Designing with intent

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Riley Wolf

By Ellie Webb-Bowen, CLA Student Writer - August 6, 2025

Growing up in the blue-collar, small-town community of Dallas, Oregon, Riley Wolf, ‘18, was the artist in her family of Beaver fans. Throughout her childhood, Wolf and her dad would frequently make the short trip south to Corvallis to attend football games in the fall and baseball games in the spring. Wolf never considered college an option and Oregon State was a long shot, but it wasn’t until after turning in her high school photography capstone project when a counselor encouraged Wolf to explore OSU’s School of Visual, Performing, and Design Arts. 

While earning her B.F.A. in graphic design at the School of Visual, Performing, and Design Arts (SVPDA), Wolf attributes the innovative faculty to her success in initially getting started in this new field, including Associate Professor Jun Bum Shin and Senior Instructor Christine Gallagher. 

“From the start, Christine ingrained in students that graphic design isn’t just about making things pretty,” said Wolf. “There’s so much more process and problem solving that goes into it. During my first class with Christine, she said two things that I still harken back to regularly: ‘design with intent.’

There was another aspect of SVPDA’s curriculum that stayed with Wolf: constructive critique. Though sometimes awkward having to verbalize artistic design to instructors and peers in a classroom setting, Wolf attributed the learning experience to a growing confidence in her own work and understanding how to better explain her decision making.

“It wasn’t until junior or senior year that I finally got into the groove of accepting feedback,” said Wolf. “Becoming closer with my cohort really helped me split my peers' feedback from the person. Your work is not always a reflection of who you are.”

While at OSU, Wolf was also highly involved in design-focused organizations and opportunities on campus. She was a member of American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) and Chi Theta Phi, OSU’s sorority for creatives, as well as worked as a graphic designer for Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) and the Memorial Union’s Creative Studio. 

Though Wolf stayed busy during undergrad, it was just the beginning; she was eager to get into the field and start gaining real-world experience. While turning in her senior year capstone project, Wolf received a job offer at a small branding and packaging agency in Portland. As lead designer, Wolf primarily worked on packaging design for cannabis clients.

“To have a full-time job offer right out of school, I got very, very lucky,” said Wolf. “But there was some serious culture shock. I was dealing with ‘real’ clients for the first time where the designs I created had an impact.”

After a few years, Wolf was looking for something new, somewhere new. She moved to Austin, Texas, for a role at Bumble, leading their social media design for global accounts, but, after a year, was laid off during the company’s financial downturn in 2022.

“That hit me really hard,” said Wolf. “I moved across the country for this job, leaving friends and family behind. I was doing great work and was (still) early in my career. That was hard to stomach.”

Unfortunately, it would be a few years before Wolf would land in another stable role. She was hired as a designer at a financial technology startup in Austin, but was laid off again due to slow growth. She took on further temporary contract work with local businesses.

“I was starting to have a bit of a reality check,” remembered Wolf. “Was this something I still wanted to continue doing? I tried not to take it personally and see these experiences as an opportunity to grow. I didn’t want to bask in the darkness of it.” 

Wolf decided she needed a change of pace and to be closer to Oregon, where a majority of her friends and family still resided. “I more or less threw a dart on the map of the West Coast and it landed on San Diego.”

Wolf was sending out resumes and portfolios furiously while packing up her Austin apartment. On the way to San Diego from Texas, she accepted her role at Momentum Worldwide while sitting in a McDonald’s parking lot off Interstate 10 in New Mexico.

As senior graphic designer at Momentum, now associate design director, Wolf builds experiential spaces for her sole client, Coca-Cola. Specially, she works on in-person, pop-up experiences, where Wolf helps lead all graphic design production and placement. These brand experiences can occur anywhere from music festivals to sporting events.

“My background is definitely more in digital art, so this is my first gig in the experimental realm. I love it,” Wolf exclaimed, “It’s so rewarding to see people directly interact with what I’ve produced. I love watching fans enjoying their time and taking pictures of it. As a social media designer before, you can measure your success with likes and shares, but there was no physical engagement like there is now.”

Now happy and thriving in San Diego, Wolf’s advice for individuals starting their design careers is to find serenity in realizing that there is always a fresh opportunity waiting for you on the other side, even if you don't land the one you originally applied for.

“‘Design with intent’ is something I learned in my early days in Fairbanks Hall. There’s a purpose to every design I create now.”