The Kansas City Ad Club honored two University of Kansas fine arts students for their marketing designs.

The organization honored senior design students, Jake Steele and Bryan Hale, with their annual Omni Awards. A luncheon was held July 19 to honor the two students.

Kuhn and Wittenborn Advertising hosted the luncheon to celebrate a partnership between itself, Coterie Theatre and KU fine arts students that has led to award-winning marketing material for the Coterie Theatre in Kansas City, Mo. While the collaboration benefits the Coterie Theatre, it also gives the students an opportunity to gain practical, hands-on experience.

Steele, winner of the bronze Omni award for his Jekyll and Hyde poster he made during the class, said the class provided him with a great learning experience.

“It was kind of a crash course on working with a client for the first time and it taught us how to work quickly and efficiently,” Steele said. “We learned professionalism, attitude, the respect you have to have for your clients and we learned how it’s actually going to be before we graduate.”

Senior design students Jake Steele and Bryan Hale won awards from the Kansas City Ad Club for their posters for Kansas City’s Coterie Theatre.

Hale did not attend the luncheon, but won the Gold Omni for his Stinky Cheese Man posters.

Whitey Kuhn, CEO and president of Kuhn and Wittenborn Advertising, began the partnership between his agency and Coterie Theatre in 1999. Coterie Theatre is a non-profit organization children’s theatre. Kuhn graduated from the KU School of Fine Arts in 1971 and said he had always wished there had been an opportunity like this available to him when he was in school.

“When I was a student I was looking for opportunities to design something in the real world,” Kuhn said. “In 2002 I got the idea to set up a collaboration with Coterie, ourselves and KU because we had an annual project ideal for this situation.”

Kuhn and Wittenborn Advertising approached the School of Fine Arts and Coterie Theatre and both were excited about it.

The students selected for the class get the opportunity to sit down with Kuhn and Wittenborn and discuss ideas for promotional posters for the Coterie Theatre plays.

Senior design students Jake Steele and Bryan Hale won awards from the Kansas City Ad Club for their posters for Kansas City’s Coterie Theatre.

“The students meet with us, the client, they see a play and get all the information and then they are each assigned a different play to work on,” Kuhn said.

Throughout the entire process, George Kauffman, design director at Kuhn and Wittenborn, makes trips to the University to meet with faculty and students. He works with the students while they develop the posters, Kuhn said.

Once designs are approved, they are designed and at the end of the year some of the projects are entered in the Omni Award Show, Kuhn said.

“To date we have had over 30 students participate in the last four years,” Kuhn said. “It seems to be working really well and everyone is really excited about it.”

— Edited by Erin M. Droste