How an art-school kid ended up at an aerospace company

Like many graduates of Delaware College of Art & Design, Olivia Kwiatkowski plans to continue her education at the Pratt Institute in New York City before heading full-on into a design career.
But this summer, the Class of 2017 graphic design grad is interning at Triumph Group, an aerospace company based in Berwyn, Pa.
Kwiatkowski is helping to rebrand the company’s visual identity, along with Triumph’s communications director, Michelle Long.
“I got the internship through the DCAD Co-op,” said Kwiatkowski. “They’ve been great.”
DCAD has played no small role in a continuing journey that began with her creative mother. “My mother was always involved in crafting and volunteer work, and she’d bring me along,” Kwiatkowski said. “Our neighbor did Chinese painting. I was always around creativity. Then, in high school I was yearbook editor, and really enjoyed it, so I decided to go into graphic design.”

Graphic designers such as Kwiatkowski work primarily with computers these days, creating digital art, though she believes it’s still important to draft things by hand. “I use tablets a lot,” she said. “I love them, they’re like a bridge between hand drawing and technology.”
Even the fine art of illustration, Kwiatkowski’s other artistic passion, combines technology and old-fashioned hand drawing. “With illustration, the computer polishes hand work, making it presentable online. I love using the tablet for illustration, too.”
Before she returns to work, we ask her where she sees visual art, technology and herself in the future.
“I’m hoping digital art will be more accepted in the future,” she says. “It’s not some kind of shortcut, it’s a meticulous process. That intellectual process helps artists develop an identity.”
As for her own future, “I hope to experience different work environments, ideally with creative people in a creative atmosphere like a magazine — or books, creating book covers, that’s a dream. Mostly, I hope to be in a place where they value art.”