Digital Media Arts Students Spring into Business
Many students at Washtenaw Community College have long had aspirations of starting businesses, and now a new partnership is there to help.
With a shared vision of providing affordable creative services to the community and supporting students wishing to start businesses WCC, Ann Arbor SPARK, and the Eastern Leaders Group have recently come together to start the SPRING Creative Group. Under this cutting-edge project, talented students from the graphic and web programs at WCC establish businesses that provide a variety of branding, print and web development services to the local business community.
Ingrid Ankerson, WCC Media Arts faculty member, supports this project because of the opportunity it provides her students. “We consistently produce exceptional designers and developers who unquestionably have the design chops to succeed, but haven’t necessarily been educated in the business of the business,” she says. “I love the idea of coaching our students through the whole picture–how to establish a business, write contracts, manage money, and how to find and interact with clients–so that after they’re done ‘incubating’ they’re a complete entity, ready to serve the public.”
Meet the Team
Tim Deglopper, Christopher Collins, and Craig Salajan absolutely have the chops to succeed, which is why they were selected to be the initial SPRING Creative Group team. They’ve been busy setting a solid business foundation by working with an attorney and an accountant, and learning how to conduct market research. The team developed their own brand, including the SPRING Creative Group logo, business cards and website and have space at SPARK East, in the heart of Ypsilanti’s downtown business district.
WCC Support Continues
Several instructors from WCC’s Digital Media Arts program were instrumental in designing the structure that has become the SPRING Creative Group. From helping to establish the types of services that should be offered to hand-selecting the first group of students, the WCC faculty have guided the program. As the SPRING team
has eased into taking on client work, they continue to receive support and mentorship from their instructors at WCC.
This guidance has also led the team to get out into the community as they work on developing their businesses. Kristine Willimann, Graphic Design faculty, stresses that “Starting a business is one thing; sustaining your business in order to make a living is another. It is tremendously difficult for graphic designers to start a business fresh out of school without agency experience or connections. I encourage all of my students to attend industry events, join business and design organizations, and meet and mingle with as many people as possible.”