Photo by Amanda Lenig
By Dakota Hornak, Staff Writer
After three years of planning and renovation, Susquehanna University’s campus has brought a new graphic design lab into Cunningham Center for Art and Music (CCMA). Even with last summer’s renovation plans being cancelled due to COVID-19, Amanda Lenig, a Chair of the Department of Art and Design, has worked tirelessly this summer with the help of facilities and IT to combine two classrooms into the reimagined studio and lab for design students.
The project also included renovations to the photography lab within CCMA.
The main goal Lenig and the department had was to encompass the ideals of the department itself and give students a more accessible and real-world look into graphic design agencies and careers. Lenig’s hope with this new space is that it will “put students one step closer to hitting the ground running” once they graduate and give them the “full immersive design experience” before entering the workforce.
Students have already given feedback about how the space has improved their work ethic as designers.
“This lab will definitely help with time and production of projects… I think it is also really inspiring to see the other students using the lab and working. When everyone is in there spread across the room, it makes you want to put in the work and complete that project because everyone around you is doing the same,” said junior photography and journalism student Nicole Vertigan.
Another benefit that comes from this space is a more active ability to unify as student designers and collaborate easier than ever before.
Junior graphic design major Kaitlyn McHale said “The lab is a great creative space, and it is a good place to help you brainstorm project ideas. It also makes it easier to interact with classmates and see how others work through their creative process,”said junior graphic design major Kaitlyn McHale.
She added that this studio having multiple areas essential to designing has enabled her and many other students’ work to be done in one place.
While the lab itself is new on campus, it also has helped highlight important existing aspects of the art and design programs that our community was less informed about. This studio provides a more visual display of what the graphic design major involves on campus, meaning it has the chance to increase student knowledge and interest of the department on campus. Graphic Design is the only major on campus to offer both a BFA (requiring 72 credits) and a BA (requiring 48 credits). This availability has drawn more and more communication, editing and publishing and computer science majors to join the program as well.
This leads to another benefit of the studio’s addition- it reminds students that accessibility from the department can help to eliminate or lessen the barrier of finances that can deter student interest from this field. By laying out a space full of resources, Lenig and the department give students access to a professional-level space to improve collaboration and encourage peer critiques and feedback.
The new lab opens into a large table surrounded by chairs, available for sketching and to workshop ideas. Moving further around the room, a computer lab is accompanied by high-top tables for taking breaks or discussing work along with stations for production.
“Before this space existed,” McHale said, “…you would have to present your ideas downstairs in the classroom, then go upstairs to the computer lab to design your product, and then you’d go back downstairs to construct your 3D product. Now, all of the steps in the design process can be completed in one place.”
The original computer lab is still in use for introduction to software and web design classes, while also being open for students to utilize on days such as Friday’s, which are outlined for design students to be able to freely use the studio and complete their projects.
Susquehanna’s department of art and design has created not just a major, but a creative career experience for their students with this studio.