Award-winning marketing. Creative job opportunities. Artistic visions brought to life. Studio 13 is a design studio within Mt. SAC that allows students to turn their artistic ideas into reality and showcase their skills through collaborative projects that can be seen across campus.
Studio 13 is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and located in building 13 room 2420. The studio is spearheaded by graphic design studio specialist Monico Orozco. Orozco has been with Mt. SAC for eight years, and started Studio 13 in 2017 creating designs like brand packages for conferences and freelancing as a designer.
The design house originated as a graphic and illustration club at Mt. SAC called GRID, advised by Orozco.
“The idea for Studio13 actually came from Steven Burgoon, who is a retired faculty member from the Graphic Design & Illustration program,” Orozco said. “The reason he pushed for starting the club and the studio was because we saw an issue in the industry as students finished college and looked for jobs.”
Orozco noted one of Studio 13’s biggest accomplishments was being able to work on a brand packed for a conference called Triple R.
“We got a decent budget so we were able to design a bunch of different touch points,” Orozco said. “It was a Chinese restaurant focus … we submitted that to the Professional Design Awards, and it was about 80% completed by a student, and it won a silver award at the professional level. Which is really impressive.”
Students or faculty involved in film, television and photography can benefit from Studio 13 as well. Orozco takes requests by email or on Studio 13’s website where there is a form that can be submitted, as long as the requests and projects are Mt. SAC related. Design opportunities like these allow students to contribute to major campus events, including the annual Student Art Exhibition.
“The services are exclusive to Mt. SAC campus,” Orozco said. “So we only work with the different departments on campus, but it’s accessible to everybody here.”
Marketing and promotion barely brush the surface of what Studio 13 can do for students and faculty. They also provide services and tools for media majors with green screens, cameras and computer access.
A notable service is the access to work-experience for film, photography and graphic design students. The studio aims to highlight student projects and students involved within the organization so they can be discovered by employers outside the college.
Annie Liang, 22, a fine arts major with a concentration in illustration, became an illustration intern at Studio 13 after being referred to the program.
“I started building my portfolio by taking illustration classes and was accepted,” Liang said. “I’m doing a lot of work like advertising, creating posters or just about anything that anyone would request from the studio.”
Liang listed many projects she undertook, but was most proud of her spring 2025 poster she created for the school’s baseball team.
“I don’t think it was used for the promotions, but I definitely think it pushed my abilities with composition and compositing different images together,” Liang said. “I think that really pushed me to improve in certain parts of my artistic abilities.”
Studio 13’s mission is to give students real-world experience designing projects for clients and to help programs and departments within the college improve their marketing and branding efforts with their services being offered for free.
The range of capabilities and services within Studio 13 are varied and include: internships, access to design equipment and opportunities to grow both personal portfolio and artistic ability. For more information, visit their website.
