The Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia has received both a gold in the magazines and newsletters category and a “Best in Show” award in the 2022 Southeastern Museums Conference (SEMC) Publication Design Competition for its quarterly newsletter, Facet.
The competition showcases the best in the profession and provides benchmarks for regional publication efforts in southeastern museums. This is the third year in a row that the museum has won “Best in Show” for one of its publications.
Noelle Shuck, the museum’s graphic designer, said, “Facet is a publication I’ve been working on since 2013, when I was employed at the Adsmith. When the graphic designer position was created and I joined the museum staff in January 2020, one of my initial duties was to redesign Facet and give it a little refresh.
“My communications department colleagues and I conceptualized a smaller format for this iteration that would also include a one-color wrap, inspired by the old MAD magazines. The wrap serves as a sort of outer ‘cover,’ with text featuring what is in each issue. It also includes our program calendar on the reverse. This choice also allows us to present the cover art more plainly, alleviating concerns of legibility of text and its impact on the cover images, and in so doing gave that art more gravitas and impact as well as opening up the back cover for additional art as the wrap also held the space for mailing information.
“I’m glad the redesign has been so well received over the last few years, and feel that it’s a reflection of good design, but also a reflection of the quality of our museum and the high level of competency of everyone who works here. The Georgia Museum of Art is a wonderful place with an incredible amount of heart, and any time I can help elevate its message or create more awareness of its existence is an opportunity I am excited to take.”
The SEMC Publication Design Competition recognizes and rewards excellence in graphic design in southeastern museum publications. The competition encourages communication, effective design, creativity and pride of work and recognition of institutional image and identity. Recipients of the awards were judged by an appointed jury of museum professionals across the region who specialize in graphic design.
Museum publications can play a vital role in an institution’s educational mission, documenting exhibitions and collections through high-quality design and production and showcasing the depth of scholarship. SEMC said that expectations and standards were exceptionally high for this year’s applicants. The 2022 SEMC Publication Design Competition received a record-breaking number of applications from a wide variety of museums across the Southeast.
Award winners were celebrated at the 2022 Annual Meeting Awards Ceremony on Oct. 26 in Rogers, Arkansas, as well as in the Fall 2022 Edition of INSIDE SEMC, a digital publication of the Southeastern Museums Conference. This designation recognizes Georgia Museum of Art’s contribution to professional standards in southeastern museums.
The Southeastern Museums Conference, a nonprofit membership organization, is an association of museums, museum staff, independent professionals and corporate partners that focuses on the Southeastern United States, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands.
