feel like I have a little bit to say in somebody’s life now,” said Mustonen, who also helped with other graphic design and marketing projects at CaringBridge, including a new Web banner.
Mustonen, 22, expects to graduate in May from UW-Stout with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.
With Mustonen’s creations, CaringBridge now has about 100 Web templates. She recently learned that nearly 10,000 patients are using her new theme pages.
CaringBridge, a nonprofit organization, was founded in 1997. Each day, more than a half-million people log on, according to its Web site, www.caringbridge.org. It has users from all 50 states and more than 200 countries. The company has about 40 employees.
Tammy Ablan, senior Web designer at CaringBridge, was impressed with Mustonen’s skills.
“She’s fabulous. She did whatever we needed,” Ablan said, citing Mustonen’s ability to not only create attractive theme pages but to break them down so they could be attached to the Web site without further staff work.
“So she really went end to end from design to implementation. That’s what really helped,” Ablan said. “Once we gave her the parameters, she just cranked them out.”
Because CaringBridge introduces about three new page themes a month, designs by Mustonen still are being rolled out. “Even though she’s gone, she’s still helping us,” Ablan said.
John Vorwald, a UW-Stout assistant professor in art and design, called Mustonen a great student who “always puts a great deal of effort and thought into her work in every stage of production. Kayd has a good sense of design that she’s cultivated through school and her own projects.”
Graphic design classes at UW-Stout prepare students to be well-rounded designers, Vorwald said.
“Classes challenge students to think not only about how to create something visually appealing but to also consider and develop critical thinking skills about information, message and audience,” Vorwald said.
Students learn through art studio and technology classes that “develop creative and technical skills, respectively,” Vorwald said.
Before she went to CaringBridge, Mustonen had created a Web site in a multimedia class at UW-Stout. “I wouldn’t be anywhere without Stout,” she said.
Mustonen became interested in graphic design while in high school in Eagan, which is in the Twin Cities metro area. Her family home is about seven miles from the CaringBridge offices.
“I was very much into art. I took my first graphic design course and loved it. My art teacher went to Stout, and I knew Stout had a great reputation in graphic design,” Mustonen said.
Mustonen has taken full advantage of UW-Stout’s strong co-op and internship connections, which involve about 75 percent of students. Along with CaringBridge, she has had two internships at a fashion/wedding boutique in Stillwater, Minn., and another at a beer distributor in Menomonie.
In early February, she plans to host a CaringBridge workshop for other graphic design students at UW-Stout so they too can help create pages.
Mustonen has a design business, www.kayddesign.com, and is hoping to balance a full-time graphic design job with freelance work after she graduates.
After her CaringBridge experience, she wants to continue to impact peoples’ lives with her creative skills. “The people at CaringBridge are all advocates, and most of them have a story or experience. Everybody loves coming to work. It was a wonderful experience,” Mustonen said.
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