Alcohol awareness is the subject of the Influenced poster exhibit on display in Art Alley at the HUB-Robeson Center.

Students from Associate Professor Kristin Sommese's Art 371 (Applied Communication), a graphic design class, have been working on the posters since last spring.

Sommese had the idea for the poster project, and after meeting with University Health Services, she presented the idea to her class.

"We had very honest discussions," she said. "The students talked a lot about the negative actions that they have seen due to alcohol use and agreed it was a good project."

Sommese said the students had a very emotional discussion about personal experiences or friends' experiences with alcohol.

She also said they agreed it was an issue that needed to be expressed to the student body.

The project was made up of three parts, Tom White (senior-graphic design) said.

The class designed the posters and the exhibit, developed a book of the finished posters and then put together a flash presentation with the artist's voice describing the story behind each poster on display.

First the students were asked to give personal stories, and then each student made a poster using imagery showing alcohol abuse, White said.

Along with the posters that used imagery, the students also made a series of typographical posters, Alexis Campanis (senior-graphic design) said. These posters use only words, not images to convey their message.

Campanis said these images are more powerful and to the point.

"They show skill and simplicity by using our minds to convey the message," she said.

The students also built a model to scale of the gallery so they could perfect the presentation. They decided everything in the exhibit, from the order of the posters to the words "influenced" that served as a border of the exhibit.

"The presentation really affects how the audience gets the message," White said.

Vice President of Student Affairs William Asbury said the exhibit was one of the most moving and engaging projects because of the pride that went into it.

"The personal stories were the most interesting because they increased the quality of the work," Asbury said.

He also said it is up to the student body to use the information.

"The goal of the Influenced project was to present the facts not according to social norms, making it a very effective project," he said.

The exhibit opened on Aug. 22 and will run until Oct. 2. The posters will then travel to the other Penn State campuses before returning to the HUB-Robeson Center to be on permanent display.