81 RINGLING SCHOOL DESIGN CENTER
“Universal Demand: 1,250,000 reasons to be an artist or designer,” reads the caption for the mandala that is The Ringling School of Art and Design’s new admissions poster. It is the work of Tyler Lang, currently a fourth-year Graphic and Interactive student at the Ringling School Design Center, explains Jennifer Mumford Brady, Design Center director.

“The Design Center is a professional design studio that is overseen by a faculty director and assistant director [Mumford Brady and Holly Antoszewski] and is attended by top senior-class students for credit.”

Lang designed the poster as a map of the infinite possible expressions of talent and opportunity for Ringling alums. “For this poster I knew I would be dealing with lots of information, so I began looking at diagrams, subway maps, word trees, just to see how large groups of content have been displayed in the past,” he says. “But what really intrigued me were star atlases and maps, and how constellations and star clusters in relation to the galaxy [are a metaphor for] design and our culture. All the stars, as small as they are in relationship to the universe, are what give the universe its structure, much like design in our own universe.” The reverse side of the poster illustrates in symbols and text the “Universal Impact” of professionals in the visual arts. Lang says, “The poster has two sides, and two distinct ideas. One side presents a spectrum of art- and design-related positions intended to inform the viewer on the thousands of career paths that art and design provide. The other side informs the viewer about Ringling’s role in art and design in our culture.” Melea Britt Alexander