In the Arena Award — Nader Sadoughi

In the Arena Award Trophy

In the application-only course WKRM, I worked on a trophy with three peers and our professor, Jiwon Park.We were commissioned to produce the In the Arena Award, to be presented to Secretary Hillary Clinton.

Role: Trophy Designer Client: LBJ School of Public Policy Team Size: 4 Project Length: 3 months Construction Complexity: 52 interlocking parts Workflow: Rhinoceros 3D, Grasshopper 3D, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Laser Cutter, UV Printer Responsibilities:Trophy Ideation, Client presentations, 3D modeling, Manufacturing, Final Construction

Color Critical Workflow To convey the volume and “courage” requested by the commissioner, we proceeded with a UV printing process on the laser-cut plastic.CIELAB was used to ensure a subtle, perceptually uniform color change for a balanced final product.

Parametric Design MethodThe design featured complex geometry that required extensive manual adjustments with each iteration.I parametricized the team’s design in Grasshopper, allowing adjustments with a slider and real-time previews. The commissioner’s feedback from a meeting could now be implemented in seconds instead of hours.