Who Am I?
You’d think this would be the easiest question to answer, but it’s not! Well to start, my name is Elizabeth Panas.
I’m a fiercely-passionate designer, obsessive cat mom, loving partner, and self-acclaimed home chef.
My design journey begins early, yet somehow not early enough (we’ll get to that). From a very young age, I always found myself drawn to creating with anything I could get my hands on. I grew up playing with Tinker Toys, Microsoft Paint, and everything in-between. As I entered my teen years, I became more & more involved in the arts, and became much more interested in designing my school presentations, rather than doing the presenting part.
My passion for art came in many forms such as Cosmetology, Dance, Color Guard, Painting, and of course Graphic Design (I just didn’t know it yet!). I entered college studying Small Business Enterprise, so that I could have the business knowledge in order to own my own salon. I knew this wasn’t what I really wanted to do, but I thought it was good enough.
Soon, good enough turned out to not be good enough.
In my second year, I took an Introduction to Art course to fulfill a general requirement for my studies. This is when I spoke to my art professor about my real interests in the art field, and he said “Have you thought about graphic design?”. That same day I scheduled a meeting with the chair of the design division at Bowling Green State University, Jenn Stucker. Thank god for great professors! I haven’t looked back since.
My family wasn’t satisfied with this change in studies, but I didn’t care because good enough was no longer good enough. My dream was to do something in the art field, and I finally figured out how I could do that! At this point I was very behind on the BFA-required classes I needed, but there was nothing stopping me from reaching my goals.
After completing several full-time fall & spring, and several winter & summer semesters, I graduated from Bowling Green State University in April 2022, with my Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design. I am currently a Senior Graphic Designer at COACT Associates in Toledo, Ohio.
Sometimes all it takes is advocating for yourself.
My experience includes creating both digital & printed materials for various industries such as technology, B2B Sales, insurance, engineering, manufacturing, & more.
My passions lie in creating memorable, meaningful work that is accessible for everyone. At the front of my work is research, empathy, and brainstorming. One thing you’ll learn quickly, is that I LOVE to learn. I don’t necessarily mean in the formal sense, however. Learning can come in many forms. I’ve had the pleasure of attending Config 2023, Adobe webinars, a LinkedIn Learning course, and who could forget learning via Youtube, Instagram, etc.?