September 2012

Poulin + Morris Designs Stage Setting for Barnard College’s 120th Commencement Ceremony

In May 2012, President Barack H. Obama delivered the keynote address at Barnard College’s 120th Commencement ceremony where he also received the Barnard Medal of Distinction, the school’s highest honor. “After decades of slow, steady, extraordinary progress, you are now poised to make this the century where women shape not only their own destiny but the destiny of this nation and this world,” President Obama told the approximately 600 graduates in his inspiring speech.

Poulin + Morris was commissioned by Barnard College to design the stage setting for this memorable event. The main criterion was to create a visual consistency for the various Barnard brand identification elements while supervising an installation schedule that needed unwavering precision. The schedule allowed no room for even the slightest misstep. The U. S. Secret Service defined a very specific time-frame for a security sweep with the stage needing to be completely assembled within a three-hour period.

Throughout this process, it was essential that the Poulin + Morris design team coordinate all of their efforts with The White House advance team. We relied on their extensive experience to help compose the best hierarchy of information that took advantage of optimum photographic and video composition. The exact coordination yielded excellent results that were instantly recognized when images of the event were broadcast and published on the web and news services worldwide.