UIC wins design award for annual security, safety report

The UIC 2020 Annual Security and Fire Safety Report, designed by Adriana Solis Martinez, has been granted the Bronze A’ Design Award in Print and Published Media by the International Design Academy, the grand jury panel of the A’ Design Award & Competition.

After spending a semester at UIC as an exchange student from the Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosi in Mexico in 2006, Martinez enrolled at UIC for her master’s degree.

While her design studies were completed in Mexico, where she earned an undergraduate degree in graphic design, she graduated from UIC CADA’s School of Art and Art History with a master’s degree in museum and exhibition studies in 2016.

She currently works in UIC’s Office of Preparedness and Response within the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services as a marketing and communications specialist.

“I am very proud to represent UIC in this international design competition, and I am excited to have our work recognized as one of the best designs around the world. This Design Award not only distinguishes and sets UIC apart from all the other Clery-compliant institutions around the country, but it also demonstrates how the University of Illinois Chicago strives for, and delivers, excellence in all of its operations — from instruction, health care and research, to campus safety/security and regulatory compliance,” she said.

The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, or Clery Act, is a consumer protection law related to campus safety and security transparency that affects Title IV learning institutions. It requires all colleges and universities that receive federal funding to publicly share information about crime on campus and the institution’s efforts to improve campus safety.

At UIC, this information is made publicly accessible through the UIC Annual Security and Fire Safety Report (located at ready.uic.edu). The law also stipulates certain procedural requirements for responding to reported acts of dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking, and requires that UIC issue alerts to the community if there is a potential threat to health or safety.

“Throughout the 2020 pandemic, we witnessed an explosion of ingenious ideas that often extrapolated elements from their familiar contexts and repurposed them as solutions for universal problems. As a graphic designer, I interpreted this as a real-life collage technique, and this metaphor inspired the report,” she said.

“We created these fantastic, surreal worlds as thought-provoking concepts intended to stimulate ideas, just as the university fosters and cultivates the innovative ideas of its students, faculty, and staff that ultimately transform the world.”

The A’ Design Award and Competition is the world’s largest design competition, awarding the most accomplished designs, design concepts, products and services. The A’ Design Award serves as an indicator of quality and perfection in design, a certificate of excellence for designers, and evidence of quality for businesses and organizations.

Out of more than 57,000 project submissions across 180 countries, the UIC Annual Security and Fire Safety Report was one of only a few projects to be recognized by the Academy. Among the extensive list of benefits and services afforded to A’Design Award winners, the UIC Annual Security and Fire Safety Report will be displayed in Italy’s MOOD Museum of Design later this year, and winning designers are invited to a black-tie gala to recognize their contributions.