Marion Design Co.

Meet the 2019 Team.

Our creative leaders, fellows, and interns are the heartbeat of Marion Design Co. Through their unique culture of collaboration and risk-taking, they foster both empathy and synergy to make a positive and lasting impact in Marion. With experience ranging in Social Impact Design, Place and Space Design, Graphic Design, Visual Art, Branding/Identity development, Strategic Communication, our interns are ready to take on the unknown. This group works hard and laughs harder while using their deep and wide variety of skills to serve the people of Marion.

Luke Anspach
Co-Founder and Senior Digital Designer

Luke Anspach is an Instructor of Design in the Division of Art + Design at Indiana Wesleyan University. A creative director, digital designer, and brand strategist with a focus on user experience, user interface, and digital brand design, much of his work deals with tourism, economic development, and community-based entities. Since starting his professional practice in 2008, Luke has worked on national and international award-winning projects.

In 2012, Luke founded The Guild, an organization based in Redlands, California, that builds community between creatives by providing connecting points. In 2015, he co-founded Marion Design Co, a community-based creative studio with an emphasis on positive social impact in the City of Marion, Indiana. The studio is primarily made up of local professional volunteers and student interns.

When not teaching or working, Luke travels around the world exploring and studying cultures, backpacking through wilderness, and connecting people.

Herb Vincent Peterson
Co-Founder and Chief Design Officer

Herb Vincent Peterson is an award-winning multidisciplinary creative director, design researcher, and educator. With a background in strategic branding and social design practices, Peterson’s research lies at the intersection of community and design pedagogy aimed to bring sustainable change in rural America. He has been able to work with a variety of towns and cities, universities and colleges, to the wide spectrum of not-for-profit organizations and major retail companies, ranging from Guggenheim Museum, The Wexner Center for the Arts, Gap Inc (Old Navy, Gap), Kroger Super Markets, Indianapolis Arts Council, Urban Outfitters, and many more! Among other things, Peterson filled the role of executive director of Open and Build, a not-for-profit design network that was originally started in Columbus Ohio in 2009.

A passionate educator and education activist, Peterson co-founded Marion Design Co in 2016 with the aim to help the community of Marion connect to sustainable and impact driven design. Peterson has taught design and fine art to numerous students at universities including, Herron School of Art and Design, Ohio Dominican University, The Ohio State University, and Indiana Wesleyan University where he is an associate professor and coordinator of the Graphic Design program. Peterson holds a BFA from Herron School of Art and Design where he studied Photography and Visual Communication Design, an MFA emphasizing in interdisciplinary research, focusing visual design and education from The Ohio State University, and currently is working on a Doctorate in Design at North Carolina State University in the College of Design.

Wendy Puffer
Co-Founder & Chief Placemaking Officer

Wendy Puffer is a social designer and registered interior designer whose career is grounded in the belief that design can change people's lives. She is passionate about teaching students the importance of faith integration as designers. Her knowledge of the field of design and passion for working with college students is grounded in over 17 years experience conducting her own design business and 34 years training and instructing undergraduates.

The communication of what is seen and unseen (future design possibilities) is what energizes possibilities and new methods of functioning. When designing, whether it be in the context of environmental design, spatial planning, work or family interaction, way-finding, interior design, graphics, or the multiple other platforms of design, Wendy is thinking of people through every stage of inspiration, ideation, and implementation.

Wendy's reason for creating stems from how she views design as a way to serve people. Wendy revels in a healthy balance of good design and personal preference supported by a fulcrum of truth. She has experience working collaboratively with clients on projects ranging from community design to interior design and regularly involves students and graduates in design projects.

Henrik Soderstrom
Chief Ideation Designer and Making Coordinator

Henrik Soderstrom is an artist, designer, and idea enthusiast. Raised in Rochester, NY by an exuberant Californian and a Swedish visionary, he grew up sanding historic floorboards and eating green peppers like apples from the vegetable garden. 

After absorbing inspiration and general excitement about life at the Rhode Island School of Design, he went on to work with Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project, designing the set for their production of Leyli & Majnun, which opened in 2009 at the Lincoln Center in New York, and creating album artwork for their Grammy-nominated recording Off the Map.

Henrik has enjoyed collaborating with the Society for Freshwater Science, the Music of Difference Project (designing the artwork for their Grammy-nominated album), the Knights Orchestra, the Attacca Quartet, Thomas Warfield, and FuturPointe dance to produce shows and performances. He has been an artist-in-residence with I-Park Enclave, Stonecry, and the Julia and David White Artist Colony, and the Roger Tory Peterson Institute, and now lives in Indiana with his brilliant wife Dottie, where they both teach at Indiana Wesleyan University.

Jizelle Miller
Assistant Creative Director

Jizelle Miller
Assistant Creative Director

Rebecca Kleppinger
2019 Design Fellow

Becca is a kind, compassionate, and hardworking individual entering into her senior year at IWU. She enjoys giving great hugs, being a deep listener, and creating with her hands. She takes pride in being a Renaissance (wo)man or jack-of-all-trades, if you will. Give her a task she has never tried and she is ready to jump into action. In her free time if she’s not watching a movie she is probably having a conversation with a friend. She values the time it takes to know someone well and loves getting to make others feel heard. Becca is excited to get to know the people of Marion in a deeper way this summer.

Allie Lumpkin
2019 Design Fellow

Allie is an enthusiastic, creative student who believes in the power of lifelong learning. A Graphic Design and Honors Humanities dual major, she is interested in the intersection of design practice and theory in everyday life. She firmly believes that design has the capacity to change lives. She loves having intentional conversations with friends, geeking out over a variety of topics, or curling up with a good book. She is excited about the future of Marion, and becoming a deeper part of it’s vibrant community.

Ben Tadevich
2019 Design Fellow

Ben is a designer who deeply cares about the relationships with people. He is interested in understanding the beliefs of others, listening to stories, and finding out what surprising hobbies his peers may hold. When Ben isn’t doing design work, it is not uncommon to find him engaging in one of his many hobbies which include cycling, aquarium maintenance, and eating. Ben is dedicated to using design to bring moments of joy into the days of others.

Graham Terry
2019 Design Fellow

Graham is a creative young man who strongly believes in spreading joy one design at a time. He strives to help others in his community and believes the efforts of Marion Design Co will touch many lives. As a Graphic Design major, Graham aspires to use his skills to better himself and those around him. His favorite activities include drinking coffee out of his dirty Keurig, procrastinating, stalking Michael Bierut, and destroying everyone in ping pong. Graham is excited for the future of Marion and all the ways he can be a light in dark places.

Grace Woodard
2019 Design Fellow

Grace Leah Woodard is an exuberant artist, designer, and philosopher. She cares deeply about people and the places they inhabit, and is continually awed by how design can be utilized to change perceptions, develop thriving communities, and prompt healing in spaces of sorrow. As a multidisciplinary human being, she brings a wide range of skills (and spotify playlists) to any project. However, Grace knows the best work happens when we are working together, for each other. Grace believes in cherishing what makes us unique and celebrating what unifies us.