Charles Apple

Darren Sanefski , assistant art director and sports designer for the Post-Standard of Syracuse, N.Y., has taken a buyout after 22 years at that paper.

He’s one of 80 Post-Standard employees to take a buyout, he tells us. Tuesday will be his last day at work.

He writes:

So, what’s my plan?  I’m open to all possiblities, but to start out, I’m teaching Master’s students, design theory and practice at [S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University] for six weeks this summer.  I already have clients, from my design company dmsdesignstudio.com (very obvious plug there) and am waiting for my last day so I can focus on their marketing and web site designs.

The latest development is that I’m probably going to attend school myself for a Master’s Degree in Graphic Design focusing on multimedia.  I should be done with my Master’s by next summer. This will make me more marketable to colleges if I want to teach full-time.

I’ve been very blessed. I have found two things I enjoy doing for a living, designing and teaching. It may not be easy but it does feel good to be moving forward.

It’s been a tough two months, and I truly hope The Post-Standard is able to find its way in this new era it has found itself in. I have no hard feelings and many, many good memories. The paper has been a good employer and I have learned so much. I will miss the many friends that also took the buyout and those friends I leave behind at The Post-Standard. But now it is time to open a new chapter in my life, and I am excited to get it started.

A 1985 Syrcuse graduate, Darren taught at Cazenovia College in Cazenovia, N.Y. before going to work for the Post-Standard in 1987. In 2005, he began teaching as an adjunct at his alma mater.

Darren is a longtime facilitator at the annual SND design judging in Syracuse. He was a speaker at last spring’s Small Paper Summit quickcourse in Waterbury, Conn., and at SND/Vegas last fall. He also spent three days teaching news design with yours truly in Harrisburg, Pa., last September.

If you’ve not seen his Gestalt Theory of News Design presentation, then hire him to show it to you. Terrific stuff.

Darren Sanefski teaches Gestalt theory of
news design in Waterbury, Conn., in May.
—

In addition, Darren runs a freelance graphics business on the side: DMS Design Studio, through which he’s worked for clients such as Boeing, Pacificare, Syracuse University, LeMoyne College and the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce.

A few samples of his newspaper work:

Darren recently started a blog about Gestalt Design. So far, he’s written exactly one post. It’s a great start, Darren, but you have to post at least three or four times before your server crashes from all the traffic.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 25th, 2009 at 11:40 pm and is filed under Job changes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.