Newhouse III is an addition to the 66,000-square-foot S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications complex. The new 75,000-square-foot building allows the School to expand its education and research missions with the new facility focused on interdisciplinary study. The glass-wrapped building houses community spaces, numerous high-tech media labs, and research centers that bring together the communications disciplines and support the integration of all students and specialties.

An overall environmental graphics and donor recognition sign program was developed to link the various areas of the complex. The visual solutions implemented rely upon the use of visual metaphor and technology to communicate the foundation and future mission of this premiere school of journalism.

A unique donor recognition wall located in the building entrance lobby acknowledges the digital evolution of public communications by using a kinetic medium to communicate donor names and personal messages to passers-by. Over 100 staggered LED digital panels display this information in a fluid, synchronized pace simulating multiple news zippers communicating simultaneously as if real time information were being displayed. A typographic wall mural located in the ‘heart’ or atrium of the new building spans 3 stories identifying ‘NEWHOUSE’ and its programs such as media studies, journalism, and graphic design. By using CMYK-colored halftone dots, the designers created a visual metaphor celebrating ‘NEWHOUSE’ and its pursuits of traditional and non-traditional forms of public communications in the new digital era.