DATUM is a student journal of architecture that is unique to Iowa State. The club meets weekly to create an annual print magazine featuring student architecture work published each April through fundraising and is free for all readers. 

While the journal focuses on architecture, studying the major is not a requirement for those seeking to participate in the club. Grace Morhardt is in her third year of the architecture program and shared a real-life example. 

“Our roommate, Abby, showed interest in coming to some meetings,” Morhardt said. “She’s a business major, so sometimes it is hard to find an outlet. Everyone has this creative side that maybe they don’t get a tap in to with their major, and as she came to these meetings, she’s shown more interest and actually wants to be a part of the publication, even though she has no design knowledge.”

The club offers a chance for students to learn how to use several design software, which helps prepare club members for future careers.  

“For architecture or in any design field, there’s a lot of skill to be learned, as well as, like seeing submissions that people do,” Morhardt said. “There’s a lot of inspiration that can happen.”

The club has three different teams: graphics, layout and writing. In the past, Morhardt has helped on the graphics team, creating collage imagery to place throughout the book. 

“I learned a lot in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, all of the Adobe Suite, and honestly, that’s really important for producing renders and for understanding drawings,” Morhardt said.

Izzy Witten is a fifth year architecture student who, in the past, has submitted works for the journal and has helped on the layout side of the production. 

“I’ve submitted both times, both the past years I’ve been in it, so I’ve had my own work in it, and then I’ve also done a lot of, like the background, layout and InDesign work,” Witten said. 

Witten explained that the club avoids having traditional executive roles, encouraging everyone to have an equal voice.

“We try to make it to where there’s not a hierarchy in our club,” Witten said. “We try to make it feel like everyone kind of has an equal voice. Obviously, we have designated officers because we have to, but we don’t make it to where the officers are running the club. We make it so that as a collective, we’re all deciding from the direction of the club.”

Witten has been in the club for the past three years and joined after seeing the production process of a previous edition. 

“Honestly, I joined because it just looked like a lot of fun when I saw them producing the book four years ago,” Witten said. “The theme was collective and there was a lot of group work that looked really fun to be a part of. I also wanted to be a part of making something that gets physically printed and produced at the end of the year.”

Even though the club focuses on architecture and design, the officers still make room in the schedule to have fun and embrace creativity. 

“I feel like because we’re a club of journalism or we’re an architecture journal, people think it’s just article writing and that kind of stuff,” Witten said.  “But I feel like it’s an opportunity to do more than that and be infinitely creative, however you want to participate.”

Meredith Petellin is in her third year of the architecture program. In her time with DATUM, she has helped with the layouts team, but this year plans to start writing for the journal as well. 

“DATUM has helped me develop my technical skills pertaining to Adobe programs as well as furthering my communication skills,” Petellin said. “Whether it’s through interviewing creative professionals or collaborating on the publication, it has allowed me to have a well-rounded academic journey.”

Each edition of DATUM features stories focused on a central theme. The creation of the journal is a yearlong process and the 2024-25 edition is just getting started. 

“We don’t have our theme yet,” Petellin said. “Our next meeting is hopefully when we decide.” DATUM meets 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. every Tuesday in the College of Design. You can learn more about the club by visiting this link.