News and Media

Article By: Gina Marshall
Published: Jul 10, 2009

Paola Lagioia, a SCAD eLearning student who lives in Miami, won the 2009 Kleenex contest sponsored by Kimberly-Clark. The contest encouraged designers to express their Hispanic heritage by creating an original work of art. In addition to a $5,000 prize, Lagioia will see her art printed on a special series of Kleenex facial tissue boxes, which will be sold in stores nationwide throughout September, which is Hispanic Heritage Month.

Originally from Maracaibo, Venezuela, Lagioia relocated to Miami in 2000. She graduated from Miami Dade College with an Associate in Arts degree in graphic design and wanted to further her education. "I decided to take online classes because of the flexibility," said Lagioia, who is earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in visual communication with a graphic design concentration. "I love the university [SCAD], but I didn't want to move. The experience of taking online classes is great."

She said she was pleasantly surprised to win the contest. "Honestly, I didn't expect to win," she said. "[I entered] just to try." She was chosen among 12 finalists out of more than 620 designers and ultimately was named one of three grand-prize winners. She plans to use the prize money to develop her own company, PD Studios, which she recently launched.

Lagioia created her design, "Colores Hispanos" ("Hispanic Colors"), by drawing a series of shapes. On the Kleenex Web site, she explained, "I made use of different designs found in our typical dress, musical instruments, picturesque paintings and much more." Her inspiration came from the role various colors play in Hispanic culture. She said, "The orange background, the most predominant color in my piece, is the color of unity which allows us to come together no matter where we come from, who we are, or where we're headed."

She then scanned her drawings and delivered the results with Adobe Illustrator CS3. Lagioia joins a roster of other SCAD eLearning students who have won national awards. Most recently, Lilly Gipson, a Master of Arts student in graphic design, won a Graphic Design (GD) USA magazine 2008 award for her cover design of the "America by Air" book, a collaboration of NASA Aeronautics and the Smithsonian National Air & Space.