Duane Cardwell drew a future of his own — built on creativity.

A map of Oregon with a star marking its location.

When you discover the path you were meant to follow, with people who think like you, everything just clicks. For Duane Cardwell '97, that path was graphic design.

Monochromatic photo featuring a man with facial hair.
Duane Cardwell graduated from OSU in 1997, and now runs his own boutique design agency.

Cardwell had always been an artist. When he first arrived at Oregon State in 1992, he had an interest in screen printing. But after meeting and working with faculty like Andrea Marks and Henry Sayre, he uncovered ideas and possibilities he didn’t even know existed. Marks, a professor of design in the College of Business, encouraged Cardwell to try graphic design and sign up for the design studio program, which connected students with real-world projects. And Sayre, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Art History, was instrumental in solidifying Cardwell’s direction.

“He turned on the light for me and made me realize that when you’re an artist or a creative person, you’re part of this community — this calling that follows a common thread throughout time,” Cardwell says. “It made me see that there are all these people out there just like me — who see the world like me.”

This realization made him feel at home.

“I was like, ‘Oh, I get it’. This is who I am and what I have to do,” he says. “I’m headed in the right direction.”

And knowing that fueled Cardwell’s drive to create. He launched his own boutique design agency, Cardwell Creative, just one year after graduating in 1998. The Salem-based agency now includes a staff of four who specialize in brand and web design for clients ranging from Oregon Coast Visitors Association to For Tomorrow We Die Brewing and Freres Engineered Wood.