What does a designer’s process look like? Perhaps a beautiful mess on a floor, a sketch in a notebook, or an organized list of thoughts and words—all of which are inklings that could merge together. With time and experience, these patterns of thoughts may eventually overlap to form something new, an idea worth pursuing.

Fragments to Fruition, a print that comes to life through animation, visualizes this gathering of bits of ideas to form a whole picture. The small parts morph, scale, and rotate to create a larger letterform and then ultimately the complete word. Once formed, the word fragments transforms into a new word—fruition—signifying the idea has come closer to completion. Once formed, the animation loops from beginning to end to demonstrate the revolving nature of the design process.

Courtney Windham is an associate professor of graphic design at the School of Industrial + Graphic Design at Auburn University. She joined the graphic design faculty in fall 2012 and teaches courses in interactive media, motion design, publication design, package design, and branding. Prior to teaching at Auburn, she worked as a designer in Atlanta, Georgia specializing in identity design, brand development, web design and information design. Courtney earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Illustration from The Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island in 2004. In 2009, she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design from The Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia. Courtney’s design work and research is focused on combining print and digital mediums with the intent of expressing meaning and motion in visual communication. Her work has been featured in publications such as Graphic Design Annual, Print Magazine, HOW Magazine, Creative Quarterly Journal, LogoLounge Vol 9, & GDUSA Magazine.