Lanny Sommese studied graphic design and fine arts at the University of Florida (1961–65), and graphic design at the University of Illinois, Urbana (1966–70). His career has taken two tracks. As an educator he developed and shepherded the graphic design programme at Penn State University. As a practitioner he maintained his own design office, Lanny Sommese Design & Illustration, which, in 1988, when his wife Kristin joined him, was renamed Sommese Design. The firm specializes in corporate, print, packaging and poster design as well as illustration for clients on and off campus. Sommese has had an ongoing engagement with social issues and social responsibility, not only in his work but that of his students as well. He has won many awards, highlighted by a gold medal and the José Guadalupe Posada medal for Best Poster at the Biennial of the Poster in Mexico and first prize in the Triennial of the Stage Poster, Sofia.