Volume 49. No. 9 March 17, 2010 Power of Words Student Winner of CLASP shares her experience creating her essay on Zora Neale Hurston Page 4 Crowded House. Chyna Geib gribes about her trip to the Tim Burton exhibit at MoMA. Page 8 Stand Aside Sartre! DeNoyelles shines a spot on the PSH Philosphy Club. Page 9 Furniture Aphorism Check out this issue's What the Foto Page 9 Rockin' and Reelin' Band of Irish sisters are an early St. Patrick's Day gift for PSH. Page 10 Draw A DOG! Waste the minutes with our comics and games Page 19 INDEX: NEws 4-6 O iNUoN 8 CAMN IS LEE 9-11 ENTERTAINNWNT 12-14 Spons 16 PoHEE, CALENDAR 18 Comß:s/GAmEs 19 THE CAPITAL T Society of Design presents Modern Dog at the Pennslyvania Academy of Music By JENNA DENOYELLES AND VINCENT DANGOLOVICH EDITOR-IN-CHIEF AND CoPY EDDDR IHDSO3SgPsu.EDu VWDsoo6(4)pst r.mt Designers Robynne Raye and Mike Strassburger of Seattle's Modern Dog firm came to the American Academy of Music in downtown Lancaster, Pa., Mar. 18. Penn State Harrisburg's So ciety of Design sponsored the event. Modern Dog signed copies of their book Modern Dog 20 Years of Poster Art in the academy lobby. Designers, students, and the curious walked about enjoy ing cookies and coffee, as well as the excitement of the event itself. Around 200 people showed up to the event according to Professor Craig Welsh, faculty advisor to the SOD. "I've seen their work but didn't know it was them. They're a re nown design firm," said Commu nications Major Hannah Moyer, 2 1 . "It's really exciting," said Com munications major Gunnar Wray, 27. "I like the products they work on. They're Funky. They have a good sense of humor." Welsh opened the presentation portion of the evening with club IMES business. Noteworthy items in cluded the "thank you" card char ity fundraiser, the "Keys for the City" Lancaster design event, and the SOD night at Isaac's on Mar. 18 from 5-9 pm. With business covered, Welsh in troduced the multiple award-win ning duo of Robynne and Mike. "Normally people don't believe us when we say we sucked," said Robynne as she brought up power point slides of the groups early portfolio. Mike quickly agreed as the images were displayed. "And you're gonna feel good," he said. "This is our portfolio work, the cream of the crop. - The two joked and cringed at their mediocre work as amateur designers. In 1987, Raye and Stras sburger took their tal ents and formed what is currently Modern Dog Design Co. They claim it was to tide them over until they both found real jobs with a firm. That was more than twenty years and several awards ago. "Our big break came in 1989 with K-2 snow boards," Raye confessed. "It was a complete acci dent. When we called, they thought we were someone else." An accident that turned into a nearly $4 million account and a reminder that one has to make op portunities and take full advantage of the situa tion. Blue Q, a product manufacturing company operating out of MA, became Modern Dog's next big client. Noted for their "zany" and di verse product lines such as Dirty Girl Bubble Bath and Naked Men in Oven Mitts refrigerator magnets, Blue Q was perfectly suited to the often humorous styling of Modern Dog. As Raye and Strassburger con tinued their presentation, the au dience soon learned that the cli ent relationship would take an unusual twist in 1998. Modern Dog would get royalties fbr their campy product designs and ideas. When the duo agreed that Q's "Wash-O-Matic" line would fail as it was, the owners of Blue Q asked fbr design firm's thoughts on a replacement body wash. Today the Blue Q/Modern Dog partnership has yielded such clas sic items and the Cat Butts line of air fresheners and magnets that have grossed over $5 Mil. Also of note are the Mullet line of prod ucts ranging from gum and tow els to stickers and even body & car wash. "Strong enough for the car, yet gentle on the nards," read the car wax scented body & car wash. "It's looking at everyday things that you don't normally think about," said Mike as he switched the discussion to how the firm finds ideas for their work. Mike and Robynne finished the formal part of their presentation by announcing the design prod ucts available through their on line store at store.moderndog.com and the recently purchased klick ymart.com. A music montage of their numerous music posters fin ished the power point show. Before the evening came to end, both Mike and Robynne took questions from the audience and rewarded those asking with pack ages of Blue Q products. Perhaps the best question came from an anonymous design student. I-low do you get past your insecurity as a designer? "One of the neat things I've got to do as a designer is meet most of the greats in the business," answered Robynne. "They are all insecure. I think to be inse cure about your work is normal. I think the day you think you're the s**t, it's over. Insecurity is a really good thing. Anyone who creates takes a big risk... you are revealing yourself." "If you weren't insecure," added Mike, "I would be worried."
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