Thesis Update

For my Graduate Studio Thesis project I am developing the visual language for The Pôsterie (a letter writing cafe), whose mission is to revive the dying art of letter writing and bring it together with the digital world. These are some signature patterns I've been developing for The Pôsterie. These patterns were developed with the brand in mind as a way to visually convey bridging the old with the new, tangible with the digital, and revive the nostalgia of the written word, letters and mail art. The patterns were inspired by writing tools, letters, stamps, airmail, photographs, stories, French culture, cafe culture, and vintage package labels, ephemera and collections.

For My Valentine

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="560" caption="Valentine's Day dinner menu"]Valentine dinner menu[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="560" caption="A valentine for my sweetheart. Quote taken from Massimo Vignelli."][/caption]

The Eleventh Plague

Hot off the press, just in time for Passover 2012, arrived, “The New American Haggadah,” Edited by Jonathan Safran Foer with a new translation by Nathan Englander. Jews around the US rejoiced as they discovered this alternative anthology of readings and Hebrew scripture, which serves as a guide through the Passover Seder.  The purpose of the traditional Haggadah is to tell the story of the Israelites’ liberation from Egyptian slavery, while clearly establishing the order of rituals and prayers in the Seder. (In Hebrew “Seder” literally means “order.”) What promises to be a thoughtful, progressive Haggadah for our time is merely a guise for a modern day plague, the plague of Dreadful Typography.

The design of this Haggadah is the kind of work you’d expect from an undergrad Freshman graphic design student. Although it looks like the first draft of an interesting design concept, it clearly needs many more revisions. Oded Ezer, the Israeli “typographic artist, logo and type designer... lecturer and typographic experimentalist” (odedezer.com) responsible for the design explains: “Jews have been designing Haggadahs for more than one hundred generations. Deliberately, or not, these designs have inevitably reflected the time in which they were made. The notion behind the design of this book was to merge, visually, the history of the Jewish nation with the traditional text of the Haggadah.” (odedezer.com) I don’t believe the design of this Haggadah reflects the time in which we live. On one hand, the typography of this Haggadah looks more like a Minimalist work gone wrong from the 1960’s and 70’s than something that reflects the contemporary. On the other hand, the typographic illustrations in this book are as varied as the opinions in any group of Jews, its like its arguing with itself and can’t decide what it is. The design presents chaos, disorganization - the opposite of order - which would be more appropriate for a Haggadah. The editor’s should have hired someone with more expertise to design the layout of this Haggadah.

The design of this Haggadah does not clearly establish the order of rituals and prayers in the Seder, which is its purpose. In the Haggadah layout, there is no clear hierarchy in the text, very few headings and no English transliterations. These design choices make it hard to follow along where you are in the Seder, which means this Haggadah is more appropriately designed for Israelis than for Americans, or at least for someone who is fluent in Hebrew. Despite its title, “The New American Haggadah,” this book is not accessible to the American Jews for whom it claims to be written. Ezer’s excuse? “Americans don’t read the Hebrew anyway; they only read the English”(Why Is This Haggadah Different from All Other Haggadot? by Ellen Shapiro - imprint/printmag.com) at the Passover Seder, which is not only an unfair generalization of American Jewish practice, but also a horrendous excuse for poor design and typography.

There is no logic to Ezer’s design. Sure, the typographic illustrations are interesting, artistic plays on the Hebrew text, but this just reiterates the fact Ezer really is a typographic artist and experimentalist, not a graphic designer. He simply shoved heavy blocks of type around his illustrations. Type should be logically laid out, it’s like wayfinding signage. He clearly didn’t use a grid which would have allowed the reader to easily navigate through and identify specific information. Artistic illustrations do not make up for poor typography.

Ezer continues, “It’s really three books within one book. I wanted people to turn their attention completely to the time line and then completely to the commentaries.” (Shapiro) The time line extends from 1500 BCE to the present. If Ezer wanted people to turn their attention to the time line, he could have done that without making people literally turn their oversized books around. The book is larger than most Haggadahs, which are small enough to sit on your place setting and not knock items off the table which is packed with wine goblets, dishes and food. This also makes me question why there are ready-made wine stains printed on the pages. They look inauthentic, and should appear by happenstance, after years of use at family Seders.

“If I touch the letters, I think and I hope that people will be touched by them.” (Shapiro) Says Ezer. Indeed, he has touched them… and mangled them, splattered them, and chopped them up to the point that the book no longer feels coherent. If it weren’t for the outstanding commentary by many progressive iconoclasts, this is a Haggadah I’d be happy to pass-over.

Papyrus Fights for a Comeback

Babycakes label

Papyrus has recently tried for a makeover. She’s fighting hard to re-establish herself as a worthy font in the mainstream, and upgrade her stature. The typographic star of James Cameron’s Avatar even earned herself a new website, iheartpapyrus.com, dedicated to “celebrating the ubiquitous overuse of every amateur’s favorite font.” Like Madonna, earning fame in her 1983 heyday, she starred on many a restaurant menu, and was the posterchild for countless natural, earthy company logos. As she strives to redefine herself from her past appearances the question remains to be seen, can she make a comeback?

In recent years graphic designers have deemed Papyrus a tired, clichéd and overused font. In her next performance, Papyrus is the voice of babycakes, a bakery for baked treats and confections. True to her roots, she retains her brown, earthy undertones, but combines herself with a new and unexpected shade of pink, suggesting a delicious bite of strawberry and chocolate. Her lower case b stands tall in the background like some giant cookie, waiting to be devoured. Where her rough edges once represented the markings of chalk or ink over a plant based Egyptian paper, they now crumble like bits of cake or fudge brownies. But too much of her unique stylings and she is sure to crumble into some bad press. “Babycakes” would have climbed the charts had she not shown off on the rest of the label. Papyrus has an old soul, and it is questionable whether she can succeed in communicating a brand that’s trying to convey a sense of newness, cuteness and babies.

Heard sparingly and appropriately, Papyrus may succeed in a comeback. However, if she gets too much press, we are sure to overindulge on this font and lose our babycakes. The true question is: Can we, as graphic designers learn to salute and adore this font as much as the fans at iheartpapyrus.com? As she pops up again and again, we will need to accept this tenacious font as we’ll most likely be defeated.

NESAD Thesis Show

Work from this semester's graduate Thesis show in Graphic Design. The opening was held at Art at 12 Gallery, located in Fort Point Channel.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Work by Victor Cabrera, photo by Afraa Gutub"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="213" caption="Work by Emily Roose, photo by Afraa Gutub"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Work by Kate Simonson, photo by Afraa Gutub"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Work by April Kalix-Cattell, photo by Afraa Gutub"][/caption]

Freedom in Death

Gravestone detail

Restriction triumphed in the 18th century political, emotional and social landscapes, as many favored the regimentation and strictness associated with classicism. These ethics permeated European society and grasped the early settlers in America so tightly, one could only find freedom in death.

The ground is close to frozen as I stand in the Sherborn Cemetery, an old graveyard which protects the remains of the town’s earliest settlers, dating back to the early to mid-1700’s. The grass is so brittle, I feel each blade snap under my feet as I visit each gravestone. Each is carved by hand and includes images and typography. “Here lyes buried... body of... HENRY LEELAND...” The constricting coldness chills me to the bone as I visit the gravestones of the Leelands, the Crackbones and their neighbors.

The typography is a serif font typical of the time, related to Caslon. While most of the words are legible, I find the delicate letters have worn over time, and the gravestones have lost important information — the year, or an anecdote about the person.

“Octobr 29th” does not sit on one baseline. The “Octo” sits by itself with a lovely ligature connecting the “c” to the “t.” Meanwhile the “br” balances above the “o,” careful not to slide off. The same goes for the “th” that sits on top of the “9.” If the whole word does not fit on one line, why not abbreviate? or carve the date numerically? I am drawn to the sense of playfulness and freedom used to carve the words, an unnatural inclination to us in our modern, computer based world. However, if you can still determine the order of the letters, you can still read the word. It reminds me of a Christmas card I saw recently at the Paper Source, the letters crammed in, balancing on top of one another.

Most of the gravestones have a “death’s head”— a grinning winged skull carved into the top of the stone.  Traditionally a symbol of good luck, the family of skulls grinn, almost suggesting a release from all earthly troubles and restraints, found in death.  It’s as if the yearning for freedom, indicated by the wings, is also expressed through the chosen layout of typography.

Art and Social Justice: Letter-Writing Workshop

Over the MLK weekend I attended the 3rd annual Moishe Kavod House Arts Retreat at the Peace Abbey, in Sherborn, MA. The weekend was full of art making and various artistic expression. My favorite workshop was the Art and Social Justice workshop. We created mail art and wrote all sorts of letters to people who need to hear specific messages, mainly politicians. I am particularly interested in this topic as it relates directly to my thesis topic! (Strengthening and facilitating interpersonal connection via letter-writing and mail art) Letters

Around Venezia

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="604" caption="Paper dragonflies pop out of the wall paper in a Venetian storefront"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="491" caption="The Venetian lamps have turned pink over the years due to the amethyst in the Murano glass."]Venetian pink lamps[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="604" caption="I love Renaissance fashion! I might need to start a line of shoes inspired by Renaissance paintings. Can we say gladiator sandals anyone? Taken at the Accademia"]Renaissance Shoes[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="604" caption="Gorgeous hand painted hanging lamps in Venice, yours for only 2,000 euro! Maybe I'll buy one when I move into my palace. "]Venetian Lamps[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="604" caption="The icons on this sign are hilarious! We need to use the pregnant woman icon in the states."]Reserved Seating Sign[/caption]

Biennale Arte 2011 - Venezia

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="491" caption="The entrance to the cafeteria at the Biennale"]Biennale Cafeteria[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="604" caption="I found this exhibit in the Korean pavillion. There was a square room with giant "mirrors" on all four walls. The frames were mirror frames, but the "mirror" was actually a monitor. As you walked in the room there was the sounds of glass shattering and it looked like there were bullets going through the glass, in a slow time lapse. Apparently the artist worked on this piece for the last 20 years."]shattered mirror[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="491" caption="I found this piece at one of the Bienniale satellite exhibits along the Canal Grande in Venezia. Its like a make up compact but the pressed powder is the floorplan of a church! Love!"]Compact Church[/caption]

GAGA for Screen Printing

This past weekend I helped coordinate an evening of down and dirty screen printing with the NESAD Graduate Association of Graphic Artists. We had about ten designers busting out over 50 one of a kind GAGA T's. Go here to see all the photos from the GAGA T-Shirt Screen Printing event, thanks to Nick DiStefano. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Screen printed logo for Graduate Association of Graphic Artists"]GAGA TShirt[/caption]

GAGA TShirts

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="Eliana and Jenny screen printing"]screenprinting[/caption]