“Celebrating Martin Luther King (MLK) Jr. Day and Black History Month,” an exhibit featuring posters designed by Penn State students in the University’s 29th annual MLK poster competition, is on display in the entry lobby of Pattee Library, January 6 through February 28, 2014. This year’s theme is Reflect on Yesterday, Experience Today, Transform Tomorrow.

The winning poster was designed by Jake Nicolella, a senior graphic design major.

The student posters were created in Professor Lanny Sommese’s GD 400, Time and Sequence course. This annual exercise for Sommese’s students exposes them to real-world design with a fixed deadline and client and prescribed project specifications. It also gets the students involved in a public service project—something that is very important to Sommese.

The display illustrates a variety of approaches to this year’s theme and demonstrates the abilities of Penn State design students.

Judges from the commemorations planning committee selected as the winning poster, the design by Jake Nicolella, a senior graphic design major at Penn State. His poster features three sets of birds on lines—the first set with black and white birds separated, the next set with black and white birds integrated and the final set with multi-colored birds and some on wing. Nicolella’s design has been duplicated on buttons and posters to be distributed for Penn State’s 2014 MLK celebration.

For more information or if you anticipate needing accessibility accommodations or have questions about the physical access provided, please call Catherine Grigor, University Libraries, at 814-863-4240.