2025 Hh scholarship winner Caya Berndt appreciates good branding on a soda can, but their design dreams are in the mind-opening, wave-making vein. Think Gran Fury’s advocacy posters that rocked New York City during the AIDS crisis. Or Aries Moross making a dazzling case for maximalism in the enduring era of flat restraint.
Even in everyday creative work, Caya wants to see more chances taken.
“There is a little bit of frustration in me, where I’m like, try something different. Just get weird! Get silly with it. Try something new. That could be riskier. You do see brands willing to try something different and break outside the box, and you see a lot of success there, because I think people like seeing things that are different,” Caya says. “They like seeing new things that expose them to new ideas and aesthetics. It shakes the mind out of its routine.”
Caya’s portfolio demonstrates that gutsy spirit, as well as the perspective they bring to the SFCC design program as an older student making an essential pivot. Having been on the path to a career in law, they are investing wholeheartedly in the art that has poured from them since childhood – from doodling on the backs of homework assignments to designing in their head while doing the dishes.
Classwork takes up most of their time, though Caya volunteers for an animal sanctuary, inhales books and music, and indulges in weekly campaigns with their tightknit Dungeons & Dragons crew (yes, they are obsessed; no, they do not cosplay).
While Caya is staying realistic about the opportunities open to designers just starting out, they know they will stand firm in their creative and personal values.
“Knowledge can be spread in an impactful way that moves people and gets them thinking and starting to unlearn preconceptions and prejudices,” Caya says of their design ethos. “Contributing to information campaigns that are able to shake those things loose for people would be really meaningful.”
To support the goals of up-and-coming designers like Caya, consider wearing some cool Hh design.
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