By Junior interior design major Jillian Maddox set her eye on the prize in an international design competition and won $2,500 because of it.
The Cal State Long Beach student earned the $2,500 after taking third place in the Planning and Visual Education Partnership’s (PAVE) 19th Annual Student Design Competition.
Maddox placed third in a pool of more than 500 applicants, earning $1,500 for herself and an additional $1,000 for the design department.
The PAVE, which received entries from five countries, required participants to completely redesign the interior of a Sephora cosmetic store, altering everything from color schemes to the way products were displayed, according to CSULB design professor Eduardo Perez.
Maddox said she submitted her winning project without much time to spare.
“I worked up until the last minute … I mailed it in two days before it was due,” Maddox said.
Maddox said she was surprised that she received such a high ranking, considering the quality of the other entries. She was concerned that her design would be disregarded because it was drastically different from Sephora’s image, she said.
She said, though, that the award has motivated her to elevate her skills as a designer.
“Winning the award has allowed me to see my potential,” she said. “I have a different way of designing. Winning the award let me know that it was okay to make my imprint and not follow the typical ideas of what design should be.”
Maddox modeled her design, which she described as the “eye of the building,” after the human eye. Her design includes glass walls, a round door that represents a pupil and a long cylindrical interior.
Maddox avoided using Sephora’s signature black and white striped designs, which she thought set her design apart from the other entries.
“A lot of students did the black-and-white stripe and incorporated it in their design,” Maddox said. “I took it further than just the black-and-white design. I didn’t incorporate the stripes at all. My concept was driven from the human eye.”
PAVE’s primary mission as an international organization is to provide financial support for students studying design through its annual design competitions, according to the organization’s website.
Maddox is currently enrolled in Perez’s junior studio class, a course that requires students to participate in the PAVE competition.
“We do a lot of competitions,” Perez said. “It’s how our pedigree gets elevated. It helps everybody understand what our program is all about, [and] it brings up the stature.”
Perez said that Maddox’s achievement reflects well on the entire university, not just the design department.
“It’s really a remarkable achievement,” he said. “We’re not just the Department of Design. We’re the Department of Design at CSULB. It’s a win-win all the way through.”
Maddox, who expects to graduate in 2015, said she hopes to eventually get her master’s degree in architecture or business and travel the world to see architectural styles around the globe.
