Alumni
Entrepreneur Promotes Design as Part of Popular Culture
After nearly 30 years of working in the design field as a design director, executive and entrepreneur, David Franek (’72 B.F.A. Graphic Design) wanted to explore a different avenue in the growing industry, which had been gaining prominence throughout his career. So in 2001 he founded The Design Channel, a media company dedicated to promoting design as a part of popular culture. The Design Channel’s content and programming address all types of design, from architecture and interior design to graphic design and industrial design. With offices in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., the organization also currently offers integrated marketing and visual communications services for a variety of clients.
Franek
has been a respected figure in the Baltimore/Washington design world since moving to the area in the early
1970s. His first job was as design director for a Baltimore creative firm, and he then became vice president
and art director of Invisions, a Washington company started by fellow Penn State alumnus Leo Mullen (’70
B.A. Art, ’72 M.F.A. Graphic Design). In 1984, he founded Franek Design Associates, Inc., and in 1995
branched out and created Modus Interactive Group, Inc., a new media services firm and sister company to Franek
Design. Together Franek Design and Modus Interactive offered clients a full spectrum of visual communications
services, from print design to interactive media design. In 1999, he sold Franek Design Associates and Modus
Interactive Group to Multi-Media Holdings, a marketing communications company with offices along the East
Coast, and two years later launched The Design Channel.
Franek’s interest in design dates back to his teens. A native of rural Snow Shoe, Pa., he enrolled at Penn State intending to study architecture. However, he quickly changed his major to graphic design and found a mentor in program head Lanny Sommese. “He opened my eyes to many possibilities in a graphic design career, and I still consider him to be a longterm mentor,” says Franek, who spent his time outside the studio fencing on Penn State’s varsity team. “He taught me how exciting design could be through the success of his own work, and also showed me how to channel my own passion for design.”
Franek’s philosophy of integrating visual communications disciplines—branding and identity design, print design, advertising, marketing communications, direct marketing and interactive media—allowed him to distinguish his firms in the competitive mid-Atlantic region. “We were one of the first design firms in the country focusing on integrated communications. Rather than treat the various creative disciplines as separate efforts … we looked at them the way our clients’ customers and prospects do,” he explains. “That means thinking of these varied media as contacts; they are information-bearing experiences that build relationships between a client audience and their brand,” Franek says, adding that approach allowed them to provide clients with a unique strategic edge.
His philosophy paid off—Franek Design Associates was named one of the top 10 design firms in the Washington region by Critique magazine, a national graphic design publication. Franek has also received dozens of individual honors on the regional, national and international level. His work has been published in the prestigious Communication Arts annuals, Print magazine and Graphis magazine, among other publications. He is also active in leading design associations, has been a judge in national and regional design competitions, and has taught at several academic institutions in his area, as both a visiting lecturer and part-time faculty member.
Franek is now focusing on developing media content for The Design Channel. Content currently available online (www.thedesignchannel.com) includes “What’s in Your Cube?”—which takes an inside look at designers’ “cubes” to see how their surroundings influence their work—and articles on contemporary design and hiring a design consultant.
Franek says he started The Design Channel with hopes it would become a world-class media company with a mission of informing, educating and entertaining people about design through printed communications, the Web and cable TV programming. “The influence of design is all around us—from architecture to graphic design, from interior design to industrial design. It’s not only the work that designers do—it’s the creative process, the inspiration, the people and the history that fascinate. The Design Channel’s goal is to enrich the cultural experience of people by exposing them to the world of design.”
He recognizes the enormous challenges in launching a media channel. “I have absolute faith that bringing the world of design closer to people in an entertaining and informative manner is a welcomed idea,” he explains. “Design is such an integral part of our culture, through products, visual communications, buildings, fashion … Design is a powerful force in our everyday experience, and people are genuinely interested and fascinated by it—that’s why The Design Channel will be successful.”
New Media Art Concentration in SVA
In recent years, the influence of digital technologies has become more and more apparent in the world of visual arts. In response to the growing availability and use of these new technologies, the School of Visual Arts (SVA) at Penn State has developed a concentration in “New Media Art” as part of its curricular offerings. Classes designed with new media art in mind gradually made their way into past course schedules, but this year such classes will become widely available, heralding the arrival of the new concentration in full force.
Art 211, “Introduction to New Media/Digital Art Criticism,” will be offered for the first time in spring 2005. The course content is structured to help students understand new media/digital art through the study of methods employed in the creation of such work; its historical roots and social context; and professional issues, concerns and controversies affecting the new media artist, among other topics. This class, along with courses such as “Introduction to Computer Graphics” and “Net Art: Multimedia Web Publishing,” focus on the content of new media art and critical thinking strategies for its viewers.
Other courses, such as “Metal Art and Technology” and “New Media Print Making,” will bring new media art to the studio, where students will put theory into practice through the creation of art objects. Traditional and new techniques will integrate in these classes to inform student artists’ work. Additionally, interdisciplinary opportunities for SVA students will be available in the new “Digital Art: Design and Fabrication” program, which is being developed in the Department of Integrative Arts.
According to Charles Garoian, director of SVA, these two new programs will complement each other and allow students to learn both the fine art and design application of electronic media for their respective areas of studio concentration. “The use of electronic media as a tool in the School of Visual Arts enables our students to explore and create new images, ideas, and processes in contemporary art and design.”
Passings
Elliot Treese (’39 B.S. Music Ed.) passed away March 22, 2003. He had retired from teaching and ran Treese’s Music Store in Hollidaysburg, Pa. Elliot is survived by his wife, Virginia.
Grace Laverty (’69 D.Ed. Music Ed.) passed away on June 14, 2004.
Charles Handschuh (’42 B.S. Arch.), who designed churches, hospitals and industrial buildings throughout his career as an architect, passed away on June 20, 2004, in Penn Wynne, Pa. After his service to the U.S. Navy during World War II, he earned a master’s degree in architecture from Harvard in 1949 and married Esther Mae Hall (’43 HHD), who continues to reside in their home in Wynnewood, Pa. Mr. Handschuh is also survived by two daughters, Donna Handschuh Carson (’67 B.A. Art History) and Paula Handschuh Struble (’74 B.A. Art and French).
Archie Smith, a Penn State theatre faculty member in the 1970s and actor emeritus in the Denver Center Theatre Company (DCTC), passed away June 8, 2004, at age 86. He joined the DCTC in 1983, appearing in dozens of productions through the mid-1990s. He also taught in the master’s program of the company’s National Theatre Conservatory.
