After countless hours of grueling work, all-nighters and epic struggles to make deadlines, the graphic design seniors of 2008 will show through their projects what they have accomplished in the past two years.
Deemed the Susquecentennial Follies: Celebrating 150 Years of Tyranny by the 2008 seniors, this event is a culmination of their work, Diana MacLean (senior-graphic design) wrote in an e-mail. The pieces that will be exhibited are a result of their projects for the students' ART470 (Time and Sequence) class run by Lanny Sommese, graphic design professor.
Sommese started the event in the 1970s to bring awareness to the graphic design program. It started as a small show held the first Saturday of April for parents and significant others to see the students' progress, but it has since evolved, Sommese said.
In the past, the event has been a huge success, Sommese said, drawing up to 1,200 viewers in the '80s. He said the event has sort of a cult following because alumni also return in addition to the parents and friends of the seniors. There are also many students who come because they are intrigued by the event, he said.
The assignment for the seniors' project was to solve an issue Sommese gave them, Antoinette Wasylyk (senior-graphic design) said. The issues include a vast array of topics including fragments of social fabric such as cell phone headpieces, MacLean wrote. Each 30-second to two-minute digital short film is a compilation of audio and visuals, Wasylyk said.
"I hand illustrated a 16 millimeter film and set it to music," she said. "They are a collective of visuals in sequence."
The graphic design major is notably different from most other majors. There are only 13 seniors majoring in graphic design this year, Wasylyk said. Sommese described the rigorous process to become a design major, which involves submitting a portfolio at the end of sophomore year, from which up to 20 students can be selected. This sets the graphic design students apart from many other majors on campus, providing them with more attention and help from their professors, Wasylyk said.
"When I had my general education courses, we acted completely different than we do now with our professors," she said.
Wasylyk said the program was efficient and demanding, and the department has a stringent, "no excuse" policy for deadlines.
"There's a very professional atmosphere portrayed, and we're up and moving around," she added.
MacLean wrote that in addition to the material they learned, they also "built dynamic relationships" with both classmates and professors. The seniors have been a tight-knit group and have helped each other grow as students, MacLean wrote. She added that she considers the "unique blend of people" to function as a family.
"We stay up nights working together, helping each other make our individual projects better," she wrote.
