Contact: Sarah Haun
Two Twelve Associates
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New York, NY 10010
212 254 6670
212 254 6614 fx
shaun@twotwelve.com

TWO TWELVE DESIGNS ENVIRONMENTAL GRAPHICS FOR SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY'S S.I. NEWHOUSE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS

Typographic Installation Broadcasts Purpose of Leading School for Media Professionals; Wayfinding Signage Knits Together Complex Campus
and Inviting the Public to Comment

SYRACUSE, NY, September 19, 2007
Two Twelve (http://www.twotwelve.com), the New York City-based graphic design firm, collaborated with Polshek Partnership Architects to develop a wayfinding, signage and graphics program for Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. A key component was helping to realize the architects' concept for a typographic installation of the First Amendment on the newly constructed Newhouse III building's exterior façade.

"We wanted a building that communicated to the world what went on inside—a building that stated clearly what we at Newhouse hold as a matter of faith," said David M. Rubin, dean of the Newhouse School.

"Our challenge was to use design to enhance the visceral response that one has to the words of the First Amendment," said David Gibson, Two Twelve's founder and principal-in-charge of the Newhouse III graphics project. "The marriage of architecture and environmental graphics boldly communicates the principles that are the core of the Newhouse School's mission."

Two Twelve's environmental graphic design team, led by Gibson, overhauled the School's existing complex wayfinding program, updating the signage in Newhouse I and II and producing a sophisticated new program for Newhouse III. The comprehensive new system allows students, faculty and visitors to locate their destinations with ease, provides seamless transitions between the three buildings, and unifies the School.

"Newhouse III embodies the ideal of freedom of the press literally. The sweep of the glass façade inscribed with the words of the First Amendment expresses the commitment by Syracuse University to educate the leaders of the unencumbered press of tomorrow," said S.I. Newhouse, Jr.

Newhouse III provides students with state-of-the-art communications technology facilities including media labs, editing suites and studios, and large open spaces that facilitate collaboration and a sense of community among students, faculty, and staff.

"The principal strength of the Newhouse School since its founding has been its focus on a specific mission: to educate the next generation of professionals who aspire to careers in all media industries," said David M. Rubin, dean of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. "The third building permits us to serve our students in ways that were not previously possible."

The typographic installation is composed of large letters, some measuring six feet in height and embedded into glass panes, which spell out the complete text of the First Amendment on Newhouse III's first floor corridor windows. Starting on the building's front (west) face, the Amendment follows the building's curved structure and ends on the building's south side.

Two Twelve's designers experimented with a variety of typefaces for the First Amendment text and chose a condensed Franklin Gothic which, when framed by the building's long, narrow windows and curved architecture, conveys the look of a news ticker—just as the architects envisioned.

Two Twelve worked with Imaging Sciences, Arch Deco, Wassau, and AJ Glass to complete the complex fabrication and installation process.

The design firm has also created campus wayfinding, signage and graphics for other educational institutions including Yale University, Middlebury College, and Northern Arizona University, and is presently working implementing a new program for Princeton University.

About Two Twelve Two
Two Twelve (http://www.twotwelve.com) is a graphic design firm that solves problems of wayfinding, information and branding. David Gibson founded Two Twelve in 1980, and he and his partner Ann Harakawa presently run the firm's New York-based operation. Important commissions have included new customer communications for New Jersey Transit, the NYC Department of Health's "No Smoking" signage, and the NYC2012 bid books for the Olympic Games. The firm has also created wayfinding and signage system designs for Yale University, Grand Central Terminal, and Massachusetts General Hospital.

About S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University
(http://newhouse.syr.edu/nh3/)