Environmental Initiative Colloquia continue with five programs on the Assembly Series spring schedule

Continuing Washington University’s yearlong Sesquicentennial Environmental Initiative, the final set of colloquia will cover significant issues such as tackling childhood lead poisoning, building a sustainable environment in plant sciences, understanding the effect of aerosols in our air; creating ecological and economically viable structures; and understanding how research universities can impact environmental education and public policy.

Fridays at the Gallery

Tired of TV, bored with bars, cynical about the Cineplex? Start the weekend with Washington University’s Gallery of Art, which will host lectures, concerts, film screenings, artists’ talks and guided tours Friday evenings throughout the spring.

From drug labels to Web sites, visual designers should keep older population in mind

Photo courtesy of National Eye Institute, National Institutes of HealthVisual perception changes as eyes age.Graphic design can be a matter of life and death. Literally. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, more than 40 percent of Americans aged 65 and over use five or more different medications each week, making unintended drug interactions a major contributor to an estimated annual 180,000 fatal or life-threatening adverse drug reactions. Yet drug labeling is a kind of typographical Wild West, says Ken Botnick, professor of visual communications in the School of Art at Washington University in St. Louis. “Drug companies are required to divulge certain types of information but there are no requirements in terms of how accessible that information is made,” Botnick explains. “Typically, decisions about the way information is organized — the hierarchy of presentation, the size and clarity of type — are simply afterthoughts.” Medical information design is just one of the issues to be explored as part of “Visual Design for an Aging Population,” a national symposium Botnick is organizing in March 2004.

Transforming the culture

Jeff Pike was about to meet the police when he made a terrible realization. Pike, now the dean of the School of Art, was then a junior at the Kansas City Art Institute and had been assigned to the Kansas City Police Department for a class on community graphic design. A week prior, detectives had […]

Groundbreaking!

The Sam Fox Arts Center at Washington University in St. Louis will break ground for two new buildings — an art museum and a School of Art studio facility — April 14, 2004.

International Art at rock bottom prices

Shimon Okshteyn, *Alarm Clock*, 2001, Lithograph, CollagraphIsland Press, the School of Art’s professional printshop, will host a special, one-time-only holiday sale Dec. 14. The event will feature works by nationally and internationally known artists at steeply discounted prices.
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