University of Louisiana at Lafayette student Luke Gauthreaux’s name doesn’t appear on the cover of any edition of the internationally bestselling book “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion,” which was first published in 1984.
It is, however, stamped firmly on a national Gold ADDY Award he won for a design project that reimagined the cover of the classic book, which examines the psychology and behavioral science behind why people say “yes.”
Gauthreaux, a visual arts major, is one of only 22 college students in the country who earned a coveted gold award as part of the 2025-2026 ADDY Awards competition. The American Advertising Federation contest, which has divisions for industry professionals and college students, attracts thousands of student entries each year.
ADDY Awards recognize creative excellence in advertising production across media that include design, print, video, websites, social media and photography.
Gauthreaux, a senior from Luling, La., claimed a Gold ADDY in the sales and marketing category of the three-tiered competition. It begins with local contests, where winners advance to regional competitions for a chance to move on to the national level.
Gauthreaux’s path to gold began in a typography course taught by the College of the Arts’ Kevin Hagan, a professor in its School of Visual Arts. Students were required to create a graphic that wrapped around a physical object, an assignment that involved conceptualizing and producing a mock dust jacket for “Influence.”
Gauthreaux developed an eye-catching design that visually echoed the book’s title while distilling its central idea.
“I wanted to depict ‘influence’ in a very minimal, literal way. I didn’t want to have two people talking or anything like that. I thought it would be cool to show it in an abstract way. So, I began working with a lot of simple shapes and colors,” he said.
The student designer ultimately settled on a uniform grid of small dark dots on the book’s dust jacket, a grid that flows from the front of the dust jacket, across its spine and onto the back. He then strategically cut holes through some of the dots, revealing the book’s orange hardcover beneath the jacket.
The result is a pattern plotted with intent. The front of the dust jacket features a lone orange dot atop the letter ‘I’ in the word influence, a focal point that “speaks to the individuality of trying to influence someone,” Gauthreaux explained.
That single orange dot leads toward two orange dots on the book’s spine. On the back cover, the pattern expands into a larger mix of dark and orange dots. Those two holes lead to a back cover speckled with a large, strategically positioned mix of dark and orange dots.
“I wanted the viewer, when they flip the book over, to see that the dark dots have been ‘influenced’ to turn orange. The front cover represents standing alone in a crowd. Then, there are more people on the spine who are starting to become like you. Then, on the back, you’ve got a big boom of people who’ve become more like you,” Gauthreaux explained.
“I personified the dots,” he added.
Like the ADDY judges, Hagan is a fan of the effect. He described Gauthreaux’s work like this: “Featuring a multitude of hand-cut holes throughout the cover to symbolize how the idea of persuasion can grow, Luke’s work demonstrated the kind of attention to detail and conceptual thinking that makes for an outstanding design solution.”
Photo caption: UL Lafayette visual arts major Luke Gauthreaux won a Gold ADDY Award for his design project that reimagined the cover of a classic book about the psychology of influence, recognition achieved by only 22 college students across the country. Submitted photo