Same campus. Different experiences. We’re exploring how the places we share make us feel, through six boards and the people who stop beside them.
See what’s taking shapeCampus spaces are part of our everyday routines, but we don’t all experience them in the same way. A library might feel calming to one person and overwhelming to another. Lost in Campus makes room for those different experiences to be seen.
Our team brings together fashion design, engineering, international studies, and communication studies. Through illustrated boards in six Kent State locations, we invite students to pause and express how a space makes them feel. Participation is anonymous and voluntary: choose an emotion and place a pin in its matching section.
We record the boards at regular intervals to explore how responses vary across locations, collection periods, and weather conditions. This website shares that evolving picture with the campus community.
Lost in Campus received a 2026 Emerging Creatives Student Challenge Grant from a2ru, the Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities. Based at the University of Michigan, a2ru supports connections between the arts and other disciplines in university research, teaching, and creative practice.
The Challenge Grant supports interdisciplinary student projects developed through the Emerging Creatives program and gives teams an opportunity to share their work at a2ru’s national conference.
Explore each place through the responses left there.
Each pin represents a response, not necessarily a unique person. Percentages show how responses are distributed across the emotion categories. Changes compare recorded observations and account for board resets. These voluntary responses offer a partial picture of campus experience; they do not represent every student or prove that a building or the weather caused a feeling.
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No board photographs have been added yet. Dated, real photographs will document how each board fills over time.
Varuni shapes the visual identity of Lost in Campus, designing the illustrated boards and how students interact with them. Her work brings the project’s question into a physical form, making space for people to pause, participate, and express how they feel.
Ayna coordinates outreach and helps turn the project’s observations into a shared story. An Honors College student, resident assistant, and peer mentor, she brings experience in student connection and community building to understanding how people experience campus.
Roshan tracks the boards through pin counts, photography, and the project website. His work as a student leader, Flashes 101 Peer Success Mentor, Burr Magazine photographer, and DI Fellow connects technical observation with an interest in people and everyday experiences.
Rita LeDuc & Veronica Stanich
Advisor to the Dean for Design Innovation
Professor, Fashion
Director, Design Innovation Hub & Ecosystem
cholthe@kent.eduWith thanks to Kent State’s Design Innovation team for supporting our project and its interdisciplinary collaboration.
Design Innovation connects students, faculty, staff, and community partners through shared spaces and hands-on experiences in creativity and collaborative problem-solving.
Explore Design InnovationSix places to pause
and leave a feeling.
Have a question about the project, noticed a problem with a board, or want to share an idea? We’d love to hear from you.
Email the team