If graphic designer Lindsay Archer, TYL '23 could give one piece of advice, it would be to "go for it." As someone who almost didn't even submit her award-winning design to the 2025 Citizens Bank Mural Contest, Lindsay knows how important it is not to doubt oneself. She was recently awarded a cash prize of $10,000 by SEI Investments Company, the Philadelphia Phillies and Mural Arts Philadelphia for her design, as well as the opportunity to throw the first pitch at a recent Phillies game. She was already having a whirlwind year—and that was before her now-fiancé proposed to her in front of the mural. 

The following Q&A has been condensed for clarity and conciseness. 

What has this whole experience been like for you? 

Honestly, it's been such a shock. I'm not one to win contests like this. This scale, too, is, like, insane. Besides the money and all the different things that I’ve won, it was so cool to make my mark at Citizens Bank Park back in June and to be a part of the Phillies this year. Not only did I get to throw the first pitch, but I got engaged on the same day!

Congratulations! Did you have any idea that would happen? 

No, but my fiancé was in contact with the one woman that I’ve been communicating with at the stadium to work on the mural. We were going to do a “family and friends” photo by my mural before I threw the first pitch. I showed up and was like, wow, there’s a lot of people here! And then that happened, and I was like, well, that makes sense (laughs). 

I saw that the mural took you about two weeks to finish. Could you walk me through a general timeline of working through the mural? 

Since this was a contest, I had to enter my submission a lot earlier. It was actually due on Valentine’s Day, which was the Eagles Parade. And I was at the parade, and I was like, “we have to go turn it in!” When I actually had to go and paint the mural, I focused on doing the whole sketch first. I was there during the day, so I couldn’t use a projector. I had to do it by hand and block it out. That was pretty intense and took quite a while. Plus, it was during March, so it was a cold and rainy two weeks. But I fought through, and I got it done.  

You said elsewhere that you found your artistic voice during your time at Temple. Could you talk a little about that? 

Yeah, so actually I studied art in high school, and I originally wasn’t planning on going to college. One of my best friends, who was going there, was like, “no, you’ve got to see Temple! You could be my roommate! It’ll be great.” So, I toured, and she went with me. I went to the art school, Tyler, and I was so blown away. I loved the atmosphere and knowing that they had the graphic design program, which I was interested in.  

There’s this event in Center City called Portfolio Day. A lot of high school students go to that to showcase their art to different colleges around Pennsylvania. When I went to the Tyler booth, they told me, “This is really good, but here are some things I noticed that you could work on.” I really appreciated that. Some people might have been like, “Oh, they don’t like my stuff. I don’t like them; I’m not going there.” But I took it as them seeing potential in me. And obviously, that’s what happened. 

I loved my time at Temple. I’m still in contact with all my professors. Some of them have seen what I did this year, and they’re really impressed. It’s really cool to have that little community still. Even after two years postgraduation, that’s pretty awesome. 

You mentioned a friend from high school who you were going to be roommates with. Did you end up rooming together? 

We were roommates freshman year. We were both in marching band together in the color guard. That’s another thing that piqued my interest in Temple. I was a part of the color guard in high school, and I really wanted to be in a marching band in college. A lot of art schools didn’t have marching bands. Having an art school and a marching band both in this one college—you know, even if I chose something else, if I didn't want to do art anymore, I could still branch into other schools at Temple. It made me feel more comfortable because I didn't know if I was going to like college. I was one of the first people in my family to go to college, so it was all really new to me. But once I got there and had all these people that wanted to do the same thing as I did, I felt like I was in the right place.  

Obviously, your mural is a celebration of the City of Philadelphia. It sounds like you fell in love with the city while you were at Temple.  

You know, it's funny, because when I was touring colleges at that stage of high school, I didn't want to go to Philadelphia for school. But once I went there, I was like, this is really cool; I have to try something new. I can’t just do something I’m comfortable with because that’s what I would do. A lot of the time I would just be like, “no, that’s not for me, I don’t want to do that,” and then just give up. And so I went to Temple, and I loved going out and exploring the city, trying food. It brought something out of me that I didn’t know I had. I was really shy before. Going to Temple, I was forced to be in this outgoing nature. It was really cool to experience that and to get to know myself, let alone the city too.  

You talked about keeping in touch with professors. Are there other ways that you stay connected to Temple today?  

My time at Temple was so special that I don't think I can go a day without thinking about it. Actually, one of my coworkers, I referred her to my job. There was an opening for a designer position at my company, Kappa Publishing, and so I reached out to a few people I knew from Tyler about it, and one of them got the job. We’ve become good friends now. She also was in the graphic design program. 

I'm also working on a project right now that combines graphic design and my love for Temple. The marching band is having their 100th anniversary this year, so I volunteered to do a T-shirt design for them, which is really awesome. I’m trying to make something really memorable for all of the alumni that I know.  

What advice would you give to current students following in your footsteps? 

I would say go for it. There are many times where I've had opportunities, and I just gave up. This contest, I was actually about to give up doing this contest and entering my submission. My fiancé was like, "No, it's awesome. You just have to keep going." And that's what I did, and it turned out to be an amazing experience. It might be a little bit overwhelming while you’re in school, but there's going to be a day where you find your own little mural contest submission and win something amazing. Even if it's small, those small victories matter!