2023 Imagine RIT poster blends technology with the arts

An imaginary close-up of the inside of a computer, mixed with neon lights, microphones, an artist’s palette, molecules, and computer code, has been selected as this year’s Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival poster.

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Tens of thousands of people from the community typically attend Imagine RIT, which this year will be on Saturday, April 29. Hundreds of exhibits, ranging from robotics and artificial intelligence, to computers, glass blowing and performing arts, will be on display with students and faculty members who can talk about their projects.

The event, typically the largest annual event on the Rochester Institute of Technology campus, is free and open to the public.

The winning poster was created by Annelise Wall, a second-year new media design major from the Rochester suburb of Pittsford. It took her about a month to make the poster as a final class project last semester.

“It was a very large undertaking to make a 3D poster,” she said. It took about a month from start to finish. “I poured a lot of hours in it, and a lot of late-night hours in the lab. I’m very proud of it.”

The poster features the word “imagine” in an orange neon light, but much of her poster is purple.

“Since the RIT color is orange, I wanted to pick a color that contrasted with orange,” she said.

Wall said the inspiration for her poster came from industrial glass pipes as well as the insides of a PC.

“In the glass pipes I wanted to represent other disciplines like a microphone, molecules, and ones and zeros,” she said. “And I had to have an artist’s palette to represent myself, too.”

An animated version of her poster has the items traveling as if on a conveyor belt.

Wall will receive $500 in Tiger Bucks, which she said may go toward a new computer. The first 5,000 visitors to the festival will also receive a free poster.

This year, 75 poster ideas intended to capture the spirit of the festival were submitted, and voting from the RIT community was held through Feb. 10. The top vote-getters were reviewed and the winning poster was selected by RIT President David Munson.

Wall said her class was very competitive about the contest, and she saw other submissions she really liked, including one showing a robotic tiger, and one with a Ferris wheel.

“This year’s submissions are some of the best we have ever received,” said Ann Ielapi, director of Imagine RIT and special events.