OWNER, CREATIVE DIRECTOR
MAUGE DESIGN, LLC, ACWORTH GA
Carole Maugé-Lewis has been the heart, driving force, and academic excellence of students, and award-winning design output that ranks Kennesaw State University (KSU) among the “2020 GDUSA Top Graphic Design Schools,” and among the “7 Best Graphic Design schools in Georgia, US” according to edurank.org. For over 25 years, Maugé-Lewis served as founder, professor, and coordinator of the Graphic Communication concentration’s curriculum development, course structure, and design instruction at the School of Art and Design at KSU. Before her retirement in 2021, Maugé-Lewis guided her students in winning several design awards over the last decade; became a two-time recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award in the College of the Arts at Kennesaw State University; and was featured as an “Educator to Watch” (2018) by Graphic Design USA.
Looking forward, Carole Maugé-Lewis, the owner, and Creative Director of MAUGE DESIGN, LLC, sees in retirement the continuation of her design career. In 2021, the KSU Professor Emeritus and herself an award-winning designer, formed MAUGEDESIGN+HNP with House of Nehesi Publishers (HNP), an independent press in St. Martin, Caribbean—and have won In-House and Web Design awards from GDUSA. The design studio focuses on custom book cover design and layout, editing and publishing, and on strategy, design thinking, and customer satisfaction. The team is presently completing the cover and book design for the 312-page Caribbean high school textbook (on climate and disasters, especially hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanoes).
Looking forward, are you optimistic about the role or power of graphic design in business, culture and causes?
Design is a powerful visual voice for messaging to specific audiences. The Covid-19 pandemic has allowed for more time to read, discuss, and develop more efficient and effective design strategies for communication with unique communities, target markets, national publics, and global audiences. I especially love making type “talk” in design to address cultural issues—such as the award-winning media designed for the “Cure” (Covid) theme of the St. Martin Book Fair 2021.
Have the challenges of the past two years – pandemic, protests, polarization – changed the way you approach your work?
The experiences of the past two years have equipped me with a mastery of new how-to tools of technology and enhanced adaptive skills. From remote interactions with students and clients, I have become more innovative, better organized; bolder, more experimental with design solutions. There is an ever-more commitment and application of rigor to design excellence, to meet the high expectations that I hope I’m also inspiring in my customers. The results so far are “award-winning.”
