KENNESAW, Ga., May 12, 2003 – Heidelberg USA recently named Rochester Institute of Technology senior Dana Busch winner of the student design contest during the school’s dedication of a new Heidelberg Web Press Laboratory and donation of a gapless Sunday 2000 web press system. The contest called for entrants to design a coffee table type piece to be printed entirely on the new web press and centered on the history of the Sunday 2000 project and the RIT/Heidelberg relationship. One contest judge, Ricardo Silva, manager of creative services for Heidelberg USA, said Busch’s design “was very clean and well thought out. Her use and placement of color blocks, pictures and text gave the layout a nice flow. More importantly, the design fit the subject matter.” Heidelberg recently sat down with Busch, a 21-year-old new media design and imaging major from Williamsville, NY, to discuss the inspiration behind her winning design, her future in print media and what she hopes to gain from the trip to drupa 2004 that she wins as a result of the contest. Q: Describe your entry. A: My contest entry is a brightly colored, 16-page, four-color magazine piece. The project timeline incorporates imagery of the Heidelberg Web Press Laboratory construction and Sunday 2000 press installation. It also describes the rationale for the project, including information about RIT's School of Print Media and the Printing Industry Center at RIT. It also acknowledges the other equipment suppliers that donated to the project. Q: What made it unique? A: I knew that the piece had to exemplify Heidelberg's long-term partnership with RIT and its commitment to technology and education. This concept was my most critical consideration in designing the piece. I spent most of my time searching through all of the available resources to find and organize those elements into a format that really gets that idea across. Q: How long did it take to create? A: I developed the design and gathered information in between classes and work for about a week before submitting my entry to the contest. Q: What tools, equipment and resources did you use to complete the project? A: RIT's Printing Applications Lab provided the contest entrants with a Web site that gave us some of the resources to complete the project. The information in the piece is also gathered from RIT press releases and other RIT publications. Most of the photographs used in the piece were also included on the contest Web site. I used Adobe InDesign 2 for page layout, and Adobe Photoshop for editing the images. I did all of the work in RIT's Advanced Publishing Lab, using Macintosh G4 computers. Q: As a result of your win, you get to go to drupa in Germany next year. What do you hope to gain from that experience? A: I've never been to Europe! New experiences are what keep design interesting, and I think it's important to have a global perspective on design and the publishing industry. drupa is definitely the place to be to get that perspective. I'm sure that traveling to Germany will be an experience I'll draw upon for years to come. Q: What are your impressions of Heidelberg? A: I know from going to Print '01 that Heidelberg is the leader of the printing industry (their trade show "booth" itself was beautifully done and they offered us tours so we could learn more about the equipment on display). I had the opportunity to meet with several representatives of Heidelberg at the festivities here at RIT and they were also very friendly! Q: Describe your impression of Heidelberg's commitment to education. A: Through Heidelberg's generosity, students at RIT have had opportunities that we couldn't get anywhere else. They definitely understand that practical applications of what we learn in class are what make for success. Q: What is your professional goal? Do you want to pursue a career in print communications? A: The term "new media" is generally considered to involve only screen-based design, but I think there has always been a need for designers who can apply their skills to any medium, and it's getting even more critical...My education at RIT has been cross-disciplinary in preparation for those kinds of challenges. I'm personally interested in using those skills to educate others. After graduation, I plan to work as a designer specializing in interactive and print design projects for museums and other educational institutions.