Susquehanna University Design

5 QUESTIONS: Shanell Bryan ’07, Graphic Designer and Marketing Manager for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum

2011-09-06T14:45:00.032-04:00

1) What’s it like to be part of (and create visuals) for an organization that has become such a significant part of our national identity?

As a New Yorker, to work for the National September 11 Memorial and Museum is a complete honor and humbling experience. I am so lucky to be surrounded by such talented and driven individuals who are committed to helping our nation to never forget the events of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993. It has been awe-inspiring to watch the Memorial and Museum Pavilion come together at the heart of the World Trade Center site. At times it can be creatively and very emotionally challenging. However, each time I hear the many stories of family members on the phone with their loved ones as the towers collapsed, or watch the footage of the planes crashing into the towers, or recall standing on my corner in the city and watching the black cloud of smoke as it filled the space where the towers once stood, it serves as a constant reminder that all that I’m doing is in respect and honor of the nearly 3,000 victims we lost.

2) How does this job differ from your previous positions?

I don’t think I can truly compare this job to any other. Although, my title might have been the same, the feeling of being a part of something larger than me is something I’ve never had before. I leave every day with the sense of fulfillment and humility, thinking, “this is what ‘work’ is supposed to feel like.”

3) The tenth anniversary of 9/11 is this Sunday, how can we get involved?

There are plenty of ways for people and organization to get involved. If in the New York City area, there are numerous opportunities to volunteer and join the team dedicated to making a visitor’s experience a meaningful one. The option to be a donor or join the Visionary Circle is also available. Businesses are encouraged to be a part of our Signs of Support program. Or you may text the word “HOPE” to 80088 to support the Memorial with a $10 donation.

4) You only graduated in 2007. How did Susquehanna prepare you for the whirlwind that has been your life since then?

The rigorous schedule and diversity in projects really prepared me for the amount of hard work and dedication that I would have to put in to be successful out here in the real world. To consistently be given new problems with strict deadlines challenged my mind and took my creativity to the next level. The graphic design program at SU gave me the fundamental understanding of critical thinking and problem solving which ultimately afforded me the opportunity to work with established advertising agencies, such as the Ad Council and PHD USA, have my work published in renowned publications and newspapers such as The New York Times and Wall Street Journal, as well as my designs for the September 11 Memorial and Museum being displayed nationwide.

5) What’s your number one piece of advice for students?

To never give up! Keep evolving and pushing hard in all aspects of your life. As Charles Darwin said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”

CDFotM: The Infantree!

2011-08-30T16:07:00.001-04:00

After a too long layoff, we are back in business at the SU Design Blog. It turns out that after analyzing our trusty Google Analytics, we learned that more than half of all traffic to the blog was coming from other graphic design schools — and that those folks were spending the majority of their time on the blog looking at the posts in which our project work is proudly displayed! After doing a little investigative research, we noticed that some of our projects are beginning to creep into the portfolios at some of these other schools, and we had to decide whether or not to continue the blog. In the end, we realized that we are so proud of our accomplishments and the fantastic design culture here at Susquehanna, that keeping it a secret is silly; and that if people at other places want to "borrow" our projects, then it’s fine with us. C’est la vie!

On to business. The Cool Design Firm of the Month for September is The Infantree, from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The Infantree is probably the only truly local design form we’ve featured so far, but they really deserve the recognition. It also goes without saying that they are “High” on the SU list after featuring our very own Jordan High for a summer internship. Started by a couple guys named Ryan, the agency has really blossomed in recent years and has been featured in just about every graphic design publication that matters. Their work is consistently conceptual, and they have a flair for marrying type and image, particularly in identity design applications. And don't forget — we love illustration around here. Visit their site and poke around, and check out a few of the images posted below.

More posts on the way, and now that we've decided to throw caution to the wind, there should be plenty of awards posts coming soon!

Senior Show 2011!

2011-04-06T10:40:00.003-04:00

Excellent work, nice concept, a giant cake in the shape of a mustache and a very accomplished set of seniors...dressed as waiters. Congrats to all!

CDFoTM: 30sixtydesign

2010-12-01T15:36:00.003-05:00

www.30sixtydesign.com

This LA based design firm has a niche hold on entertainment work including, but not limited to, the entire identity campaign for Harry Potter, DVD box set for True Blood and the Barbie logo.

For those of you currently in Package Design be sure to check out their DVD design portfolio.

For the rest of you, check out the real Gorky's and see how you measure up!

Is this the ultimate self-promo?

2010-10-15T13:15:00.002-04:00

http://www.formfiftyfive.com/guidelines.pdf

Check out the link, it’s well worth your time.

AMERICAN GRAPHIC DESIGN & ADVERTISING 25 BOOK RELEASED — SUSQUEHANNA DOMINATES!

2010-07-21T14:31:00.005-04:00

Harper Collins recently published American Graphic Design and Advertising 25, featuring the results of the 25th annual national design competition. This was the fourth year since students were given a category and invited to compete, and for the fourth year in a row, Susquehanna design students had more work accepted into the competition and published in the book (32 pieces!) than any other school in the nation!

Furthermore, Tracy Brauner ’09 (now employed at Mission Media in Baltimore, MD), was named the Best of Show Award winner in the student category for her Ladybug Corporate Identity package — receiving the highest numerical score in the entire AGDA competition, students and professionals alike! Congrats Tracy! This was the first time the folks at AGDA have issued such an award! Tracy had two pieces included in the annual. Check out the image of her project below.

Other students recognized with design projects selected for inclusion in the annual are as follows:
JENELLE ANTHONY ’09 (one design selected)
REBECCA BRELSFORD ’09 (two designs selected)
CHRISTINA IEZZI ’09 (one design selected)
ALLISON KRATZER ’09 (two designs selected)
JAMES MACWHIRTER ’10 (one design selected)
KYLE NALLS ’09 (five designs selected)
JESSICA OSWALD ’09 (five designs selected)
JOE PILCAVAGE ’09 (one design selected)
ROBERT PRALL ’09 (five designs selected)
SAM REAVES ’10 (one design selected)
JULIE SPRINGER ’10 (three designs selected)
ANNE TOAL ’09 (one design selected)
MEREDITH TOMPECK ’09 (two designs selected)

JOSH SCHOTT WINS GOLD AT NATIONAL ADDY AWARDS!

2010-07-21T13:42:00.006-04:00

More congratulations are in order for Josh Schott ’11, who was recently recognized as a GOLD winner at the American Advertising Federation’s 2010 National ADDY Awards in Orlando, Florida. The ADDY awards are the largest design and advertsing competition in the world, drawing in more than 60,000 entries each year from students and professionals alike.

Only 11 Gold ADDY Awards were given to students in design categories in 2010, and Susquehanna got one! Josh was recognized for his Darn Good Chips Packaging campaign, that had previously won Gold ADDY awards the regional (GFAF) and District (New York City) levels. Only projects that have won gold at the two previos levels are eligible for the national competition.

Susquehanna designers have fared amazingly well at nationals in the past, but Josh’s project is our first to win gold at all three levels of the competition. Way to go, Josh!

HEISEY WINS ADCMW BRIAN BROWN SCHOLARSHIP!

2010-07-20T14:40:00.002-04:00

Let’s send some congratulations out to Caleb Heisey ’11, who was recently notified that he is the recipient of this year's Brian Brown Scholarship Award from the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington. Here’s some information about the scholarship form the ADCMW website:

The Brian Brown Scholarship is awarded annually by the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington to a student or students who exhibit a high level of quality in their work. Any full-time freshman, sophomore, or junior in an accredited Visual Communications program (Graphic Design, Illustration, or Photography) is eligible. You must also enter the Real Show. As the Brian Brown Scholarship award is applied against your undergraduate tuition fees, graduating seniors are not eligible. To apply, simply participate in the Real Show. The ADCMW Education Committee will review the entries and request a portfolio of work from those students who deserve further consideration. The final decision on the scholarship winner or winners will be made on the basis of the portfolio review.

Congratulations to Caleb, who is spending his summer working as a designer in the Susquehanna Office of Communications, and as a design intern at the Office of Print and Publications at Bucknell University. Caleb is also developing a website for English and Creative Writing Assistant Professor Glen Reteif. That’s a busy summer!

REAL SHOW 2010!

2010-07-20T13:51:00.002-04:00

Hi all, sorry for the lapse in posting! Everyone needs a vacation, but plenty more posts are on the way.

Here’s the official summary of this year’s ADCMW Real Show competition — the 35th annual no less, held this year at the Center for Digital Imaging at Boston University. As usual, we were fortunate enough to dominate the competition, winning the Gold Medal and Best of Show Award, as well as four additional medals — meaning that SU won half of all medals awarded.

The show included a total of 40 pieces, 14 of which were from Susquehanna — again more than any other school.

The competition this year drew entries from 20 universities and art schools, including American, the Art Institute, East Carolina, George Mason, James Madison, Mississippi State, Tyler School of Art, the Corcoran School of Art, the University of Maryland, and Virginia Commonwealth University.

Here are the medalists:

Best of Show & Gold, Editorial: Jon Pierotti ’10
Bronze, Editorial: Julie Springer ’10
Silver, AD Campaign: Will Mellor ’11

Gold, Stationery: Steve Scales ’11

Bronze, Stationery: Jordan High ’12

The students who won merit awards, meaning their work was included as part of the 40-piece exhibition but didn't win a medal, are as follows:

Editorial Category:
Kristen Rozema ’10
Kelsi Burris ’10
Jon Pierotti ’10 (Jon had two projects selected in this category!)

Stationery Category:
Colleen Kelly ’11
Samantha Reaves ’10
Rachael Long ’11
Caleb Heisey ’11
Steve Scales ’11 (Steve had two projects selected in this category!)

Congratulations to all the winners!

TIME MACHINE!

2010-04-22T12:52:00.000-04:00

2004 ADDY Awards

2006 ADDY Awards

2005

2008

2009

SENIOR SHOW 2010!!!

2010-04-16T15:01:00.002-04:00

Images from the 2010 Senior Show. Congrats seniors! Photos by Gordon Harkins!

Panel Discussion this Saturday!

2010-04-15T20:10:00.000-04:00

Come one, come all for the 3rd Annual Graphic Design Panel Discussion on Saturday, April 17th.

The following designers will be joining us to talk about life in the fast lane:

Emily Dorr
Creative Director @ Jean Peterson Design in Frederick, MD.

Lesley Blake
Design Director for Ohio Magazine, Cleveland Ohio.

Christopher Ross
Senior Designer @ Fuszion Collaborative in Washington DC.

Steven Semanchik
Art Director - Print Projects at Triple Strength in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

The event starts at 1 PM with portfolio reviews to follow!
Pictures of the event on the way soon!

GFAF ADDY AWARDS: Oops, we did it again!

2010-03-21T23:54:00.000-04:00

Susquehanna designers designers dominated the GFAF student ADDY awards for the sixth year in a row, winning 12 of 14 total awards, including the Student Best of Show and accompanying $500 check. The following students were recognized with ADDY awards: James MacWhirter, Jon Pierotti, Caleb Heisey, Megan Meckley, Josh Schott, Jessica Rubenstein, Will Mellor, Steve Scales, and Corinne Woodward.

Junior Steve Scales was awarded the Best of Show prize for his poster design for The Diary of Anne Frank theatrical production. The judges loved the simple design and how beautifully it communicated the concept. In addition to the Best of Show and Gold ADDY Award for his poster, Steve also took home a Gold ADDY for his Cloud Nine Beer Packaging. Great work Steve!

The other big news of the evening concerned 2009 Best of Show winner Tracy Brauner '09, who was selected by the GFAF during her senior year at Susquehanna to design the call-for-entries for the 2010 student competition. The GFAF liked Tracy's design so much that they entered it on her behalf in this year's professional competition — and it crushed! — winning TWO professional Gold ADDY awards in the illustration and poster categories, as well as a Silver ADDY award in the collateral category. Even better, Tracy's poster was selected by juror Bill Gardner (Gardner Design, founder of LogoLounge.com and the LogoLounge book series) to receive his Judge's Choice Award. Check out the 90 second video below that shows Gardner's comments on the poster. Congratulations Tracy!

CDFoTM: January 2010

2010-01-27T13:59:00.002-05:00

Spur is the Baltimore-based firm of David Plunkert, a product of the glory days of the design program at Shepherd College (Now a University) in West Virginia, where I attended school. David takes a highly conceptual, illustrative approach to solving the design problem, and his unique technique has made him one of the most well-known and most often copied (ripped-off) designers in the world. His work has has been recognized in design annuals 100s and 100s of times over the past 20 years. Be sure to check out the Spur site, as well as David's Illustration site, linked at the bottom of the page. You are sure to recognize his collage style.

Seniors! Don't forget!

2010-01-07T11:32:00.000-05:00

....to bring all of your work back to campus with your for the Spring semester!

I'll see you all soon.

CDFotM: December 2009

2009-12-07T13:59:00.000-05:00

Base Art Company

Base Art Co. is a great firm in Columbus, Ohio. Make sure to go through their entire portfolio, especially the section that shows their book cover design. The site isn't as elaborate as many graphic design agency sites, but in this case it's a good thing. The site is clean and effective, and the Flash elements are used particularly well. This is an effective model for your personal portfolio sites.

Fire that Designer!

2009-10-15T13:34:00.001-04:00

Screen-grabbed from IMDB.

CDFotM: October 2009

2009-10-12T12:22:00.000-04:00

The cool firm of the month for October is The Decoder Ring Design Concern. I usually shy away from firms that are associated with the gigposter movement (it's, like, so five years ago), but these guys do wonderful work, are highly steeped in design culture, and have a great site. Take note of the style when you look at their stuff. They have a broad range of visual presentations, though they excel at vintage / retro, and every piece is witty. There's also a great deal of traditional structure in their layouts — one of the reasons their work is so striking is because the rather dense / textured image areas, as well as all of the hand-rendered typography are all backed by an underlying foundation of grids, rules, symmetry, and all-around strong composition. Those designers who want to find work would do well to learn this.

CDFotM: 9/2009!

2009-09-15T12:30:00.000-04:00

Hi all, The Cool Design Firm of the Month for September is One Trick Pony of Hammonton, NJ.

I first became aware of the company through their work for Turner Classic Movies — some of which has become relatively significant. They just completed a set of reimagined film posters for TCM's annual "Summer Under the Stars" campaign, which show a solid blending of conceptual thinking and visual style. It's at least apparent that they actually watched the films before they designed the posters, which says something. Ironically, my favorite of the bunch is their poster for Gilda, primarily for the great typography, though a part of me screams that you can't do a poster for Gilda and leave out Rita Hayworth.

The designers at this place are clearly at their best when they are putting together deep campaigns. They are quite good at carrying a design scheme through a broad variety of applications without the work getting redundant or stale. This comes from a devotion to sketching — it's easy to build a cohesive campaign that doesn't rely on a single piece of art when you sketch properly. All of those interesting little ideas that don't become part of the logo can have a second life and bring vitality to a brand after the corporate identity stuff is finished. Sketch them all out thoroughly and don't throw them away. Check out the Gorilla Coffee print campaign to see what I mean.

Their web work for Sony Pictures Classics is incredibly strong as well. Why? Because it doesn't look like web work. It's just solidly constructed design that would be just as applicable in any print application. Learn to design properly and you can design anything. Take for example their site for Redbelt, which lives or dies by the viewer's understanding of the type treatment. Web, print, tattoo, or skywriting — the concept comes first, appropriate style second, and the application a distant third.

All in all, a sharp firm that is clearly on the rise. I'm interested to see more work from them, especially in the identity / branding area. Though it's clear they can do the stuff, it doesn't seem to be a focus for them. There aren't many pieces shown at the moment, and they aren't as good as the web / print campaign stuff. A few of the logos are a bit derivative. They should move that category to the bottom of the navigation.

Note that they have an out of date "Now Hiring" link on their homepage. (Though Prall applied there prior to graduation and didn't get a whiff — sketchy!) There's some internship info in there for you New Jersey kids to check out though. This company is giving a talk in November for AIGA Central Pennsylvania that we'll be sure to attend.

See you next month!

DDB/WWF "Tsunami" Ad.

2009-09-08T12:42:00.000-04:00

Hi All — It appears the advertising and design worlds are buzzing with controversy surrounding the placement of this ad for the WWF by the Brazilian office of ad giant DDB. As it turns out, the ad was essentially created just to win awards, and was only published once so that the agency could claim it was legit. It did win an award, from the prestigious ad competition The One Show (which has since been stripped. The One Club has also changed their entry rules to exclude ads such as this from future competitions.) — but that was just the beginning.

Here's the ad and an accompanying TV spot to check out. Warning: The TV spot is is troubling.

Read the full story here and here. Read / see the WWF's apology here.

What do you think?

Article / Interview with Kyle Nalls.

2009-08-30T21:08:00.000-04:00

Hi guys, Click the link below to read a cool article about our main man Kyle Nalls, SU's valedictorian of 2009.

Click here to read the article!

End of Summer Happenings.....

2009-08-22T23:03:00.000-04:00

Hi all, Here's an update as you all begin your transition back to campus in the coming days:

Computer Lab:

Software has been upgraded to Adobe Creative Suite 4. Hold onto your horses, because CS4 is a big leap forward from CS3. All of the apps seem to be very different, so you'll need to allow some extra work time on projects until you get the hang of the changes. The first thing i noticed is that you can now have multiple pages in Illustrator.
I removed the "thaw space" (the orange 'student storage' disc) on all of the computers. This means that there is now nowhere on the machines that you can save your work that will be safe after a restart. We'll see how this goes. What it means for you is that you'll need to invest in a personal hard drive or USB flash drive (and keep it with you) — or work from the servers. My recommendation is for you guys to work from a hard drive and back up your stuff to the servers.
I remedied a number of issues with the preferences in Illustrator and photoshop, including the one that forced you to click on the baseline of text in order to select. Hooray.
You'll be delighted when you open Safari for the first time. I've used the new "top Sites" feature to load popular pages onto the start up screen: webmail, webSU, the blog, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, etc. Also, you'll see links to 200 of the best design firm sites in the world in a drop-down from the bookmarks bar.
Finally, we will not be monitoring the lab this year, so expect that Nick and I will be a bit more crusty than usual when we see that students are not keeping the door closed.

In other news, University Avenue was closed for much of the summer while new bricked-in crosswalks and sidewalks were installed. It looks pretty good, and should keep traffic from going so fast up and down the ave.

And yes, in case you haven't heard, I am rockin' the shaved head these days. I was reading in either Italian Vogue or Mad Magazine — I'm not sure which, that it's a cool look. So I decided to go with it, I'm not sure how long it'll last. It seems to go well with the look — I'll test it out on Freshman during one of my fearsome orientation speeches.

I'll see y'all soon.

The Soapbox #1: “Creative” This.

2009-07-13T03:33:00.000-04:00

Hi guys. No news is good news during the summer, but I thought I’d use the doldrums of July to get on my soapbox for a little while.

My wife designs Bucknell’s magazine, and in doing so has cause to order lots of stock photography and illustration. Consequently she gets free swag from those sorts of companies. Her most recent acquisition is a black t-shirt that says “Creatives Rule” across the front. “Hmmmm” I think to myself when I see her in this shirt. She sits down at the table and I say, “I don’t approve of this shirt,” while giving her the family-modified version of “The Look.” Having heard me gripe about the use of this term before, she comes back with “who cares what you think, it was free — andthat look doesn't work on me.” True. I’m a cheapskate, so free is hard to argue with.

“Creatives” on the other hand, is a bit easier to take issue with. Let’s get this straight: you are not “A Creative.” You are aspiring graphic designers, or visual communicators if you prefer that term. (I do.) I’m not quite sure when (though it was recently) that some designers started referring to themselves as “Creatives,” but I believe the term diminishes what we do, and when I’m in a foul mood I find it to be downright insulting — what’s even worse is when designers refer to their work as “The Creative.” For example: “Our Creatives create the best Creative that money can buy.” Preposterous and idiotic. Creative is an adjective, people. Whenever you meet someone who uses the word as a noun — run. (Unless they are offering you a job — it’s tough out there right now! Where'd my 'winking smiley' animated GIF go?)

What's so bad about it, you ask? It’s a loaded term, especially to those who don’t know anything about what we do. It propagates a pervasive misconception that designers are unskilled and unprofessional. By calling yourself “A Creative” you send the message that creativity (read: talent) is the alpha and omega of graphic design — that we are people who sit around and get struck by the proverbial bolt of lightning and shout “Eureka!” when it happens. Then we run to our Apple computers and hit the magic button that makes the pretty pictures. Where’s the research? Where’s the experience? Where’s the grind of the process? Where’s the bloody thinking? People who have taken up use of the term will shout out “Creativity is all of those things! It’s included!” Ah, but there’s the rub. It ain’t so. Any professional designer will tell you (boy oh boy, just wait.) that half the battle is getting your clients (and even your parents and friends) to understand that what you do for a living is a legitimate professional endeavor — a complicated mixture of research, business acumen, problem solving methodology, people skills, psychology, technical knowledge, and artistic ability. When designers call themselves “Creatives,” or call their solutions “The Creative,” they do nothing more than foster the impression of the world at large that we are nothing more than the lucky recipients of “talent,” and that if our clients had the same “talent” we do then they’d just do their own design work.

Why do they do it? That’s easy. Reason #1: It’s trendy. Here’s some hard truth: Designers are supposed to be trendsetters, but 95% of them aren’t. Instead, they are often the first people to jump on the bandwagon. The reason is that there are so many out there who rely on other, smarter designers to do their thinking for them. They don’t do original work; they just recycle the ideas of others and swipe styles from the annuals. The truly creative people stay ahead of current trends — their work is fresh, original, and most importantly communicates with a distinctive and clear voice. Their work is often jarring, maybe even uncomfortable, in it’s freshness. I find such work exhilarating. So whenever I meet someone who calls himself “A Creative,” the first thing I do is narrow my eyes and start questioning his creativity…

Reason #2: Designers have always been self-conscious about being designers. They somehow have the impression that by doing this thing for a living, and communicating a non-personal message, that they are somehow…..less…..than painters and sculptors. For years and years some designers have been trying to convince everyone that they are artists and that their work is art. (They aren’t, and their work isn’t — but that’s another soapbox.) These are likely the same people who started the “Creatives” thing. My question is this: What in the world is wrong with being proud to be a designer? Don’t dress it up in chic terms. Don’t act embarrassed of what you have chosen to do for your career. Yep, sometimes design just sells blue jeans, but sometimes it affects monumental social changes. Don't forget that every day in a design firm offers the chance to create solutions to problems that improve lives. It's an honest and honorable profession. Be proud of what you do — or go do something else with your life. Capisce?

Finally ........ a baby!

2009-05-30T21:52:00.000-04:00

Hey all, the much anticipated little Fertig has finally arrived — ten days late! It's a little girl, her name is Berkeley Abigail, she was born Thursday night (May 28) @ 8:17 PM. She weighed in at 8 lbs. 3 oz. Josie was only in labor for 3 or 4 hours, and we barely made it to the hospital in time — Berkeley arrived within 30 minutes of us getting to the hospital!

I hope you guys all like the name — you know you are a hardcore designer when you name your kid after a typeface. I snapped the bottom photo right after she saw her first example of stretched type.

Here's a picture from her first day....

The Much-Hyped Summer Movie List!

2009-05-15T16:47:00.000-04:00

A few of you guys have been after me to post a list of films, especially considering that I never shut up about them. Well, here it finally is. I took the most recent AFI 100 Greatest Films of All-Time list and pulled out the ones I think are the most essential, and carry the most weight in terms of pop culture — which is important to designers. Once you've seen all of these, you can hold your own with almost any film buff. There's a huge variety here, so let's see who can tackle the most by the time school rolls around again! In order to get the list up to a round number (50), I added a few films that are either very popular, cult films, or referenced a lot in pop culture. Enjoy! Post back if you get a chance to see any of these — conversation is a good thing.

1. CITIZEN KANE (1941)

The greatest movie ever made? Certainly the fartherst ahead of its time — though many people don’t like it the first time they see it. You need to know all of the on- and off-screen context in order to fully appreciate the film.

2. THE GODFATHER (1972)

Considered better than Kane by some, easily the best mafia movie ever — also the most quotable. This is the best movie of the best decade for American movies: the 70s.

3. CASABLANCA (1942)

The definitive Hollywood studio picture, featuring the greatest movie star of all time: Bogart. Flawless and timeless in every way.

4. RAGING BULL (1980)

Overhyped by those who are angry it didn’t win best picture. Still, Deniro is astonishing and the B/W filming is simply extraordinary. Like Kane, this changed the way people would make and view movies.

5. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952)

The greatest musical ever, and a fun film. Simply a must.

6. GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)

The most lavish and publicized movie ever made, adjusted for inflation, this is the undisputed box-office champ of all time. Nothing else even comes close.

7. VERTIGO (1958)

Hitchcock’s greatest achievement. Challenging film with a lot going on underneath the surface gets better with every viewing. It’s necessary to watch it multiple times to understand everything that happens. Don’t let anyone ruin the secrets for you.

8. STAR WARS (1977)

I’m sure you’ve seen this, if you haven’t you must — you’ll be left out of too many pop culture references!

9. PSYCHO (1960)

Not in the same league as “Vertigo,” and a bit dated by today’s standards — most people know the ending and the psycho-babble has become cliche. However, graphic designer Saul Bass (the greatest of all time!) directed the stunning shower sequence.

10. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)

It’s cool to like Kubrick, especially these days, and this is probably his most artistic film. Lots of good pop culture inside, but very challenging. Film people beat each other up over the hidden meanings.

11. THE GRADUATE (1967)

12. CHINATOWN (1975)

13. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (1962)

14. MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939)

15. HIGH NOON (1952)

16. ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)

17. DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944)

18. THE MALTESE FALCON (1940)

19. THE GODFATHER PART II (1974)

20. ANNIE HALL (1977)

21. THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES (1946)

22. DR. STRANGELOVE (1964)

23. IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934)

24. A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951)

25. REAR WINDOW (1954)

26. TAXI DRIVER (1976)

27. THE DEER HUNTER (1978)

28. JAWS (1975)

29. ROCKY (1976)

30. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981)

31. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971)

32. EASY RIDER (1969)

33. 12 ANGRY MEN (1957)

34. SWING TIME (1936)

35. GOODFELLAS (1990)

36. THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971)

37. DO THE RIGHT THING (1989)

38. BLADE RUNNER (1982)

Plus 12 more must-sees not on the AFI list!

Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)

The Breakfast Club (1985)

L.A. Confidential (1997)

North by Northwest (1959)

Shaft (1971)

Swingers (1996)

Swing Kids (1993)

True Romance (1993)

Unforgiven (1992)

The Warriors (1979)

White Heat (1949) (Gotta have a Cagney film somewhere!)

Young Frankenstein (1974)

2009 Senior Luncheon & Katie K Award!

2009-05-08T15:53:00.000-04:00

2009 Seniors

Tracy Brauner
Kyle Nalls

Today was the 2009 luncheon for graduating seniors. We have a lot to celebrate in the art department this year, and the luncheon is the moment in which the annual Katie Kasinecz award is presented. The winner this year is Tracy Brauner. Though it was a very, very difficult decision, Tracy's excellent portfolio and unparalleled record in competition put her over the top. Nevertheless, I felt strongly that I could have easily recognized 2 or 3 others with the award. Congratulations Tracy, and thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Kasinecz for allowing us to give the award. The winner gets a great crystal trophy, and thier name is engraved on the plaque in the art building. For the record here are the past winners of the award:

2006: Nick Stephenson
2007: Katie Lesser
2008: Andrew Goodsell
2009: Tracy Brauner

We are also fortunate to have Susquehanna's 2009 Valedictorian as a member of the graphic design program. Kyle Nalls managed to make it through four tough years at Susquehanna with an amazing 4.0 GPA. As Kyle was also his high school valedictorian, he has not seen a B since the 90s, when he was stung violently while studying for a fifth grade calculus exam. Congratulations Kyle, Tracy, and the rest of the class of 2009.

Complete Real Show on Flickr!

2009-05-05T00:28:00.000-04:00

Our pals at the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington have posted the 2009 Real Show online. Take a moment to look at all of the fine work that was selected for the show. Weep in awe at the work that you admire and gnash your teeth at the lucky chumps who got in and shouldn't have!

Click here to see the images!

Note that they accidentally posted both of Tracy's magazines — when the Flickr page first went up it only included the 'tin man' spread, but I noticed that later in the day the 'hourglass' spread was added. Some serendipitous irony there!

Let's get some comments on this post going here with your thought about the work! What are the good pieces? What didn't deserve it? How about the medalists?

The Annual Student Show Reincarnated!

2009-04-29T19:48:00.000-04:00

As most of you know, we now have a third full-time professor in the Art Department: Ann Piper. Ann comes to us from a tenured position in painting and drawing at Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas. Ann was there for ten years, and came to Susquehanna to take the lead in establishing a first-rate studio art program. 2008/2009 is Ann's first year at SU, and she has been a huge hit with students. One of the best things she did this year was to revive the Annual Student Show, which hadn't been held in 4 years. In addition to bringing the show back to life, Ann drastically changed the way in which the show is put together. Instead of just hanging something from every student in every class as had been done in the past, Ann made entry entirely optional. Jurors then selected the exhibition from all of the entries, and gave awards in two categories: fine arts and graphic design. The fine arts juror was renowned painter Aaron M. Brown, and the graphic design juror was Amanda Lenig '07.

The opening was held in the newly renovated art studio building, which in the space of a year has gone from embarrassing to spectacular. We realized the student show would be the perfect chance to show off the new space, which is an addition to the old building with an entirely glass wall that offers great light for painting and drawing.

The following pieces were selected by Amanda as the winning entries in the design category:

First Place: Joe Pilcavage

Second Place: Tracy Brauner

Third Place: Jessica Oswald

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Panel Discussion 2009

2009-04-29T16:18:00.000-04:00

The 2nd annual graphic design panel discussion was held on Saturday, April 18th. This year we were visited by Mark Kubat (art director at Mission Media in Baltimore), Mike Barkley (design director at Bates Creative Group in suburban DC), Matt Murawsky '05 (creative services manager for ESPN in NYC), and Eric Perinotti '08 (of New York Magazine). The Saturday afternoon event was packed with design majors from every class, and the portfolio reviews session afterwards was a huge success. The event has quickly become something that the students look forward to all year. This year's group was a bit more experienced than last year's (and lone newbie Perinotti talked more during the event than he did in 4 years of design classes!), and more geographically diverse. Check out photos from the event:

ADCMW Real Show 2009

2009-04-28T23:56:00.000-04:00

Once again SU dominated the ADCMW Real Show, with more work accepted than any other school — and more medals as well. SU represented a third of all work selected, 16 0f 48 total pieces and 4 medals. There were 17 schools involved this year, and nearly 500 entries. We really made our mark in the magazine category, where we were the only school selected for the show. On a personal note, it was great to see SU alums Chris Ross '05 (Fuszion) and Taylor Buckholz '06 (Design Army) reviewing portfolios at the accompanying ADCMW Career Day. I did this for eight years, and it's nice to see things coming full circle. Photo of me and the guys at the end of the post.

Here's a partial summary of the results:
Susquehanna: 16 accepted, 4 medals
Mississippi State University: 9 accepted, 2 medals
James Madison: 7 accepted, 2 medals
Tyler School of Art: 5 accepted, 0 medals
Penn State University: 3 accepted, 0 medals
U of South Carolina: 2 accepted, 1 medal
U of Maryland: 2 accepted, 0 medals
American University: 2 accepted, 1 medal

Here are the pieces, click on the thumbs to view larger images:
Naked Decor Stationery
Stevie Long-Blyler (Silver Medal)

Anne Toal

Trouble at the Pump Editorial Spreads
Anne Toal (Silver Medal)

Kyle Nalls (Silver Medal)

Kyle Nalls (Silver Medal)

Joe Pilcavage

Christina Iezzi

Tracy Brauner

Byrd House Market Posters
Jon Pierotti

Tracy Brauner

Kelsi Burris

Stevie Long-Blyler

Alison Kratzer

Sam Jayne

Samantha Reaves

USPS Celebrate Stamp

Tim Joseph

Chris, Mark, and Taylor