WRITTEN BY ALBERTO MANTOVANO, STAFF REPORTER
It is by design that Butler University prepares all students—regardless of major—for the professional world beyond college.
It is rare to see, however, a career that utilizes two vastly different fields of study to accomplish a goal. Laura Kramer, a Butler alumna, has done just that with business and art.
Kramer graduated in 2012 with degrees in advertising-public relations and Art and Design. Now a professional advertiser, designer and photographer, Kramer works for Ansira Engagement Marketing in St. Louis.
Kramer said her path toward this career started in high school when she took her first graphic design class.
“I found a means of expressing myself without words,” Kramer said.
Kramer enrolled as an exploratory major when she came to Butler in 2008, but she had an idea of what type of work she hoped to do after graduating.
“Going into college, I wondered how a passion and aptitude for art and graphic design could apply to the real world,” Kramer said, “so I began by taking classes in art, design and communication.
“After a while, I began to realize how they connected.”
Kramer applied to various companies geared toward marketing after graduating. The end result was employment at Ansira, an integrated customer engagement agency that functions to strengthen and develop strong customer and distributor relations.
Her primary role in the company is designing advertisements, both real and hypothetical.
“In both my art and advertising, I try to capture one’s attention by showing the uniqueness of something one wouldn’t normally see as unique,” Kramer said.
Reusing items most people wouldn’t see as unique was the premise of Kramer’s honors thesis at Butler, titled “Kaleidoscope.”
“Conceptualizing ideas and presenting them through visuals of used and seemingly ordinary items is my kind of thing,” she said. “There’s just a lot out there that people disregard because it’s old or out of fashion.”
Kramer has now worked as a professional marketer at Ansira for more than a year. She said she hopes to continue working there for years to come.
“Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder,” she said. “What you see is not always what’s there. That’s the main message I try to convey to my audience.”
