VC timeline

LISTING OF VC GRADUATES from 1968 to 2006

If you have something you think warrants inclusion or a correction, email Ray Nichols.

Apologies for being so Advertising-centric, but that is where I have the most connections within the industry, among graduates, and in my notes.

Throughout the timeline, we’ve attempted to list any awards (especially Gold and Silver) and acceptances into major national competitions for students or VC projects. Many certificates do not adequately list the project name and the people involved, or, when they do, were issued to individuals, leaving us only with those that list the studio name. There are dozens of “awards of merit” that would make this list quite long.

Some things I would like to know.

• Bill Deering’s recollection of his interview to teach applied photography, which led to a friendship between Ray and Bill that has lasted 46 years.

• What / when were the first posters where we used the “blueprint machine”? Paula Scher's talk at Ad Club was an early one, and I think I might have images. Does anyone have any of the early blueprint posters, especially ones that include at least the approximate year (I typically didn’t include the exact dates)?

• When did we visit Helmut Krone in his office (I did this twice), and who was with me (Brad Talley was there once)? Krone showed us his reject drawer, and I would love a student's perspective on that experience, which I list as one of the best of my teaching life.

• When did we visit George Lois in his office, and who was with me? Bill Deering may have been at both of them as well.

• When did Franklin Tipton win the Titanium award from the One Club?

• When did Ray Nichols crash the One Club Awards, walk up on stage, and pick up a Gold Award (maybe for Mini) won by Crispin, Porter, & Bogusky, much to the amazement of everyone who worked on the account? As I remember, Franklin Tipton was the CD on the job, and he had invited me to the awards night. A bit more of the story: when the first CPB award was announced, no one went up to get it, and the same happened with the second. I decided to go up and get in line for the 3rd one, which they gave to me. I carried it around all night until the project designer came up to me and asked who I was.

• The Fallon trip, which was a 24-hour drive (each way) to Minneapolis to have portfolios reviewed by the Agency of the Year. I loved the discussion as to how close anyone had ever been to Ray’s office—the winning answer: 6 inches. Name withheld to protect the guilty.

• Howie Ronay riding up Alpe d’Huez on a bicycle.

• List of Steve Boyd’s Olympic contributions following his graduation. Actually, the answer is EVERY ONE (including summer and winter), from 1988 to the present, which is 2025 at the moment.

• What was the first year VC was included in the One Club’s student exhibition of the top 20 advertising programs in the country? Middle/late 90’s? If you remember seeing the exhibition, let me know..

A TIMELINE FOR THE VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS GROUP, University of Delaware

I (Ray Nichols) got to thinking about a timeline of milestones for the program. Look it over. If you have any critical or just interesting updates, I would appreciate an email. Could you include any instances where a former student received a significant award or other milestone for their creative work? Also, I would like to list any prominent inclusions in any published articles or books as either a creator, writer, or where the article talks about your creative work.

. . . 1 9 6 5

Charles Rowe was hired (1965). Charles started the program, which I believe was referred to as "Applied Design" in the beginning.

⬆ Photo of Professor Rowe on right by Evan Krape, Both photos are undated.

. . . 1 9 6 6

Originally, the department was "Art & Art History." In 1966, it split into separate departments.

. . . 1 9 6 8

The program was renamed "Graphic & Advertising Design."

The first graduate was in 1968, and there was only one. I believe the next graduates weren’t until 1973, though I vaguely recall seeing graduates from 1972.

At that time, the degree offered was the Bachelor of Science. Because it was considered a professional degree (like the BFA is today), the curriculum was flexible, and you could offer many more courses than the standard Bachelor of Arts degree offered by Fine Arts.

. . . 1 9 7 0

⬆ Photo by Mark Deshon, circa 1978.

Woody Ritter was hired to teach what was then called Graphic and Advertising Design (1970-1978).

Woody passed away on November 19, 2023, at the age of 87. His obituary can be read here.

. . . 1 9 7 4

I'm not sure where it was housed before 1974, but in 1974 the program moved to the Recitation Annex (and had been there for at least a couple of years), the small building north of Recitation Hall.

By the late 1970s, the basement housed the "stat" camera along with photo darkroom equipment. DuPont supplied a variety of photographic materials, including sheets of 30" x 40" lithography negative (lithneg) film and Chromalin materials.

⬆1976 - 2016 (right photo by Craig Cutler). That’s what 35 years of teaching in Visual Communications do for you. Just for the record, I started my beard in November 1976 while Jill was home for Thanksgiving. I’ve never shaved it off since then, though I often trimmed it in the early days.

Ray Nichols hired (1974 - retiring in 2006), advertising design.

After teaching for three years at Sul Ross State University, Ray moved from the high desert of West Texas and was eager to be part of urban civilization. To illustrate this, he attended his first concert alone at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. The headliner was Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. “Well, hello, Ray. Welcome to the world.”

The program, then called "Graphic & Advertising Design," offered the BS (Bachelor of Science), a professional degree, rather than the BA. Students only took G&AD courses during their Junior and Senior years. The program did not offer a BFA. Ray taught three classes each semester in ‘74 (four of them were foundation design, and two were in the program). As I remember, I taught illustration and typography (half typography, half calligraphy). I might have taught a graphic design-related class one semester.

⬆ Woody Ritter was hosting a year-end "Breakfast" when I joined the program. He hired the school chef at Widner University (I think), who arrived on the first morning of the exhibition to prepare omelets for professional designers from Wilmington who came to see the show. He could make two omelets to order in a minute. I wish I remembered his name. He had a chef's hat and a nice setup. Here is a photo of the holiday window decorations, which filled every window on the two floors of the Recitation Annex. We cut a grid from illustration board and filled it with construction paper dipped in molten wax. I wish I knew who did the drawings or where we took them. I believe the student on the right is Maryellen Tabscott.

When I started teaching in the program (1974), I don’t remember the details of the senior exhibition. The show, focused on Seniors in the program (then called “Graphic and Advertising Design”), was held in December for some strange reason. That way, you missed all the students’ work from last spring semester. It seems like an odd decision, but that's how it was done.

. . . 1 9 7 5

In my second year, I taught one foundation design course for the Art Department and two G&AD courses. Of course, I immediately started to dream about what the program could be like. So one of the first things I pushed for was to start including the sophomore year in the program; it is strange that, as of 2017, it was still the case that students took VC classes only in their junior and senior years.

. . . 1 9 7 6

Starting in 1976, we transitioned to a 3-year program. From then on, I taught full-time in G&AD, which split this year’s junior class. Some students moved into the 3-year program (likely costing them an extra year in college), while others stayed in the 2-year program to graduate in the standard 4 years.

I applied for a Unidel Grant of approximately $75,000, which funded new metal desks for the Recitation Annex and the installation of a Stat Camera in the basement. At the time, we were at the cutting edge of technology, thanks to our connections with DuPont. At our annual “Breakfast” event, which highlighted the work of the senior class, we moved the desks from the top floor to the basement, which was a significant amount of work.

An impact of having the stat camera on the program was that we started making stats for the publications office. They paid us instead of someone outside the university. We used the money to pay for all our speakers, which we could then afford. The first wave of illustrators we invited were Alan Cober, Lou Glansman, John Collier, and …

We developed a close technology relationship with DuPont, which supplied us with 30” x 40” lithography negative (lith negs) film that we exposed on the stat camera and developed in the darkroom to make photographic silkscreen films, which we used to print posters for a variety of events and causes.

I was one of about six university faculty who were granted access to PLATO. The proposal asked, “What will you do with PLATO?” My answer was, “I have no idea, but it will help me do things that I’m not even considering right now.” I believe I received the most support available. I had the best programmers to choose from. I remember a few programmers: Charlie Wickham, Ben Williams, and Jim Trueblood. They were all fantastic, and we were on the cutting edge of “personal computing.” Someone flew from Finland to review exactly what we were doing and how we were doing it.

PLATO’s "Optical Letterspacing" and "Logo Design" were two significant programs I developed here. I think the students hated the optical letterspacing, but it substantially improved “attention to detail," which spilled over into many other areas. Print Magazine did a major article on Optical Letterspacing. A steady stream of design faculty traveled from as far away as Finland to see what we were up to.

This is the year Ray Nichols started his beard. I, Ray Nichols, am writing this note in October 2026 and still have the beard, never having shaved it off.

. . . 1 9 7 8

Woody Ritter, then head of the “Graphic and Advertising Design” program, abruptly decided to quit teaching and focus on his Wilmington, Delaware, design studio, leaving Ray Nichols in charge of the program and desperate to replace Woody, who had been its core.

Terry Casey was hired in Graphic and Advertising Design (1978 - 1979), and I asked him if he knew anyone who could teach applied photography, and he suggested Bill Deering. I didn’t know Bill, who had just moved his NYC studio to Wilmington. You can read about Bill joining VC in 1980.

We used the name StudioUs to promote our program and its talent to the outside world.

Silver Award to StudioUs for the American Life Insurance Company brochure

I need to find this, as it might be the program's first professional award.

⬆ Year-end show poster for the class of 1978. This was the first piece we had Cowan Printing print for us for free. By this time, Cypher/Nichols was doing a fair amount of freelance design work (especially Jill), which let us control who handled our printing. I believe Caroling Miksch did a lot of the design work on the poster, but I genuinely don’t remember.

Jill Cypher, Ray’s wife, was the lead designer in the University of Delaware Publications Office, where she could offer internships to our best student designers.

. . . 1 9 7 9

Jim Storey was hired in Graphic and Advertising Design (1979 - 1980).

⬆ 1979 Year-end exhibition poster with portraits of all of the students in the program. The text reads

“In the beginning, there are 60 sophomores. They come as designers, illustrators, typographers, and design consultants. It was more difficult than they imagined. These sophomores are still with us.

The 60 become 30. Those who leave do so for many reasons: the work, the field, the pressure, or just to do something else. These juniors are still with us.

The 30 become 15. The reasons remain the same, but the reward grows. The excitement of the field becomes a part of their work. Finally, they become the designers, illustrators, typographers, and design consultants they thought they started as. These are the seniors who have stayed.”

At this point, the program’s enrollment began to explode. Working with the Dean of Arts & Sciences, we dropped several required courses (such as foreign language). We added additional Department of Art courses and created new design-related courses. We offered the Bachelor of Science, which allowed much more breadth in the major's courses than the more general Bachelor of Arts.

We never wanted to be an extensive program. Our vision was for a small program, limited to about 80 students (40 sophomores, 20 juniors, and 20 seniors. Over the next year, we met with the Dean of Arts & Science and worked out “The Cut,” which would reduce the number of students to a manageable size that three faculty members could educate.

The cut first affected the class of 1983 graduating class.

Barbra Colquitt (VC’79) served as President of the Advertising Club of Delaware from 1983 - 1984.

. . . 1 9 8 0

Martha Carothers was hired (1980 - retiring in 2023) and Bill Deering hired (1980 - 1986, and again in 1992 - retiring in 2025), applied photography.

⬆ 1980 Year-end exhibition poster. "Don't let another art director beat you to the punch" got into the 61st Art Directors Club of New York competition. At the exhibition, we hung our poster on the same wall as the Barbecue Picnic Poster from Herman Miller (see the image below), establishing a lifelong connection between the program and Stephen Frykholm, the picnic poster's designer, that lasted all the way into 2018. We had Stephen on campus three times and once at AIGA/Philly.

Hmmm. I need to find this poster, and right now I’m not sure the years on the other posters are right. The ones above this may need to be shifted forward a year.

Employment goals for our graduates shifted from securing jobs in Wilmington / Philadelphia to New York with the class of 1980.

"The cut" limited enrollment in the program to 17-20 graduating seniors. The class of '80 had 26 graduating seniors, and we were buried in students in the lower classes. We expected interest in the program to grow. The faculty's workload and creative expectations increased significantly. To help justify the program's intensity, we expanded opportunities outside the classroom.

We began taking 2 field trips to New York each semester and participating in the Art Directors Club of New York portfolio review (the first year was with the class of 1980). Brad Tillinghast's interest in working as an art director in New York advertising had a major impact on my starting to "push" students toward New York careers. Around the time Brad told me about his interest in New York, I noticed a page in the back of one of the Art Directors Club of New York's annuals showing the portfolio reviews. One phone call got us involved, and we were seriously off and running.

⬆ This is the photo I saw in the Art Directors Club Annual that showed me a path into the creative advertising world of New York. I called the ADC the same day and asked what it took to get involved. They said to reserve a date. I wanted to take the next senior ad design class and ask who wanted to work in New York. 9 Raised their hands. I called and set up a date for 9. Didn’t matter how good the student was; they were welcome to go. After that, we went to these portfolio reviews for Advertising Design students every year. Everyone. No matter how I felt about their work. By 1980, we were off and running.

At the ADCNY portfolio reviews, we started crossing paths with a bunch of important art directors, most importantly Lee Epstein. Lee taught at Pratt and had worked at Doyle Dane Bernbach with all of the biggies from back in the 1960s. Both of those places are high on my list of things to aspire to. Conducting the portfolio reviews was a major turning point for VC and its expectations, and, therefore, for the students who went through the program.

Print Magazine publishes a major article on Ray's work with Plato and the Optical Letterspacing software.

⬆ Bill Deering, hired (1980 - 1986 & 1994 - 2025) at his 2007 Vietnam exhibition opening. Photo by Ray Nichols.

Bill’s story about being asked to join the VC’s faculty. In 1979, Ray called me and asked if I would come to discuss teaching commercial photography at UD. I told him I wasn’t really sure I wanted to do that. He asked if I would at least come and talk about it. We met at the Deer Park Tavern with Dan Teis, the department chair. I don’t remember much about the meeting, except that Deer Park was a gritty biker bar. At the end of August, Ray called again and asked if I would come back to discuss joining the Visual Communications program. It was mid-August, hot, very hot. Ray was in his office in the Recitation Annex, rear, right office. The windows were up; there was no air conditioning. Ray wore a T-shirt, shorts, and was barefoot. Both feet were in a small, low trash can. A big grey tomcat (named Halftone) sat on his lap. It was an amazing visual; Teis asked me again to come and join him. I said, " Can I do it any way I want to do it, he said yes.

In September 1979, I joined Visual Communication, and we started an amazing journey. I stayed until 1978, until student apathy drove me away. In 1994, Ray called me again to tell me the guy who replaced me had quit and asked if I would come back for a year as a replacement. I was hesitant, but because Ray and I had forged a great bond in VC, I returned for one year. I didn’t leave again until August 2024, 30 years later.

Jim Storey hired (1980 - 1981), graphic design. Jim left after one year. We hired Marthat Carothers to fill his place.

Silver award for Anthropology Project (no names mentioned) from University & College Designers to StudioUs (early name for VC as a design studio).

⬆ Visual Communications had an intramural softball team named “Ray’s Hell,” complete with silkscreened shirts. Does anyone have one? I believe Ed Macsimowicz (VC’80) drew the logo.

. . . 1 9 8 1

Martha Carothers was hired in 1981 and retired in 2023; graphic design. Martha recently earned her Master of Fine Arts degree from Penn State University, where she studied under Lanny Sommese, a nationally known poster designer.

Photo by Bill Deering, 2006.

⬆ Eric Michelson (art director / photographer) came to speak. Rode down in Andrew Unangst’s (photographer) limo. He said he wanted to sit in the back so people wouldn’t watch him. Everyone at the talk wore sunglasses. Eric sat in the back aisle, leaning against the door and drinking Hennessy Cognac. Better part of a 1/5th. Then we walked up to the Annex to show him the banner we had for the talk. He wanted it. We gave it to him. He drove back to New York in the limo that photographer Andrew Unangst owned. About 3 years later, we went to his apartment for a talk. He stapled the banner to his bedroom ceiling. He left the TV on with MTV. He had everyone sit still when Adam Ant came on. Just weird events all the way around.

⬆ Year-end show poster for the class of 1981. The poster was included in the Art Directors Club annual exhibition and the University and College Designers Association yearly competition, and it received a silver award from the Art Directors Club of Delaware.

The portfolio review for entry into the program started in 1981 and first impacted the graduating class of 1983. I believe this was the most important factor in the talent that came out of the program. Students were clearly under fire at all times. Slack off, and you might be gone.

⬆ I believe the design credit for this Department of Art exhibition poster goes to Chris Aliotta (VC’81). Cowan Printing printed it; it was their first split-fountain (shadows under the letters) piece. See the award below.

Gold Award from the Advertising Club of Delaware for “Department of Art Exhibition Poster” to Designers. See the image above.

Silver Award from the Advertising Club of Delaware for “Don’t Let Another Art Director Beat You to the Punch Poster” to Designers (shown back in 1981). Interestingly, it won a silver award in Delaware, but it also made it into the Art Directors Club of New York's international exhibition.

. . . 1 9 8 2

The program's name was changed to Visual Communications.

⬆ Our 9’ silkscreened year-end show poster for the class of 1982. We have had the enormous poster for the smallest class since the middle ‘70s until today—a dozen good stories to tell about this project.

Paper from Stacey Lieberman, who worked at an NYC printer.
Rubber stamps from ?
Handwriting by Jim Nealy.
4One long sheet of paper all taped together
Printed 3-up via silkscreen.
Printed over spring break in the Printmaking studio.
To let it dry before rolling it up, it passed over 4 rafters in the 20-foot-high ceiling (it was hot up there).
Cut apart by hand with X-Acto knives.
It was 1.4 miles long (but I don’t know if that is the 3-up sheet or after they were all cut apart.

The story about the tubes that Bill found at Newark Farm & Home. They were twice as long and housed some kind of strange game. $100. Bill walked into my office and asked for $50. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a $50 bill. I probably haven't had more than 20 in my whole life.

The 8-foot x 4.5” silkscreened year-end show poster (printed 3 up), "The whole world is talking," was included in the One Club's annual competition. That poster was also included in the CASE (Council for Advancement & Support of Education) competition and voted "Best of the Decade" 1975 - 1985.

Other notoriety for "The whole world is talking" included The One Club for Art and Copy New York, Silver Medals for the 3 posters from the University and College Designers Association, and Silver Medals for the 3 posters from the Advertising Club of Delaware.

⬆ On a field trip to New York, we passed out several hundred of the Year-End Show invitations to a lot of our design idols. Ivan Chermayeff, a New York Art Directors Club Hall of Fame member, sent back the note above.

Things were truly starting to explode along here. We started getting some nerve to ask to visit people, agencies, studios, photographers, etc. One of the things was that Bill Deering and I first invited Helmut Krone to lunch. He said, "At least we weren’t asking him to come speak in Des Moines, Iowa," so he said yes. While I was there, I asked if I could get a set of proofs from his Polaroid campaign, and I was completely blown away. He said yes and even signed them for me. I can only find 1 of the 3 ads today. This one was my favorite. We ate at an Indian Restaurant he chose. Here is the ad.

I don’t know the dates or all that, but I used to do these odd thank-yous below. I had dozens of rolls of colored tape. I used to get them at Pearl Paint on Canal Street when we would be in NYC on field trips. I would tear images, words, and typography out of magazines (Jill and I bought hundreds over a year) and JUST tape the pieces onto a 6” x 4” piece of illustration board. The board would be completely covered with magazine clippings or tape. Completely. This is the one I sent Krone over several hours. The green area on the TY is green artist’s tape. I wish I had photos of all of them now. I made hundreds of TYs like this, and I can likely find photos of only a dozen. Do any former students remember me making them do them? The TYs I made seldom made a coherent statement, as you can see from this one.

. . . 1 9 8 3

Interest in the program exploded, with "the cut" significantly reducing non-majors in our courses and students who were only "kind of" interested. The call to action became "get on or get off."

⬆ You can see the large banner on our Facebook site. The banner was for Stephen Frykholm, who was coming to speak. He is mentioned several times throughout this timeline.

The University & College Designers Association awarded the UD Development program to Jill Ciyher, Ray Nichols & Bill Deering.

⬆ This was a strangely busy time, and we normally would have sent an invite to the year-end show, but we didn’t get it done. The plan was to use George Lois's quote above in an oddly disorganized way. We thought George would have been proud.

. . . 1 9 8 4

The Macintosh debuted with its "1984" Super Bowl commercial on January 24, 1984. Ray bought his first Macintosh on his birthday, March 6, 1984. Ray received a grant from the University of Delaware that secured 4 of the first 128K Macintosh computers for us. That seems like a long time ago. 128K?

⬆ Xmas card from VC mailed to about 200 people. It was printed as a photo on postcard photo paper (the back was printed with the word “postcard,” like postcards). The beads were sewn directly to the card. Not sure how this worked at the Post Office. Ray Nichols bought the tree to plant in his front yard to remember his mother, who passed away the previous year. Strangely, an elementary school bus hit the tree, and they had to cut it down.

Award of Merit from The One Club for Art & Copy for “The Whole World is Talking”, to Visual Communications Group. And 3 Awards of Merit from the Advertising Club of Delaware for presenting Paula Scher, “Massimo Vignelli” talk poster (does anybody have one), and the “AIGA Thank You” poster (does anybody have one).

The Advertising Club of Delaware awarded us for the poster above. But I think the meetings were on Thursdays, and October 10th was in 1985. So my records for the award and the date don’t match. The poster was produced using Thunderscan, which used just about as much technology as it took to go to the moon. Essentially, a laser was attached to an impact printer, which scanned an image and ran it through the printer exactly as a sheet would if it were being printed.

We printed it on blackline paper using our blueprint machine. If the background was black, you could color the white with a Magic Marker, and it wouldn’t show through the black, which was incredible for a piece like this. We made 40 of them, each in a different color. A marker drawn on the black area didn’t show, so you could scribble over a letter, and the color would only show up where the paper was white. Below is a second version of the coloring.

An added piece of information was that Scher DID NOT like our version of her poster. I don’t know whether it was outright stealing of the image or something else. I think we were so overwhelmed by the scanning technology (it took about 50 to piece this poster together) that we never considered violating her copyright.

Does anyone remember working on this piece?

. . . 1 9 8 5

The program was renamed "Visual Communications" around 1985.

⬆ Year-end show poster for class of ‘85. We shot the photo in front of the Carpenter Sports Building. We had taken the original VW ad and figured out what time the shadow would be right (1:30 - 2:00). We used 4 full photo paper rolls (9’ x 36’) to block off the background. This was the 2nd-to-last photo we took from about 10 rolls of film.

The Year-End Show poster this year was “Think Small. Again.” paying homage to the 25th anniversary of the Volkswagen “Think Small” campaign. A later exhibition honoring VW advertising at The One Club in New York City highlighted the poster.

Around 1985, we began offering a concentration in Applied Photography. In exchange for support to separate our APPLIED Photography from FINE ARTS Photography, we traded ILLUSTRATION for PAINTING, which led us to hire Peter Croydon as tenure-track faculty.

“Think Small. Again,” won a Silver Award from the Advertising Club of Delaware and was included in Graphis Posters.

The Visual Communications Group won a Silver Award from the Art Directors Club of New York for “Christmas Card,” with no names listed. And I’m not sure what the piece is.

1985 was a moment that seriously moved Visual Communcations forwrd. We were taking a field trip to New York City. The first stop was the AIGA/NYC gallery. Our two buses pulled up and let everyone off. I (Ray Nichols) was hot to visit their library space for some information I’ve long forgotten. At the top of a long flight of stairs were a 6 or 8 large boxes filled with design work, magazines, annual reports, and printed ephemera. I asked Nathan Gluck what the boxes were. He said they were trash: the rejects from the show we were there to see. Trash? Yes! “I can get rid of these boxes if you’ll just give them to me.” “Perfect, They’re yours.” I yell to the students still exiting the buses and coming into the gallery, “Stop the buses and then help me get these boxes outside.” We put them all inside the buses and took them to VC. Going through them was Christmas for about 2 weeks. Incredible pieces of design. REJECTED. Four of the posters were for Herman Miller, a major manufacturer of office equipment, and were designed by internationally known designer Stephen Frykholm, who would become a great friend of the program. Here are two of those posters. A quick call to Frykholm as to how the pieces were produced: an architectural blueprint machine, and the printing was on “blackline paper”. Following are two early posters we did using our new blueprint machine. As it turns out, on a white space surrounded by black, you can fill the white with Magic Markets with little worry of coloring outside the shape.

Below, two of the posters from AIGA’s trash.

Followed by two posters for Pula Sher we deign and printe via blueprint machine.

Below is a piece we did to promote Paula Scher's speaking at the Advertising Club of Delaware in the first year of the Apple Macintosh. We scanned one of her posters using “Thunderscan,” which, in today’s digital world, seems to be from the 1600s.

Cypher + Nichols + Design produced extensive work for the Advertising Club of Delaware, giving students practical experience and portfolio pieces. One such piece was produced for the Ad Club’s May meeting to showcase The Clios, the previous year's best award-winning television commercials. Apple’s Macintosh won big. We mocked up a cover and 6 inside pages of a TV Guide (students today probably never heard of what was then probably the highest-selling magazine in the country.

Credits listed
Editor and Chief Person: Barbra Colquitt (VC’79 & President of the Ad Club)
Overall Brains Behind This Project: Raymond Nichols
Art Directors: Raymond Nichols (faculty), Jill Cypher
Inspiration: Helmut Krone
Lawyer for the Art Directors: Tad Crawford (see next entry)
Consultant to the Art Directors: Jerry Alten
Assistant Art Director: Martha Carothers (faculty)
Assistant to the Assistant Art Director: Bruce Bigatel
Contributing Art Directors: Ann Lemon, Paul Meany, Jim Nealey, Nancy Walker
Photography Director: Bill Deering (faculty)
Contributing Photographers: Dave DiGirolamo, Kirk Souder, Julie Bernstein, Nancy Northwood, Carl Kleinschmidt
Publisher: Visual Communications Group, University of Delaware

. . . 1 9 8 6

Peter Croydon (right) hired (1986 - 1995), applied photography. Ray Nichols on the left.

Awards from the Art Directors Club of New York, Print Magazine, Gold Award from the Advertising Club of Delaware for the “Donald Lipski Peacemaker” photo to Martha Carothers, Ray Nichols & Bill Deering

. . . 1 9 8 7

⬆ The front & back of our Year-End Show poster for the class of 1987. It is printed on newsprint and the text is in the form of classified ads. And some of them are strange.

⬆ Gold Award from the Advertising Club of Delaware to Jerry Pinkney / Designers for the Alan Cober Invitation. See above.

Silver Award from the Advertising Club of Delaware for the ‘76 / ‘86 Decades Exhibition poster to Martha Carothers, Ray Nichols, Sara Hughes, Jeff Kopay, Kevin Kruger, Pam Meierding, Bill Starkey, and Jill Twardowski. I cannot remember what this piece was. Anybody?

⬆ Blueprint poster we produced to encourage New York Art Directors Club reviewers we had liked in previous years to attend our Portfolio Review at the club.

. . . 1 9 8 8

MacLab was instituted as part of the Visual Communications program.

Fine Arts changed its major from the BA to the BFA. The BS still gave our program more flexibility, so we kept it for several more years.

Steve Boyd (VC’88) expressed his interest in designing opening and closing ceremonies for Olympic events. Ray Nichols probably said something like, “Yeah, sure.” As of 2025, Steve has contributed to 17 consecutive Olympic Games spanning Barcelona 1992 to Paris 2024. Other credits include Special Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Paralympics, Asian Games, Super Bowl Halftimes, large-scale national celebrations, and outdoor mass-theatrical events. Steve has designed for several Condé Nast publications, including The New Yorker.  What the hell do teachers know anyway? His bio is worth reading.

Steve has contributed to 17 consecutive Olympic Games spanning Barcelona 1992 to Paris 2024. Other credits include Special Olympics, Commonwealth Games, Paralympics, Asian Games, Super Bowl Halftimes, large-scale national celebrations, and outdoor mass-theatrical events. Steve has designed for several Condé Nast publications, including The New Yorker.

⬆ A blueprint poster we produced for the Advertising Club of Delaware promoting a talk about members’ best single piece in their portfolio. The talk's results were amazing.

. . . 1 9 8 9

⬆ The class of ‘89 at the year end party.

⬆ The University of Delaware Magazine (with then-Senator Joe Biden on the cover) did a major article on Visual Communications, stating, "Delaware's Visual Communications program is turning out top young talent in advertising, photography, and design." Left to right: Craig Cutler (VC’83) in the mirror taking the photo, Kirk Souder (VC’85), Ray Nichols on the floor, Stephenie Coustenis (VC’79), Rose DiSanto (VC’83), Ingrid Hansen Lynch (VC’84), Bill Oberlander (VC’81), Martha Carothers on the floor, and Ann Lemon (VC’84). Seriously, we were rocking through those years.

⬆ The cover of Delaware Today Magazine for the article above it. This is U.S. President Joseph Biden (then a U.S. Senator), who is a graduate of the University of Delaware.

Graphis Magazine 263, September October 1989, had as its cover an ad for Steuben Glass. Ann Lemon (VC’84) was the art director, and Craig Cutler (VC’83) was the photographer. It was also highlighted in 1999 as one of the top pieces of advertising design produced in the United States between 1959 and 1999.

⬆ In 1989, Ad Age Magazine voted this Steuben Glass ad campaign as magazine campaign of the year. Art Director : Ann Lemon (VC’84) and Photographer: Craig Cutler (VC’83).

Sometime around this time, we started a student exchange with Wolverhampton University in the U.K. I think it lasted about 4 years. More students wanted to come here than wanted to go there, which eventually killed the project. Wolverhampton was a bit too far from London for our students.

Rose DiSanto started her volunteer work with the "Hole in the Wall Gang Camp," Paul Newman's effort for children with blood disorders. She has done it every year except the first.

In 1989, Marcus Durant (back left) left VC to form Zen Guerrilla. Around 2020, he showed up at the door of our Lead Graffiti studio. Scared me to death. Marcus stood about 6'6" and was totally intimidating. He gave me his harmonica, a surprising gesture, as he was a killer harmonica player.

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Beginning work to make the Macintosh a distinct part of our academic program. One of Ray’s favorite classes, Video Editing, was created during many winter sessions over the next couple of decades. Serious work involved investigating how to get a serious Unidel grant for a truckload of Macintoshes.

Silver Award from the Advertising Club of Delaware for the “Ad Club of Delaware Letterhead” to Ray Nichols and DEsigners.

Silver Award from the Advertising Club of Delaware for “Lanny Sommese” to Martha Carothers and DEsigners.

Silver Award from the Advertising Club of Delaware for the “BFA Deadlines” to Martha Carothers, Ray Nichols, and DEsigners.

Somewhere along here, Wolverhampton started an exchange program with the Art Department. I don’t know which years this happened (at least 3), and I don't have a record of who came here from there or went there from here. If you know anything, it would help me fill in this story. In the photo below, I believe the turquoise coat belongs to James Smith, and the lady in front of him is Sarah. The man second from the left was the Wolverhampton administrator. The program was set up with the WHOLE department, but two problems came up. Most of the Wolverhampton students were interested in Visual Communications, and not many of our students wanted to go there because the programs differed and Wolverhampton was 130 miles from London. I feel like the relationship lasted about 3 years.

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Unidel grant officially applied for and received. $400,000. Thanks to Lee Chow and the lady with the hammer. Ray Nichols essentially bought his first Macintosh on his birthday, March 6, 1984, 5 weeks after the Super Bowl / Chiat Day “Woman with a big hammer” ad at Computerland in the Astro Shopping Center on Kirkwood Highway. He paid $2,500 for his 128K Macintosh. He bought his first 20 MB hard drive at the same store for another $ 2,500. He recently bought an 8T hard drive, and if he'd paid the same per MB, it would have cost him $1,000,000,000. Seriously.

Ingrid Hansen-Lunch (VC’84) served as President of the Advertising Club of Delaware from 1991 - 1992.

Advertising Club of Delaware Gold (6) and Silver (6) awards listing graduates. Gold: Raymond Nichols, Martha Carothers, Hendrik-Jan Francke, VC junior class, Ed Abbott, Robert Kuzepski, Sean McCormick, & Ann Lemon. Silver: Raymond Nichols, Martha Carothers, Hendrik-Jan Francke, Marco Kaye, Tom Newsom, Min Chung, Serrin Bodmer, Mike Sullivan, Jen Denis, Mary Allen, Leslie Kedash, Lori Gray, & Kelly Carter

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Martha Carothers becomes chair of the Department of Art & Visual Communications (1992 - 2001)

Patrick Warner was an essential assistant in the Mac Lab (1992-1996). He would later become president of the Advertising Club of Delaware. He graduated in Illustration, which wasn’t part of VC at the time.

⬇ Below is the year-end show poster for the Class of 1992. It was originally written for the DEsigners website for VCNews. I really wish I had this for every year I taught at Delaware. Great fun to read, and I can see the students floating in my mind.

⬆ This was the first year of the Not Yet Famous poster series promoting the annual Department of Art student exhibition. Amy Giordano, Peter Kaplan, and Robin Shapiro worked with Ray Nichols and Martha Carothers on the piece.

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Delaware Today magazine had the cover story "How Good is U of D?" In a callout entitled "Highest rated," they said,

"Although not well-known outside designer circles, UD's Visual Communications (commercial art) program is considered by 'those who need to know' one of the best in the country. Graduates win awards and land jobs with big-name advertising agencies in New York City.”

Brad Tillinghast (VC'80) was awarded the University of Delaware Presidential Citation for Outstanding Achievement. This was the first of our 7 graduates to win the award over the next decade.

⬆ Gold Award from the Advertising Club of Delaware for the “Not Yet Famous Artists Revealed” (see image above) to Hendrik-Jan Francke, Peter Caplan, Amy Giordano, Ray Nichols, and Martha Carothers.

Gold Award from the ADDE to Martha Carothers for Art Direction for “Rock, Paper, Scissors”, along with Nick Eveleigh for Photography.

⬆ Silver Award from the Advertising Club of Delaware for the CISM logo to Ray Nichols, Jill Cypher and Andy Shemeta (see image above). Critical Incident Stress Management is a group that responds to devastating events, such as floods, hurricanes, and terrorist attacks. The receding waves (created with a Photoshop filter) symbolize the affected group's steady reduction in stress over time.

Silver Award from the Advertising Club of Delaware for “Visual Communications Year-End Show Poster” to Ray Nichols, Martha Carothers, Amy Giordano, Peter Kaplan, Robin Shapiro, Senior Class, and Designers

Silver Award from the ADDEs to Martha Carothers

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⬆ The poster we sent out for their Year-End Show for the class of 1994. Worth telling you what the students said.

X-Acting. Michael Caguin, Advertising design (key ring of X-Acto blades).

After three years of drilling through design and cranking up creativity, everything has come together with industrial-strength. Lisa Carter. Graphic design (key ring with key, drill bit, and X-Acto knife blades).

Advertising. Hell… what's more fun than getting paid to play with other people’s money? Holly Dubois. Advertising design (bonus toy pack).

A good style must first of all be clear. It seems appropriate. Kim Furry. Graphic design (key with typographic “F”)

I broke the grid and constructed my pages from the rubble. Charles Gates, Graphic design (hammer).

The secret to success is to carry your keys within. Jason Lucas, Applied Photography (key ring with a shadow of a key).

VC! VT! V!. Andy Mathers. Graphic design (key ring with lots of keys).

Your desire and adrenaline can get you through the bumps, but love and passion make the victories sweet. Kristin Richards, Graphic Design (key with identity card).

You have to reach down and pull something out deep within yourself. Steve Thompson, Advertising Design (skeleton).

You yell. You scream. You pray you have the time to make it happen. Shelley Young, Graphic Design (hands of a watch.

⬆ Kirk Souder (VC'85) and his writing partner, Court Crandall, won the Grand Clio for Best Commercial of the Year for Pioneer stereos with the ad "Sorry." The agency was BBDO / West, Los Angeles.

Advertising Design seniors want to do a cool portfolio review, so 8 of us get in a van and drive to Fallon McElligott in Minneapolis. We left Friday and returned Monday night. 24 hours each way. Total distance was 2,450 miles. I doubt anyone at any school could do this in today’s world. The weirdest conversation was “Who has had sex the closest to Ray’s office?” The inner was 6” (width of wall). Name withheld to protect the guilty. I never quite looked at her the same after that.

The degree offered in Visual Communications has changed to the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA).

Paul Miles hired (1994 - 1995), graphic design.

⬆ Paul Miles and Ray Nichols were in Wilmington at 8th & Tatnall investigating “The Trophy Shop.” Just looking. Nothing in mind. Trophies for every sport you've ever heard of. They also had football jackets for high school. Ray asked a few questions and found you could mix and match all kinds of things. Leather or vinyl sleeves. Colors mixed or matched. Cuffs. Necks. Ok! I want black felt for the body. Black leather for the sleeves. Picked out the perfect cuffs and neck. Oh, you can get letters? Can they have two letters? Then “VC.” And you can get it outlined in a different color? Sold. I’ve bought a new one with an LG for Lead Graffiti, all black with leather sleeves.

Jill took the letters shown above off his pretty, ragged jacket, which he had worn every winter for 25 years. All winter. Every winter. Ray always described the jacket as the warmest he had ever owned. But just a bit too short. He went back to the same shop in the winter of 2020. Ordered a new jacket with new letters. This time with an LG. If you know Ray, you’ll know what that means. It is October 2021 as I write this. I’m ready for winter.

Kirk Souder (VC'84) co-founded Ground Zero, a highly creative, award-winning agency in Los Angeles, CA.

From 1994 -1996 (not sure of the dates), Visual Communications was housed in the small brick houses at the beginning of Delaware Avenue while Recitation Hall and Recitation Annex were renovated.

Gold Award from the Advertising Club of Delaware for the HYPE 3 newsletter to Jill Ciyher, Ray Nichols, and Designers, which later became the basis for DEViCes, a VC newsletter founded by Karl Lieberman and Brandon Henderson, class of 1999.

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Bill Deering rehired (1995 - present), applied photography, advertising design

Ray Nichols served as President of the Advertising Club of Delaware from 1995-1996.

⬆ In October, we took a field trip to NYC mainly to see the Saul Bass Masters of Design exhibition at SVA. When we got there, it wasn’t there. Bass hadn’t had time to hang it. We came back and produced this 30” x 24” poster (with fishing licenses for everyone in VC) to send him, in case he would spend an hour walking us through it when he finally hung the show. About 5 days later, he called us and agreed. Saul Bass passed away on April 25, 1996, and we never got that tour. That would have been a good tour.

⬆ Patrick Bosak (VC’95) and a friend were looking for a way to maybe make a few bucks and to use the skills I had been learning in VC. We saw calendars around campus featuring girls to raise money for the Greeks. So, they thought, let’s do one with men. A calendar opened up a fun design challenge because everyone knows how a calendar works, so you had some freedom to play with the design. We asked Ashton Worthington (VC’95) to be a part of it because we knew he would take amazing photos, and it would give him the opportunity to shoot 13 people, each with a unique theme. Each month had a theme based on the month. For example, October featured Joe Mikulas (VC’95), the model in the middle photo above, with a Halloween theme. Both the photo and the design matched that theme and worked together visually. For modeling, we donated a portion of the proceeds to each model’s campus organization of choice. With your help, we entered it into the DE Addys. We won a silver award. It later got us published in Graphis, and Ashton did a photography exhibition of the images at a coffeehouse in Philadelphia. I designed the show’s invites and other promo materials.

Kirk Souder (VC'85) was awarded the University of Delaware Presidential Citation for Outstanding Achievement.

The Advertising Club of Delaware awarded a Silver Award for the “Black Maria Festival Poster” to Martha Carothers, Ray Nichols, Paul Miles, Joe Mikulas, Fred Schuster, Sandy Wortham, Jill Ruckelshaus, Ashton Worthington, and Runie Tatnall.

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Charles Rowe agrees to give up his illustration role to move full-time to painting. As part of that agreement, Illustration is merged into Visual Communications, and a new faculty position is approved.

Robyn Phillips-Pendleton hired (1996 - present), illustration.

Sometime between 1996 and 1998, we merged with Illustration and began offering an Illustration concentration within Visual Communications.

Visual Communications relocated to the newly renovated Recitation Hall, which features proper workspaces, critique rooms, a departmental gallery, a lecture hall, and a Macintosh Site.

Jill Cypher served as President of the Advertising Club of Delaware from 1996 to 1997.

Libby Brockhoff (VC'92) was one of four founding partners of Mother, an innovative, highly creative advertising agency in London. Libby was responsible for the name. The New York office followed in 2003. Mother has pioneered a creative culture in which all employees, including the creative teams, work directly with clients. Her now-husband, Franklin Tipton (VC'91), was Mother's first hire. In 2014, they formed "Odysseus Arms," a highly awarded advertising agency in San Francisco and winner of Advertising Age’s “Small Agency of the Year.”

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A seriously good advertising class, with what was easily the best work by one of my graduates. I had spent a couple of years looking through Life Magazines on microfilm for Volkswagen ads, starting in 1959 with the origin of the “Think Small” campaign, and collected more than 200 of the actual magazines. James Helms (VC’97) fulfilled the requirements for a Degree with Distinction in Visual Communications, continuing that research into who had produced those ads coupled with interviews.. I had originally interviewed Helmut Krone and George Lois, and James added Charlie Picirillo, Mike Mangano, David Langley, Roy Grace, and Len Sirowitz. James and I drove to New York 4 times, talked about advertising the whole trip, and spent a couple of hours interviewing each art director we could reach. Given everything my students have done at the University of Delaware, I think this is the best student project of my 30+ years.

Silver Award from the Advertising Club of Delaware for “DEadLines Mastheads” to Ray Nichols, Jill Cypher, and Becky Herman.

Silver Award from the Advertising Club of Delaware for “Designers Website,” presented to Ray Nichols, Martha Carothers, Kevin Kruger, Ashley Pigford, and Joe DelPesco.

Silver Award from the Advertising Club of Delaware for “Education Objects” to Ray Nichols, Martha Carothers, Rich McGuigan, and the entire senior class of 1997.

Year-end Showpiece celebrating the best work by each Advertising Design senior. Designers and the University of Delaware were sued for using IKEA’s logo (see 3 ads in the upper right). Lazy University lawyers wouldn’t challenge. Bummer.

Year-end Show piece celebrating best work by each Graphic Design senior.

Great set of blueprint posters to get the first-year students excited about a talk on VC in one of the Colloquium sessions. Tesia Farquhar (VC’97) pulled the posters from clip art sources.

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Hendrik-Jan Francke hired (1998 - 2006), graphic design.

Bill Oberlander (VC'81) becomes president of the Art Directors Club of New York (1998 - 2001).

Visual Communications started hosting the "Black Maria Film Festival." Also did a couple of nice letterpress posters to promote the occasion.

Silver Award for “Truth vs. Rumor” from the Advertising Club of Delaware to Raymond Nichols, Martha Carothers, and Tesia Farquhar

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Karl Lieberman (VC’99) was inducted into the 2025 University of Delaware Wall of Fame, the University's highest honor for graduates. See 2025 for a more in-depth explanation of this incredible honor.

Bill Oberlander (VC'81) was awarded the University of Delaware Presidential Citation for Outstanding Achievement.

Craig Cutler photographed a Gutenberg Bible for the millennium issue of Life Magazine, celebrating the 100 most important of the last 1000 years. The Gutenberg Bible was moment #1.

Above is a 48” wide poster produced by Communication Arts Magazine, one of the best design-related magazines. It focused on 40 years of graphic design and advertising from 1959 through 1999. Three Visual Communications graduates (Ellen Steinberg, Ann Lemon, and Craig Cutler) had work included among the images. Now imagine how many images they could have chosen from, and how many collage design and advertising graduates from that period aren't included. Wow. If I can find the time to go through the poster with a fine-toothed comb, I’d also like to list everyone represented, people we either visited on field trips or brought for talks our students attended.

Eight advertising design seniors invaded the office of CD Peter Woods at Ogilvy / NY. Ray loves to tell how this came to be.

The objective was to take over his floor while he was in London and work on The One Club’s student competition (to make Vietnam a vacation destination). Fortunately, or unfortunately, Peter didn’t go to London. We had a killer time. Below are two of the seven 24” x 30” blueprint posters we posted throughout Ogilvy's “creative floors” to announce the sit-in. I remember the tagline we used then was “A small circle of friends,” which I’ve often thought was one of the best we ever used.

The text of the posters was “Sparks. Having them. Not having them. An experiment in uncommon air. Designers invite themselves into Peter Wood’s office on Wednesday, November 17, and Thursday, November 18, to think about advertising, lunch 360° branding, getting other people out of their offices, and taking on Vietnam for the One Club College Corporation. Party crashers invited. People tired of their wallpaper invited. We’ll make room on the floor. Bring your own tools.” Starting at 8:00 and going clockwise, the participants were Andrea Scaglione, Todd Eisner, Drew Haines, Michael Tavares, Jenn Dehghan, Kara Mayberry, and Joe Ibrahim (center). Two of my favorite VC days ever.

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Around 2000, Visual Communications began focusing on Interactive Media.

Around 2000, the advertising design program was first included in The One Club student exhibition, which honored the top 20 advertising design programs in the United States and put us on the map alongside every program that mattered to us. Of the other 20 or so each year, we were easily the smallest, sometimes by a factor of 50 or more.

Jill and I were eating at the truck stop out by the Interstate one evening. We had just quit Cypher + Nichols + Design. Jill said, “What are you going to do with all that time?” I said I had no idea. She said, “How about starting that Study Abroad program you are always talking about. So…”

The VCUK study abroad program in London was established in 2001. In the summer of 2000, Ray Nichols, Bill Deering, and Jill Cypher took an exploratory trip to Europe. We spent a week in Berlin, where we talked to several art directors at Doyle Dane Bernbach, the first Volkswagen advertising agency (see photo above). Then we spent a week in Paris, mostly eating hot dogs with incredibly hot mustard, as I remember. Then we spent a week in London with Bill, talking to important prospects to see if we could bring students from the U.S. and whether they would let us in. Vince Frost, The Partners, the V&A Museum, Pentagram (see photo below from when we were getting ready to walk in), and Michael Johnson at Johnson Banks all categorically agreed, "If we came, we could visit." So we did. Bill Deering ran the 20th edition of VCUK (and we think the last) in the summer of 2025. I did the first 5, from 2001 to 2005.

Mylene Turek Pollock (VC'83) was awarded the University of Delaware Presidential Citation for Outstanding Achievement.

⬆ A blueprint poster VC produced to promote a talk to recruit incoming sophomore applications to Visual Communications,

Things related to the Advertising Club of Delaware awards ceremony in 2000.

Ann Lemon, then at Young & Rubicam, was one of the judges.

Suzanne Helmerich-Fields did the production design of the Awards catalog

Kevin Kruger produced the slide show for the ceremonies.

Ironhill Technology Ensemble to Cypher + Nichols + Design (merit)

Bill Deering, photography, for personal photography portfolio catalog

Rebecca Herman (VC’80) for design of Grand Giving for the Grand Opera House

Martha Carothers, Ray Nichols (Creative Directors) for U of DE faculty exhibition poster, + Hendrik-Jan Francke (Art Director), Scott Bozarth, Jamie Boyle, and Tanya Mainville (Designers)

Ray Nichols, Martha Carothers, and Hendrik-Jan Francke (Creative Directors) for 6-part Peter Wood posters

Ray Nichols, Martha Carothers (Creative Directors), and Hendrik-Jan Francke (Art Direction), David Bradley and Dave Orgega (production) for Black Maria poster

Sean McCormick (VC’86) (Creative Director) for Mavic Cycling poster

Sean McCormick (VC’86) (Creative Director) for Painter / Convict series

Sean McCormick (VC’86) (Creative Director) for ECCO Shoes for Life series (Merit, Silver)

Bill Deering (Photography) for New York

Bill Deering (Photography) for Flux Labs

Kelly Carter (Creative Director), Today Media, Inc., On the Edge magazine editorial

Kelly Carter (Creative Director), Today Media, Inc., At A Premium magazine editorial

Kelly Carter (Creative Director), Today Media, Inc., The Comeback Bout magazine editorial

Paul Stecca (Art Director, Designer) for Fill this Tube

Hendrik-Jan Francke (Creative Director), Min Chung (Designer), Kevin Kruger (Testing) for ScottHewitt.com website

Hendrik-Jan Francke (Creative Director), Min Chung (Designer)

Hendrik-Jan Francke (Creative Director + Information Architect), Drew Haines & Kevin Kruger (Designer + Coding), for ADDE Awards Website

Ray Nichols & Hendrik-Jan Francke (Creative Directors), DEsigners (Agency Studio) for DEsigners Online

Joe Del Pesco & William Deering (Art Director, Designer, Copywriter, Photographer), William Deering Website

Ed Abbott (Producer & Programming / Technical Lead), OneXstream logo animation

Ed Abbott (Art Director, Designer, Producer, Programming & Technical Lead), Orbit / New Media, Digital Media Design

Joe Del Pesco & William Deering (Creative Director, Designer, Copywriter), William Deering Website

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VCUK'01 was the inaugural year of the Visual Communications-sponsored study-abroad trip to London. The program included 35 visits to advertising agencies, design studios, photographers, and illustrators. We even took over the WHOLE of Stonehenge for an hour to watch the sun come up at 5:02am (see the photo at the top of the page).

We would like to put the agenda for each VCUK trip, which is a lot of work, but I’ll start with the first one.

Bartle Bogle Hagerty / advertising agency
HHCL (2 student groups, 2 speakers) / advertising agency
Leagas-Delaney (2 speakers) / advertising agency
Partners (3 speakers) / advertising agency
St. Luke's (3 speakers) / advertising agency
Mother / advertising agency (continued through 2023)
Lowe-Lintas Advertising / advertising agency
TBWA / advertising agency
Alan Fletcher / graphic designer
Frost Design / graphic design studio
Johnson Banks / graphic design studio (continued through 2023)
Pentagram / graphic design studio
Tequila (3 speakers) / graphic design studio
London College of Printing (2 student visits) / design school
London College of Printing (faculty only) / design school
Central St. Martins / design school
Royal College of Art (2 visits) / design school
Head New Media / interactive design studio
John Brown Publishing (3 speakers) / magazine publisher
Charlotte Berans / illustrator’s agent
David Harriman / photographer
Alan Kitching Typography Workshop / typographer
David Farey / HouseStyle Graphics / typographer
Satwinder Sehmi / calligrapher (continued through 2023)
Margaret Timmers / V&A Museum / Poster curator at the V & A Museum
Victoria & Albert Museum
Design Museum
Tate Modern

We had scheduled the first VC New York field trip of the fall semester for September 26th. We thought hard about canceling it after the events of September 11th. We decided that putting off the journey might be something we'd regret, so we went ahead. At first, everyone was encouraged to avoid the site, but the pull was too strong.

Ray Nichols had assigned his junior advertising design class a poster project for the trip. After the terrorist incident, he had the students rework the assignment and sensitively incorporate the events into the project. His favorite by Anthony DiPaula was the one shown on the front page of the 2nd section of the University of Delaware’s “Review.” They also included a photo Ray took as close to the Towers as the police would allow. The Review quoted several VC students.

Craig Cutler (VC'83) was awarded the University of Delaware Presidential Citation for Outstanding Achievement.

Gold Award from the Advertising Club of Delaware for “Material Culture Recruitment” to Raymond Nichols, Martha Carothers, Hendrik-Jan Francke, and DEsigners. See above.

Silver Award from the Advertising Club of Delaware for “Black Maria” poster to Raymond Nichols, Martha Carothers, Hendrik-Jan Francke, Serrin Bomer, Mike Sullivan, Jen Denis, and Designers

Silver Award from the Advertising Club of Delaware for “Field Trip Poster” to Raymond Nichols, Martha Carothers, Hendrik-Jan Francke, Marco Kaye, Tom Newsom, and Min Chung

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Raven Press at the University of Delaware was established.

Ann Lemon (VC'84) was awarded the University of Delaware Presidential Citation for Outstanding Achievement.

Department of Art “Not Yet Famous Artists Revealed” poster designed and photographed by Hendrik-Jan Francke, Steve Mierding, Michele Rangsiyakul, & Chris Mears. Below is the exhibition call for entries.

Somewhere in here, I need to explain the VC Family Album pages, a project Rose Disanto (VC’83) suggested. Ari Garber (VC’05) produced this one using subtitles from the movie “A Beautiful Mind” as the text. We showed the movie at one of our Friday Sessions. This is probably my favorite VCFA page of the several hundred we designed. It was interesting that using subtitles even removed the need to explain the piece. Unfortunately, someone tossed a book of maybe 200 of these pages after Ray left the University.

ABOVE: Madeline Pachter-Vail (VC’03) won AIGA’s TOLERANCE POSTER competition. Still true that what we see is only the tip of the iceberg.

I was really taken by the movie “A Beautiful Mind,” which I showed in class. John Nash’s economic strategy matched almost exactly with what I had been doing in/with/for VC for years. “Do what is best for you AND best for the group.” I never thought of it as a strategy until I saw the movie. We brought Lynne Butler, who studied under Nash at Princeton, to explain the math. I’m not sure the students got it, but I was in love

Ray Nichols considers this poster as one of the best visual ideas he came up with. It represents John Nash’s theory that the best way for people in a group to work is to do what is best for them as individuals and best for the group.

Above:Lynne Butler and the “math” with Chris Mears.

Poster from our Alan Kitching letterpress workshop during VCUK’02.

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Looks like an interesting class with the Class of ‘03 hanging out with George Lois. I don’t remember exactly what was going on. This is one of 2 stories I have about George grabbing my beard. Anyone? I also have a great story about Esquire covers, one of which George signed for us.

During VCUK’03, British graphic designer Alan Fletcher designed the Raven Press logo. Ben Thoma & Karla Burger Cushman initiated the project.

The original “young bird” logo drawn by Alan Fletcher during VCUK’03 with the added text he did during VCUK’04. See below..

Another example of Alan Fletcher’s handwriting which is just fabulous.

The above shows 3 of 7 posters produced by Bill Deering’s photo students for the Global Agenda speaker series.

Poster from our Alan Kitching letterpress workshop during VCUK’03.

Department of Art “Not Yet Famous Artists Revealed” poster designed and photographed by Hendrik-Jan Francke & Kristin Cahill.

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Concentration in Illustration approved.

The above shows 3 of 7 posters produced by Robin Phillips Pendleton’s students for the Global Agenda speaker series.

Broadside from our Alan Kitching letterpress workshop during VCUK’04.

Ray Nichols, BOB GILL, Ari Garber, Brian Kadar, and Ben Thoma, I think, are headed to lunch at The Knickerbocker.

Department of Art “Not Yet Famous Artists Revealed” poster designed and photographed by Hendrik-Jan Francke and Emily Mellor.

In 2004, VC’s intramural softball team was named the “Ligatures.” I believe the impetus for it all was Ben Thoma (VC’04). I’m not sure if we won any games, but we had the best shirts and had the most fun.

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⬆ Year-end show poster for class of ‘05. The poster was printed via letterpress by laser-cutting the type from a sheet of 1/4” Plexiglas, hand-rolling each of the seven pieces, putting them back together like a jigsaw puzzle, and printing the poster in one pass on Raven Press’ Vandercook 219.

During VCUK'05, Ray & Jill's flat was 200 yards from the bus that terrorists in London bombed. Four students were coming over for a bookmaking workshop and were riding the elevator when the bomb went off.

The front page of Wilmington’s The News Journal almost seems to suggest Bill Deering and Ray Nichols (me) as terrorists. Hmmm. Strangely, we supplied the newspaper with a photo of the two of us together, and they cut our faces apart.

Darcy Eveleigh (VC’91), a photo editor for The New York Times, wanted to see if we had any photos related to the bombing. Immediately after the student arrived at our flat, Ray left to buy paper for the bookmaking workshop. It was about 150 yards to the corner where the bus was located. At the corner, he was within 100 feet of the bus. Ray was the absolute first person the police told to back up.

Did he take his camera with him that morning? Nope.

⬆ Bernie Herman, Director of the Center for American Material Culture Studies, Ray Nichols, and a dozen VC students produced the book "People Were Close." The 108-page book tells the story of the African-American community in Newark bounded by New London Road from the train tracks north to Clayton Hall, including Rose, Ray, Corbit, and Mill streets. The book's visual highlight is a 2" x 80' (as in feet) photographic panorama of multiple-angle views of every building along the included streets, running along the bottom of the pages. (See 2006 for the second book in the series.) This area, which is home to the African-American community, is essentially gone at this point (2018), and many of the houses have been torn down and rebuilt as student apartments.

The 7-poster series shown above, produced via letterpress, was a major leap forward for Raven Press at the University of Delaware. Produced for the Global Agenda speaker series, the one for John Bolton was the major tipping point in angry hand-rolling..

This year, Franklin Tipton (Advertising Design / '91) of Crispin Porter + Bogusky was one of the big creative winners on the planet. He won the Cannes Titanium Lion for "Counterfeit MINI," the Cyber Grand Prix - Method "comeclean.com," the Cannes Gold Film Lion for "Counterfeit MINI," and the Cannes Cyber Gold Lion for "Counterfeit MINI."

During the spring semester ‘05, author Steven Heller spoke to our students, and we produced a poster for his talk through Raven Press. As it turns out, he and Gail Anderson were working on a new book, "New Vintage Type," and asked us to submit some of our letterpress work for consideration. Well, six pieces were chosen for inclusion. Here is the cover of the book.

6 pieces produced through Raven Press are included in Steven Heller and Gail Anderson's book, “New Vintage Type.” Pieces include Art Happens 2 (David Huynh, Ray Nichols, Jill Cypher), Battle of the Bands (Courtney Bowditch & Sarah Rosenthal), Steven Heller Design’s talk (Ray Nichols & Jill Cypher) & Black Maria (Ray Nichols & Jill Cypher), and Images of Robin Hood (Ray Nichols, Jill Cypher)

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Paul Wachter (VC Advertising Design / '06) had his work selected in the prestigious College Competition sponsored by The One Club for Art & Copy in New York. His campaign was one of 20 chosen from around the world for the competition's advertising component. His work also earned a 'pencil,' meaning it was one of the three best.

Steve Boyd (VC Graphic Design / '88) is continuing his streak in Torino, Italy, of working for every Olympic Games presentation since he graduated. Need to double-check and see how long this streak has lasted. NOTE: Just double-checked in 2025, and it is still going, as he is now part of the main Olympic Committee. Great career story.

The second of two books designed by VC students through the Center for American Material Culture Studies is designed and printed. This full-color, 120-page book, titled "Food, Poems, and Stories," combines recipes and history based on interviews with residents, recorded as part of a project by Bernie Herman’s seniors. (See 2005 for the 1st book in the series.)

Raven Press brought Matthew Carter, internationally renowned for his typographic design. to be the inaugural lecturer for the Press. This marked the start of a lecture series called "LetterWordLineBook."

Tesia Farquhar Barone (VC'97) directed the short film "Rent Control." The movie was officially selected for the DC Independent Film Festival and the FirstGlance Film Festival. It won Best Screenplay at the HypeFest Film Festival.

VC grads, headed by Terre Nichols / VC’88, threw Ray HIS 60th birthday party, attended by some 175 people. This is a story in itself.

Ray Nichols retires and, with his wife Jill, starts Lead Graffiti, a letterpress laboratory of sorts, in Newark, DE.

Ashley Pigford hired (2006 - present), graphic design.

Colette Gaiter hired (2006 - present), interactive media

. . . 2 0 0 7

Peter Kaplan (VC'93) received the Young Gun title from the Art Directors Club of New York.

Ray Nichols & Jill Ciyher designed, supplied, and photographed "Histories of Newark: 1758 - 2008," a 288-page hardback book on the history of Newark, Delaware.

Time Magazine listed the top 10 TV ads of the year. Two are connected with us. #4. Dove: "Onslaught", Ogilvy & Mather, Toronto, NANCY MILLER VONK. #8. Dos Equis: "Most Interesting Man in the World", Euro RSCG Worldwide / New York, KARL LIEBERMAN and Brandon Henderson.

. . . 2 0 0 8

The Art Directors Club of New York awarded Ray Nichols the title of "Grandmaster," which led to an exhibition featuring work by 26 of his graduates. Ray was asked to print the certificates. Lizzy Ferraro (VC’05) designed the certificate. The image for the award was taken at Craig Cutler Photography in NYC. Calligraphy by Satwinder Sehmi, London. The complete certificate is printed in 9 letterpress runs.

The others who were awarded this honor that same night are included in the photo below.

The winners (holding certificates): Carin Goldberg (School of Visual Arts), Shiela Metzner (School of Visual Arts), Mark Fenske (AdCenter / Virginia Commonwealth University), & Ray Nichols (University of Delaware). Sheila Levrant de Bretteville (Yale University) had to leave early and wasn’t there for the photo. The award is a great honor in itself, and being included with these important teachers from such esteemed schools was the cherry on top.

An unexpected contingent of former students made the University of Delaware an almost overpowering presence. They came from everywhere.

The New York Art Directors Club included a spread in its 88th annual on Ray’s design work, several of which featured his students' efforts.

. . . 2 0 0 9

Laurie Churchman (VC'85), principal of Designlore, was elected AIGA Fellow by AIGA Philadelphia.

Speaking of AIGA/Philadelphia, Rose DiSanto pitched and then launched a mentoring program that pairs professionals with students and recent grads. The first year had 10 pairs, and in 2015, it had 98. No way that isn't a great thing. If you are a student or a professional in or around Philadelphia, consider getting involved.

Eric Collins (VC'08), Joey Ellis (VC'08), and Larry Pepitone (VC'08) founded GrandArmy on April Fools' Day.

. . . 2 0 1 0

David Brinley hired (2010? - present), foundations & illustration

. . . 2 0 1 1

Eric Collins (VC'08, Joey Ellis (VC'08), & Larry Pipitone (VC'08) of GrandArmy were awarded the title of Young Guns by the Art Directors Club of New York.

Howie Ronay (VC'92), Creative Director at DraftFCB, received multiple Lion Awards at Cannes for his work on Kmart's "Ship my pants" campaign.

. . . 2 0 1 2

. . . 2 0 1 3

. . . 2 0 1 4

Odysseus Arms, an advertising and storytelling agency in San Francisco founded in 2011 by Franklin Tipton (VC'91) and Libby Brockhoff (VC'92), was named Small Agency of the Year by Advertising Age after just 3 years.

Eric Collins (VC'08, Joey Ellis (VC'08), & Larry Pipitone (VC'08) of GrandArmy completed the visual rebranding of the U.S. Postal System.

VCUK’14 itinearary cover.

. . . 2 0 1 5

Around this time, AdAge released its list of the 15 best campaigns of the century so far. Four of them were represented by grads from the Visual Communications Group. Nancy Miller Vonk (VC'79) was ranked #1 for her work for Dove: Campaign for Real Beauty, DJ Pierce (VC'93) #7 for American Express: Small Business Saturday; and Karl Lieberman (VC'99) was #9 for Thank You, Mom, P&G/Olympics, Karl Lieberman (VC'99) and Brandon Henderson (VC'99) were #11 for Dos Equis: Most Interesting Man in the World. Four out of 15 is a pretty damn good ratio.

Graphic Design in the Visual Communications program is ranked 14th among U.S. degree programs. I think this has been true for a couple of years, but the current online article in "Graphic Design Degree Hub" is copyrighted 2015.

Eric Collins (VC'08, Joey Ellis (VC'08), & Larry Pipitone (VC'08) of GrandArmy completed the visual rebranding of KFC.

VCUK’15 itinearary cover.

. . . 2016

VCUK’16 itinearary cover.

. . . 2017

VCUK’17 itinearary cover.

. . . 2018

Oberland, a social advocacy-focused firm co-founded by Bill Oberlander (VC'80) that creates top-notch work for clients including the Nature Conservancy, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness, was awarded AdAge's Small Agency of the Year.

CampaignUS does a nice article on “The Unsung Women of Advertising” and opens with Libby Brockhoff (VC’92}

. . . 2019

. . . 2020

Ahhh. The year of the great sequester.

Steve Boyd (VC’88) said back in ‘88, “I want to work on the Olympics.” As a creative director based in London, Steve has built his career specializing in Olympic ceremonies and large-scale events that blend mass spectacle with volunteer casts. He has contributed—across a spectrum of roles—to 15 consecutive Summer and Winter Olympics, from Barcelona ’92 to Tokyo 2020. He recently served as Show Director for the opening of Galway 2020 European Capital of Culture and as an advisor on ceremonies for the Lausanne 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games. Currently, Steve continues in his role as an advisor to the International Olympic Committee for the next three Olympics: Tokyo ’20 (summer), Beijing ‘22 (winter), and Paris ‘24 (summer).

. . . 2021

. . . 2022

Visual Communications Awards
Beaux La Fontaine - The Robert Geuder Prize
Jessica Underwood - The Robert Geuder Prize
Dia Horan - The Grand Army Prize for Creative Excellence in Graphic Design
Roslyn Rose - Creative Excellence in Interactive Media / UX
Beaux La Fontaine - Creative Excellence in Illustration
Beaux La Fontaine - Creative Excellence in Letterpress & Typography
Elizabeth Kukulich - Creative Excellence in Photography
Ivan Avilla - Creative Excellence in Photography
Sam Vandennekom - Creative Excellence in Film / Motion
Nick Oteri - Creative Excellence in Animation / 3D Modeling
Julia Harman - Creative Excellence in Animation / 3D Modeling
Bella Niola - Creative Excellence in Copywriting

. . . 2023

Elena Nerhood - The Robert Geuder Prize
Colette Burda - The Robert Geuder Prize
Justin O’Toole - The Karl & Amy Lieberman Prize for advertising design
Lauren Weiss - The Grand Army Prize for Graphic Design
Kayla Plunkett - The Marco Kaye Prize for Copywriting
Colette Burda - Laurie Frankel Prize for Photography & Film
Kaylin Atkinson - Creative Excellence in Illustration
Sarah Delpercio - Distinction in Design
Hannah Schaffer - Distinction in Design
Justin O’Toole - Raven Press Letterpress Award
Sarah Delpercio - Raven Press Letterpress Award
Elena Nerhood - Creative Excellence in Interactive Design
Emma Liss - Creative Excellence in Interactive Design
Melanie Gasmen - Award of Merit for Design
Sam Cosmillo - Award of Merit for Design
Haley Raiford - Award of Merit for Design

VCUK resumed for its 20th edition this year after a 2-year Covid Hiatus.

. . . 2024

. . . 2025

Bill Deering's retirement may effectively end Visual Communications United Kingdom (VCUK) study-abroad trips.

KARL LIEBERMAN (VC'99) serves as Wieden+Kennedy's global chief creative officer, overseeing the New York office and seven other offices, as well as more than 1,300 employees worldwide. Since graduating from UD with a BFA in Visual Communication in 1999, Lieberman has made a remarkable impact on the advertising industry.

In 2006, Lieberman co-created the Dos Equis "The Most Interesting Man in the World" campaign, which ran for a decade and helped triple the brand's business. He also penned and later directed the P&G "Thank You, Mom" Olympics campaign that won an Emmy in 2012. His work bringing back "The Colonel" for Kentucky Fried Chicken in 2015 helped spark a turnaround for the brand, leading to over 13 consecutive quarters of business growth.

Lieberman has stayed deeply connected with UD's Department of Art and Design and the College of Arts and Sciences. He helped establish a four-year Wieden+Kennedy scholarship for underrepresented students in the Visual Communications program. He has created numerous internship opportunities for UD students at W+K and hired multiple UD alumni. Lieberman and his family have also established a $75,000 Student Enrichment Program in the Department of Art and Design to support experiential learning opportunities for students.

Amazing to think that Karl is pretty much on the same level in the advertising world as Lee Clow was a few decades back.

. . . 2026

. . . 2027

. . . 2028

. . . 2029

I just keep pushing this stuff down the list and figuring out how to ram it in to the already long list.

Other notable dates might be (1) merger with Illustration, (2) Interactive Media Minor, (3) Computer Lab

Jackie Dreja McTear So cool. We were the first to have a beginning design on the Mac class in '88 or '89. We had the super small little ones, I think. I have fond memories of the dark Annex basement and drafty top floor where we had our desks. Everything became so high-tech after us, and now you have swank digs. But I wouldn't trade it for the way it was for us. Hands-on, gritty, all about concept. Also, I graduated in '89 with a BS.

Laurie Frankel, I think the program name change was in 1982 not 85

Laurie Frankel, When were the Plato computers installed? I feel like it was in 80 or 81

Bill Deering and I are going to start recording our memories about various events and experiences. I would love for students to start doing the same thing. I know that on my iPhone, I have “Voice Memos.” You could find something POSITIVE to talk about from your VC experiences. Good project, good speaker, good field trip, great moment from VCUK, etc. Record it. Email it to Ray Nichols. If it needs some editing, I can give it a try to take out most of the “ahhh”“s and the like. I’d love for someone to give this a try.

Below is a list of topics Bill and I are considering discussing.

Helmut Krone
2 lunches, elevator, Marty Cook, broken leg
George Lois
2 office visits, walking around Langley’s
Amil Gargano
Mike Tesch / Sarah Moon (fuck Fresh)
Jimmy Moore
Alexey Brodovitch's critique story
David Langley / Talks
Woody Pirtle
Find the Rudolph poster
Peter Wood
Carl Fisher
Art Directors Club / Portfolio reviews
Wingate Paine
Harvey Lloyd
Alexey Brodovitch talk 
CBS / Louis Dorfsman
Horn and Grinder
Herb Lubalin
studio visit
Roy Grace
James Helms project
Art Kane
workshop / critique
Aaron Burns
ITC visits
Steve Frickholm
Blueprint machine
AIGA / Philly
Seymour Chwast
William Taubin
Henry Wolf
Interview for Helmut Krone's book
Marty Cook
Milton Glaser
Steve Boyd, thank you
Ed McCabe
Paul Rand
“Am I overdressed?”
Fred Woodward
Critique, lying on the floor of Rolling Stone
Jay Maisel
Bob Gill
7-hour critique
monthly meetings about the curriculum
Bob Giraldi
Lee Clow
Bert Stern
Jay Chiat
Ann Lemon is doing a CD ad for WSJ
Louise Fili
B. Martin Pederson
Helmut Krone's lunch
Steven Heller
talk, poster, book
Janet Froelich
Matthew Carter
Talk for Raven Press
Jim Johnson
Emilo Paccione 
Gordan Parks

Can we figure out at least one good story for each of the 5 years I did the trips?

Eric Gill's gravesite with students
Stonehenge at sunrise
Alan Kitching
Satwinder Sehmi
Italy on a 6-day break
Tour de France in Belgium / Gutenberg
St. Bride Printing Library aha moment
Claire Bolton meander book / workshop
Bombing
CoinCraft
Michael Johnson

London 2000-2006 / See the London Study abroad schedules