In her spare time, Robin Goffman can be found running a gluten-free baking company with her sister. Yet, her big break in the food industry came from her mentor asking her to design advertisements for a local juicery.
“It was so exciting,” said Goffman, a 2017 advertising alumna. “I just wanted to be in the food world and then this happened.”
This year, the Philadelphia Design Awards, a biennial competition that awards graphic designers for outstanding design work, recognized Kathy Mueller and Goffman with four awards for their designs for Sip-N-Glo Juicery, a small, women-run juice company in Philadelphia.
Goffman and Mueller, assistant professor in the department of advertising and public relations, partnered to create the branding for Sip-N-Glo Juicery in 2017.
“I have a personal interest in projects with feminist values. I enjoy that branding and even Sip-N-Glo fits into that in that it’s a women-owned business, and in particular women entrepreneurs,” Mueller said.
As a full-time professor, Mueller couldn’t accept the initial project proposal without another graphic designer, so she had reached out to Goffman, a sophomore at the time, because she felt she could trust her with professional-level work, Mueller said.
“It was her enthusiasm for this project that was so infectious,” she added. “I knew I was going to have [Goffman] to support me on it and the way we’re going to do it together.”
The two had previously worked on projects together. Goffman first worked with Mueller during her senior showcase for graphic design and advertising students.
“Her work is just so thoughtful and so beautiful and the way that she taught her classes. She took a lot of thoughts on the technical and conceptual side of the craft,” Goffman said.
They also created the layouts of Alina Wheeler’s fifth edition of Designing Brand Identity, a book about company branding, Mueller said. At the time, Goffman was Wheeler’s student assistant while Mueller served as a senior designer.
Goffman still designs for Sip-N-Glo Juicery with Mueller, who oversees her work as an art director.
They create several images of fruit and juice behind colorful backgrounds for Sip-N-Glo Juicery’s Instagram page. They also design the companies packaging for juices, wall graphics, neon signs, posters and menu boards for juicery’s three center city locations.
Morganne Hodgson, a senior advertising major, assists Mueller and Goffman by researching for them and Sip-N-Glo Juicery.
Hodgson assisted on their most recent project, a DIY photoshoot in Mueller’s house where they arranged the company’s product photos.
“I love it. It’s amazing working with [Mueller],” Hodgson said. “I consider her one of my greatest mentors.”
Goffman and Mueller’s almost four-year working relationship has been maintained by her excitement in helping Mueller with either freelance work or other projects, Goffman said.
“I just loved working with [Mueller] so much. She’s so incredibly talented and smart and she’s such a good teacher that I just wanted to be around her more and be able to learn from her more outside of the classroom,” she added. “I really see her as my number one mentor in the industry, creatively, professionally and personally.”
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