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Oakland University
Art and Art History

310 Wilson Hall
Rochester , MI 48309
(location map)
phone: (248) 370-3375
fax: (248) 370-3377

Oakland University
Art and Art History

310 Wilson Hall
Rochester , MI 48309
(location map)
phone: (248) 370-3375
fax: (248) 370-3377

Meaghan Barry

Meaghan Barry

Department of Art and Art History Chair
Associate Professor of Graphic Design

Office: 310 Wilson Hall  
Phone: (248) 370-3379

Education
MFA, 2D Design, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI
BFA, Communications Design, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY 

Areas of Interest
Graphic Design, Branding, Entrepreneurial Design, Social and Community-Based Design, Illustration, Physical Movement and the Creative Process

Courses Taught
DES 4999 Senior Thesis
DES 4430 Graphic Design III
DES 3950 Internship in Graphic Design
DES 3380 Community Design
DES 3370 Digital Illustration
DES 3360 Motion Graphics
DES 2230 Graphic Design I
AH  3530 History and Theory of Graphic Design

Awards/Grants/Fellowships
Commerce Design Refresh Grant Finalist (as Unsold Studio in collaboration with FPB Studio and Frank Lepkowski). La Feria / Cata Vino. July 2020.

Indigo Award, Silver in Branding 2020 (as Unsold Studio), Spectacle Society, For All the People. Amsterdam, Netherlands. April 2020.

Designer Dating Game Winner (as Unsold Studio), Detroit Month of Design. Detroit, MI. September 2019.

Commerce Design: Detroit Award Winner (as Unsold Studio). Wasserman Projects. Detroit, MI. August 2019.

UNESCO City of Design United States/Detroit Delegate at Singapore Design Week, Selected by Design Core Detroit (as Unsold Studio). Singapore, Singapore. Spring 2019.

Teaching Recognition Award, Oakland University. Detroit, MI. April 2019.

Oakland County Executive’s Elite 40 under 40 2019 Class Member, Oakland County, MI. 2019.

Commerce Design: Detroit Award Winner (as Unsold Studio). New Order Coffee. Detroit, MI. 2018.

Judd Family Endowment Grant 2016-2017, The Fine Art of Persuasion: Corporate Advertising Design in Modern Japan by Dr. Gennifer S. Weisenfeld. Oakland University.

Faculty Research Award 2016, University Research Committee, “Design Portfolio Photography Update.” Oakland University.

Fellow, 2016 Design Incubation Fellowship, St. John’s University Manhattan Campus, Manhattan, NY. January 14–16, 2016. Peer Reviewed.

The Order of the Plume Teaching Award Recipient, 2015 and 2016.

High Impact Practices Teaching Grant, DES390 – Special Topics: Community Design Development for Winter 2015, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, Oakland University.

Conferences and Oral Presentations
Workshop Facilitator (as Unsold Studio), Freelancing and Proposals, AIGA Detroit Propel Series, Detroit, MI. July 2020.

Presenter (as Unsold Studio), Tips for Staying On Brand While Your Business Pivots, Design Core Detroit IGTV Covid-19 Business series, Detroit, MI. June 2020. Invited.

University of Detroit Mercy, Master of Architecture Program, Graphic Design course, Branding Small Businesses, Detroit, MI. February 2020. Invited by Program Director and Associate Professor Claudia Bernasconi.

Finalist, speaker and program participant (as Unsold Studio), WomenUp & Pitch, presented by Michigan Women Forward, Wayne State University Innovation Center, Detroit, MI. Summer 2019–October 2019. Peer Reviewed.

Presenter (as Unsold Studio), Branding, Business Association Consortium organized by Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, Detroit, MI. October 2019. Invited.

Workshop Facilitator and Lecturer, Working Healthy (as Unsold Studio), Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI. October 2019. Invited.

Presenter (as Unsold Studio), Growth x Design, NEIdeas Alumni Growth Series, Detroit, MI. August 2019. Invited.

Presenter, Amplify, Session No. 2 (as Unsold Studio), Detroit, MI. May 2019. Invited.

Presenter and Panelist. Design x Business, UNESCO Creative Cities of Design Public Forum, National Design Centre, Singapore, Singapore. March 2019. Invited.

Design Writing Resident, Design Incubation Residency, Haddon Avenue Writing Institute, Chicago, IL. October 2018. Peer reviewed.

Workshop Facilitator and Lecturer, Client Discovery and Briefing, Client Services Boot Camp, Design Core Detroit, Detroit, MI. November 2018. Invited.

Workshop Facilitator, Finding and Leveraging Your Through-Line, 2018 AIGA DEC Conference: Decipher, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, September 2018. Peer Reviewed.

Panelist (as Unsold Studio), Women Founders Panel, FLIGHT 2017: Midwest Start Up Conference, Akron, OH. Summer 2017. Peer Reviewed.

Presenter (as Unsold Studio), Teaching a Healthier Creative Process, Frontier: AIGA Design Educator’s Conference, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT. October 7-9, 2016. Peer Reviewed.

Presenter, Teaching ‘Client-Speak’ Through Community Engagement, 6th ICTVC (International Conference on Typography & Visual Communication) Conference, Thessaloniki, Greece. July 5–9, 2016. Peer Reviewed.

Fellow, 2016 Design Incubation Fellowship, St. John’s University Manhattan Campus, Manhattan, NY. January 14–16, 2016. Peer Reviewed.

Presenter, Good For Everyone: Introducing Students to “Client-Speak” Through Community Engagement, RGD Design Educators Conference (in conjunction with Design Thinkers Conference), Toronto, Ontario, Canada, November 2014. Peer Reviewed.

Workshop Facilitator, Finding and Leveraging Your Through-Line, 2018 AIGA DEC Conference: Decipher, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, September 2018. Peer Reviewed.

Workshop Facilitator and Lecturer, Client Discovery and Briefing, Client Services Boot Camp, Detroit Creative Corridor Center, Detroit, MI. Fall 2018. Invited.

Speaker, GO Grandmont Rosedale, May Drinks x Design: Commerce Design, Grandmont Rosedale, Detroit, MI. May 2018.

Workshop Facilitator and Lecturer, Working Healthy, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI. Winter 2018. Invited.

Panelist (as Unsold Studio), Women Founders Panel, FLIGHT 2017: Midwest Start Up Conference, Akron, OH. Summer 2017. Peer Reviewed. 

Workshop Facilitator and Lecturer, Working Healthy, Detroit Center for Design and Technology, Detroit, MI. Summer 2017. Invited.

Workshop Facilitator and Lecturer at AIGA Frontier, Teaching a Healthier Creative Process, University of Montana–Bozeman, Bozeman, MT, October 2016. Peer Reviewed.

Speaker, Money Insane Runnin’ This Thang: Business Survival Skills, Mott Community College, Flint, MI. March 2016.

Workshop Facilitator and Lecturer, Discovery Session, Client Services Boot Camp, Detroit Creative Corridor Center, Detroit, MI. February 2016. Invited.

Salon Host featuring guest Lisa Waud, The Detroit Bluestockings Crew Salon Series, Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI. February 2016. Invited.

Speaker, Creative Connect, Pure Michigan Business Connect and Michigan Film and Digital Media Office, Chrysler House, Detroit, MI. December 2015. Peer Reviewed.

Speaker, Graphic Design as a Means for Community Engagement. Albert L. Lorenzo Cultural Center, Macomb, MI. November 2015. Invited.

Workshop Facilitator and Lecturer, Proposal Development Session, Client Services Boot Camp, Detroit Creative Corridor Center, Detroit, MI. September 2015. Invited.

Workshop Facilitator and Lecturer, Proposal Development Session, Client Services Boot Camp, Detroit Creative Corridor Center, Detroit, MI. June 2015. Invited.

Presenter, Good For Everyone: Introducing Students to "Client-Speak" Through Community Engagement, RGD Design Educators Conference (in conjunction with Design Thinkers Conference), Toronto, Ontario, Canada, November 2014. Peer Reviewed.

Lecturer: Tightrope, Oakland University, 2013.

Speaker and Panelist: What Everyone Should Know About Graphic Design, MI-ACET, 2013.

Arts and Culture Session: University Partners of Detroit, 2012.

Guest Critic: Lawrence Technological University, 2011-2012.

Pratt Institute, 2011.

Recent Exhibitions
Pocoapoco, Spring Residency Program, Oaxaca, Mexico. April 2020 (cancelled due to Covid-19). Peer Reviewed.

ICON10 Conference Group Show, Red Bull House of Art, Detroit, MI. July 2018. Juried.

Cranbrook Academy of Art Alumni Show, Honigman & Associates, Detroit, MI. Fall 2017–Present. Invited.

Form Ever Follows, shown at the Peter Paul Luce Gallery at Cornell College, Vernon, IA. 2016

Employees Only, shown at the Oakland University Art Gallery at Oakland University, Rochester, MI, 2015

Historic Tower Automotive Building, Toronto, CA, 2013

Fourth Annual Art Spin Exhibition, 2013

Studio Couture, Detroit, MI, Doing It, Doing It, and Doing It Well, 2013

4 Square, 2012

CreativID, 2012

Into the Network (part of the Detroit Design Festival), 2011 

22 Berwyn, Berywn, IL, Modular 22, 2012 

Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, MI, Open, 2012 

Forum Gallery, Bloomfield Hills, MI, Off the Wall 3, 2012

RAW (Curated by Butter Projects), 2012

How the Sausage is Made, 2011

Google 2D Naked, 2010 

Manhattan Center, Manhattan, NY, Pratt Show (Juried Exhibition), 2010

Scholarly Periodicals
Barry, Meaghan (as Unsold Studio). “Unsold Studio’s Experience in Singapore!” Design Core Detroit. March 22, 2019.https://www.unsoldstudio.com/learn/unsold-studio-in-singapore-series-inclusive-design

Barry, Meaghan. “Why are Even ‘Feminist’ Book Cover Designs Still So Sexist?” AIGA Eye on Design. December 10, 2018. https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/why-are-even-feminist-book-cover-designs-still-so-sexist/

Barry, Meaghan. “Race to the Long: Elliott Earls in Conversation with Meaghan Barry.” Design and Culture: Journal of the Design Studies Forum. March 2017. Peer reviewed.


Select Client List
Bombshell Treat Bar (Birmingham, MI)

Cranbrook Educational Community (Bloomfield Hills, MI)

Culture Lab Detroit (Birmingham, MI)

David Stark Design and Production (Brooklyn, NY)

Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, MI)

Grandmont Rosedale Development Corporation (Detroit, MI)

InsideOut Literary Arts (Detroit, MI)

Insider (New York, NY)

Kresge Arts in Detroit (Detroit, MI)

Kresge Foundation (Troy, MI)

Lady of the House (Detroit, MI)

Midtown Detroit, Inc (Detroit, MI)

ModPublic (Grosse Point, MI)

New Order Coffee Roasters (Detroit, MI)

Spectacle Society (Detroit, MI)

University of California Press (Berkeley, CA)

Will Leather Goods (Eugene, OR)

Worm Lab (Phoenix, AZ)