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THE LINES
Quarterly Issue — WINTER 2017
Issue 01 typography, design and activism
What is typograp
How does it impa
The Merriam-Webster de
of producing printed pag
arrangement, or appeara
those letters, words, and s
how they are perceived. G
lishes hierarchy, and pres
it easier to read, and, the
is good communication: i
make a difference in the w
LETTER FROM
THE EDITOR
phy? Why does it matter?
act our lives?
efinition of “typography” is: “the work
ges from written material” or “the style,
ance of printed letters on a page.” How
sentences are styled and arranged affects
Good typography clarifies content, estab-
sents information in a manner that makes
erefore, to understand. Good typography
it can start a dialog or advance an idea or
world.
R
Typography is also intertwined with our daily lives—we encounter type in everything from the products we buy, the signage around us, the books we read, the news we consume, and the directions we follow. Typography can be beautiful, functional, persuasive, and inviting. It can also fail, especially when there is a disconnect between how the type looks and what the text says. This debut issue of Between the Lines examines typography and design viewed through the lens of activism and social justice. Topics range from the recent presidential election to ethics within the design industry to the power of the poster as a means of expression and protest. The content was conceptualized, collected, curated, and created by students in Art 338: Typography II at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo during winter quarter 2017. The magazine reflects the diverse interests and talents of the students who brought this project to life. CHARMAINE MARTINEZ Editor, Instructor and Type Enthusiast
ETHICAL 8–9
Saltwater Brew
Edible Six-Pack
SOCIAL 22 – 27
Women’s Right
Throughout the
46– 51
4
Planned Paren
Q&A 70 – 79
Not Just Any G
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TABLE OF
but Someguy—
Brian Singer In
CONTENT
L DESIGN
wery Creates
k Rings
1 0 – 15
16 – 19
New Logo and Packaging for
Why Every Designer
Dr. Bronner’s Spaceship Type
Needs a Code of Ethics
JUSTICE 28 – 39
40 – 45
ts
The Women’s March and the
Living with:
e Ages
Art of Creative Resistance
nthood
52– 59
60 – 67
Culture Strike
Why the Activist Poster
5
is Here to Stay
Guy,
—
TS
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nterview
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6
ETH
HICAL
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DESIGN 7
SALTWATER
EDIB SIX-
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8
R BREWERY CREATES
BLE -PACK RINGS
BY HEATHER GALANTY
The devastating effects that plastic six-pack rings can have to both wildlife and the environment have been proven time and time again. While many iterations of
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the packaging have been seen over the years, here’s a look at a very creative and sustainable alternative to the standard six-pack ring. Saltwater Brewery in Delray Beach, Fla., recently released edible six-pack rings, a brand-new approach to sustainable beer packaging. These six-pack rings are 100 percent biodegradable and edible—constructed of barley and wheat ribbons from the brewing process. This packaging can actually be safely eaten by animals that may come into contact with the refuse. Head of Brand at Saltwater Brewery Peter Agardy says, “It’s surfers and people that love the sea.” Brewery President Chris Gove notes, “We hope to influence the big guys and hopefully inspire them to get on board.”
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a big investment for a small brewery created by fisherman,
NEW LOGO A
DR. BRONNER’S S
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10
AND PACKAGING FOR
SPACESHIP TYPE BY ARMIN VIT JUN. 17, 2015
Established in 1948, Dr. Bronner’s is a manufacturer of certified organic and fair trade soaps and personal care products that in 2014 had a total revenue of $80.3 million with their popular liquid soaps accounting for 67% of it. The company is well-known
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for treating their 130-plus employees exceptionally well and for their philanthropy, contributing up to $8 million worth in finan-
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cial, in-kind, and direct action contributions.
Their products and overall brand have a cult status and a lot of it has to do with the company’s unconventional origin story and text-filled packaging, which I will quote below from our book, Graphic Design, Referenced: The descendant of three generations of German soapmakers, Emmanuel Heilbronner immigrated to the United States in 1929 at the age of 21, working with various soap companies in the East before establishing himself in the 1930s in Milwaukee and dropping the first syllable from his last name. In the 1940s, now a self-titled doctor, Bronner began to draft and persistently share a plan for world peace in “Spaceship Earth” through unity of religion. In 1945 Dr. Bronner was arrested for speaking without a permit at the University of Chicago 12
and institutionalized in the Elgin State Insane asylum. He escaped six months later and fled to Los Angeles. There, in his small apartment, he began mixing soap with a broom handle, which he sold while expounding on his theories at the Pershing Square public park. When he noticed people bought his soap but did not bother to listen to him talk, he started writing his philosophy on the labels. In the late 1960s, Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps gained popularity with the hippie culture because of its all-natural ingredients, durability, and its equal effectiveness in cleaning
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groovy locks of hair, bell-bottom jeans, and Volkswagen vans. Packaged extremely simply in brown plastic bottles with one-color labels—the text on Dr. Bronner’s products became evolving soliloquies on its founder’s
philosophy, referred to as “The Moral ABC.” The labels of the 32-ounce soap package each carry as many as 3,000 words expressing Dr. Bronner’s thinking, which references everything from Mao Tse-tung to Albert Einstein, Joseph Stalin, and Halley’s Comet. Dr. Bronner passed away in 1997, but his sons maintain his legacy and are overseeing their increased popularity. The Bronners have declined purchase offers, and while sale may still be a possibility, the labels will be safe: A provision in the company’s charter states they must remain the same. This March, the company introduced a revised version of their packaging. No design credit given. In 2014, Dr. Bronner’s added 13 stars to our corporate logo in reference to the cosmos, which inspired Dr. Eman-
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uel Bronner’s ALL-ONE vision, and continues to inspire the company. The stars acknowledge that all our work happens within a larger cosmological context. The smaller stars can be seen as representing the 12 constellations of the zodiac or the 12 tribes. The brightest star represents our sun or the Eternal father. Together the stars add up to 13, a number with mystical meaning in Judaism as well as other religious traditions. The placement of an ancient geometric figure which uses 13 circles to create all the platonic solids, and which represents completeness, perfection and wholeness.
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the stars uses a pattern from Metatron’s cube,
BEFORE
AFTER
We will start with the logo, redesigned and affirm the authenticity and hisa few months before the packaging, it tory of the brand, as well as reflect the seems. A fairly simple evolution, the modern ethos and style of the current 14
logo keeps the globe shaking hands generation of the Bronner family and but with a slightly better drawing of the the products’ contemporary customers elements. I never I thought I would say and fans. this but the swooshes in the new logo “Our new product labels honor the are much better. Gone is the Medi- legacies of our grandfather, Dr. E.H. cine Man typography and in its place Bronner, my father Jim Bronner, and is a combination of Futura and… Trade my Uncle Ralph who have each helped Gothic Condensed (?) that looks quite shape this company into what is well with the bold amounts of blue of today,” says David Bronner, President the icon. The 13 added stars looked of Dr. Bronner’s. “Each label contains
completely randomly placed but, like this special pledge that represents a all things Dr. Bronner’s, the rationaliza- distillation of my grandfather’s philoso-
tion and grid blew my mind. It’s not a phy that adorns our labels, while sumgood logo by any means but at least marizing our mission and purpose as a BETWEEN THE LINES
now it’s a much tighter unit.
company: In all that we do, let us be
Modeled after the aesthetic of the generous, fair & loving to Spaceship original labels on bottles of soap first Earth and all Its inhabitants. For we’re created by Dr. E.H. Bronner in 1948, ALL-ONE OR NONE! ALL-ONE!” the “Old & Improved” labels preserve
Most people know Dr. Bronner’s from new version keeps that initial impact the serif packaging so, at first, seeing and then keeps you hooked with the them go to an all sans approach would onslaught of text. Also, the revised seem like sacrilege but the evolution visual language extends perfectly to image shows that the serif version is the whatever product the Dr. Bronner’s odd one out. What made the previous team puts out. labels so great was that they were utterly There are a few more of those product un-designed. All the text was justified sheets here and they are all equally awe-
and although there was some hierar- some. The text border on the sheets is chy it wasn’t as didactic as we’ve all so dorky and ill-advised that no other
been doing it through our careers. The company could pull it off. I’ve always new labels are definitely designed by found Dr. Bronner’s fascinating and I someone concerned with spacing and think this change makes their products legibility. You could argue that some even better and more convincing while of its soul has been sucked out but in at the same time demonstrating a keen terms of doing a meaningful evolution sense of brand continuity and consiswithout sacrificing the original intent, tency that few other consumer prodthis succeeds quite well. These prod- ucts have. All-one! ucts are instantly recognizable on the
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shelves of the grocery store because
1973
1984
CURRENT
2015
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of their typographic texture and this
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WHY EV DESIGNE A CODE
VERY ER NEEDS OF ETHICS
17
BY CARRIE COUSINS
Many professions have codes of ethics, a common set of guiding principles that help you make fair decisions. Codes often protect both the worker and client from poor business practices. Designers working in a team or individual environment should be working with a code of ethics. Many designers might even follow multiple codes—one zations and one that is a more personal set of rules and guidelines. One thing is certain: Every designer needs a code of ethics.
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set by an employer, one set by professional organi-
KEY PRINCIPLES
Although there are various points in every code of ethics, most contain a key set of principles. Codes often outline the designer’s responsibility to clients, how designers should interact with each other, the designer’s responsibility to the public and environment, fees and compensation and basic conduct (including honesty and fair competition).
DESIGNER’S RESPONSIBILITY TO CLIENTS
The principle defines the basic way in which you will interact with clients. Concepts include conflicts of interest, confidentiality and professional responsibility and behavior. How you decide to interact with clients is important and will set the tone for who hires you and the reputation you earn in the industry.
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HOW DESIGNERS INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER
How designers work with and interact with each other is just as valuable of a concept as working with clients. Items that are often covered by the principle include taking or working on projects started by other designers; fair and open competition in business; objectivity; honoring all others’ work including copyrights, trademarks and other design property; and working within other relevant and generally accepted codes of conduct.
DESIGNER’S RESPONSIBILITY TO THE PUBLIC
Designers should also think about how they work they produce can impact the people who will see it. This audience includes the public at large, distinct customer groups and the community in which the designer works and lives. Things to consider include
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taking projects that could result in some degree of harm to the public, the communicated message and its truthfulness, mutual respect of the audience, discriminatory actions and obligation to serve the community.
FEES AND COMPENSATION
One of the things that classifies a professional design as such is the collection of fees and payment for work. A good code also outlines fees and payments, what kinds charges are acceptable, when taking a fee could cause potential conflict, how contracts should be maintained and honored, and provisions for estimates (if applicable).
BASIC CONDUCT
Often ethical codes outline basic rules of professional conduct. This refers to understanding and obeying all applicable laws but also good and fair business practices. Some things to consider include the ability to accept gifts for work, refusing work that is unlawful or fraudulent and working (or refusing to work) on projects that are purposefully misleading or deceptive in a way that can cause harm.
careful consideration. Aside from legal concerns,
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there are not a lot of specifically right or wrong answers when it comes to ethics. The key is creating working guidelines that mesh with your business and personality. What is acceptable for one company may not be for another. Excerpt from a Design Shack article. https://designshack.net/articles/business-articles/why-every-designer-needs-a-code-of-ethics/
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CONCLUSION
The way you conduct yourself and business requires
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JUST S
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TICE SOCIAL 21
FORMER SEE RED MEMBERS,1977 See Red Women’s Workshop Feminist Poster
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THERESA WLOKKA, 2013. Student at Miami Ad School in Germany. Ad campaign for Terre Des Femmes.
WOMEN’S RIGHTS
THROUGHOUT THE AGES Posters have been used to advocate rights
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for many people over the years, women have used design to fight for their rights. Strong imagery and message are apparent in all these posters illustrating different topics and movements such as the woman’s suf-
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frage to fighting stereotypes.
HENRY MAYER, 1915.
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Women’s Suffrage, ‘The Awakening.’ American cartoon.
EMILY J. HARDING, ca. 1907-1918 She. It is time I got out of this place. Where Shall I Find The Key? Convicts Lunatics and Women! Have no vote for Parliament
DUNCAN GRANT winner of the ASL 1909 competition
FORMER SEE RED MEMBERS,1977 See Red Women’s Workshop Feminist Poster
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ANDREA BOWERS, 2011 Angela Davis — You are Welcome in this House (In honor of Julian Madyun)
J. HOWARD MILLER, 1943
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Design in workshop in Ecuador taught by TIMO BERRY, 2011. Featured in Poster4Tomorrow
SHEPARD FAIREY, 2007. “Power and equality”
MEMAC OGILVY & MATHER DUBAI, 2013. UN Women Ad UN Women Search Engine Campaign (sexism on internet). Based on searches dated 9 March, 2013.
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THE WOMEN AND T
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N’S MARCH
THE ART OF CREATIVE RESISTANCE
BY SUSAN KARLIN JANUARY 1, 2017
How artists in a Trump America are embracing lessons from the civil rights era and momentum from the Women’s Marches. Photo by:
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AP, 2017.
City streets around the world (and a ings on social media, to theaters, art ship deck in Antarctica) flowed pink shows, and apparel raising money for Saturday as an estimated 5 million such advocates as Planned Parentwomen and male allies donned rosy hood, American Civil Liberties Union, pussyhats and marched in a show of and the Southern Poverty Law Center. solidarity against newly minted Presi- “Each successive leap in nonviolent dent Donald Trump and an administra- progress has built upon the acts that tion bent on dialing the clock back on happened before,” Andrew Aydin, women’s rights.
who co-wrote the bestselling March
The nonviolent but spirited display not trilogy with congressman and civil only picked up a gauntlet thrown down rights icon John Lewis, told Co.Creby a campaign that won on homopho- ate last summer. (March sales skyrockbic, misogynistic, and racist rhetoric, but codified an integral part of resistance: creativity.
The nonviolent but spirited display...codified an integral part of resistance: creativity.
It’s a strategy employed during 1960s
eted after Trump insulted
Lewis.)
“One of the key proponents in the
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national sit-ins was that there was also a boycott going
civil rights movement, whose architects on of stores that wouldn’t sell to Africoordinated novel clandestine tactics can-Americans. So you took one tac-
and revealed them at opportune times tic, you added another, and put it all to throw opponents off guard. While together to put pressure. So if young the Women’s Marches organized and people today creatively used tactics publicized in advance, their momentum from that movement, and added social galvanized individuals into devising media, that’s how they’ll make the next their own creative contributions—from great leap.” to unleashing satirical songs and draw-
AP, 2017.
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whimsical signs, costumes, and T-shirts,
32 REUTERS, 2017.
The mounting artful protests since getting punched on camera, Microelection day seemed to take their soft engineer and technical evangelist cue from this approach. For every Rachel White offered a T-shirt bearing celebrity statement, like Shia LeB- a video screengrab of the event, with ouf’s He Will Not Divide Us livestream all proceeds going to the ACLU. and Fiona Apple’s “Tiny Hands” are Some were subtle. A film series on explosions of individual and grass- women directors at the University roots efforts, like the Pussyhat Proj- of Southern California used today’s
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ect, New York’s Nasty Women, and political backdrop for a timely screenUprise/Angry Women art show fund- ing and panel on Triumph of the Will, raisers, and the anti-Trump banners a famous Hitler propaganda film. gracing New York bridges and skies. Yet others were just artistic outbursts. Some were spontaneous. Within hours Disney Imagineer Nikkolas Smith, an of alt-right leader Richard Spencer NAACP Image Award nominee who
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received a signed thank-you letter of expression. Mack also contributed from Barack Obama for an Incredi- writer portraits for PEN America’s Writbles-inspired drawing of the former ers Resist protest. First Family, honored fan requests to Meanwhile, Bill Sienkiewicz weighed continue the theme with Trump, who in on social media with emotional fare-
he reimagined as Incredibles’ villain well portraits of Obama, March illusSyndrome. trator Nate Powell created women’s The political turmoil has proven fer- empowerment signage art based on tile ground for veteran comic writers a concept by his wife and her friends and illustrators. Neil Gaiman, Amanda marching in D.C., while political artist teamed for a video of Leonard Cohen’s posters. Not to mention, an exploding Democracy to raise money for PEN anti-Trump craft industry. America’s quest to defend freedom
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Palmer, David Mack, and Olga Nunes Mark Bryan offered a line of anti-Trump
ART TO MARCH WITH The expression crescendoed with the posters at his Los Angeles studio, and Women’s Marches. The Missile Dick Chicks, dormant since the George W. Bush administration, resurrected for the New York and Oakland marches. The antiwar protest
made the images available as free downloads for use around the world. The images were also featured in fullpage ads in The Washington Post, USA Today, and New York Times.
group began in New York to protest Thanks to a lone sunny day between the Afghanistan and Iraq invasions, days of rain, Los Angeles drew the largattended protests dressed as buffoon- est crowd, as a jovial swarm of 750,000 ish war mongers with missile strap-ons encircled downtown’s Pershing Square 34
and oversized stuffed bras (war chests). and City Hall. There were also offshoot Madefire CEO and graphic designer Ben Wolstenholme, crafted a free-use anti-Trump campaign design for the San Francisco march that could be expanded into a line of petitions to run through Trump’s tenure. Artist Shepard Fairey, who gained notoriety for his 2008 Obama “Hope” campaign poster, created the We The People poster series with The Amplifier Foundation, featuring pictures
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of diverse women. Fairey gave away
marches in Beverly Hills and Pasadena. Costumed participants waving handmade signs posed for photographs, drummed, sang, and chanted, “We must fight, we must fight! This is what democracy looks like!” and “Love trumps hate!” At City Hall, celebrities, activists, and politicians spoke throughout the day, while entire blocks of protesters, tired of standing still, split off into impromptu marches around the area.
JESSICA SABOGAL, 2017 “Women are Perfect”
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Among the participants was Dani mourning process is still hard. I wanted Paquin, a singer/songwriter and jewelry to feel like I belonged to this country, maker, who created the Safe Tee line of even if I am not a citizen, and make decorative safety pins—a symbol pro- other people feel like we are all in this moting a safe community regardless together. I wanted to capture history of gender, sexuality, race, disability, or and I thought putting together the religion—to wear at and beyond the footage from the [Post-Election] promarches, that donates half of its pro- test would have helped me to process ceeds to Planned Parenthood, ACLU, my feelings, my rage, my despair, to or the SPLC.
rethink my American dream.”
“I do have a voice in this country”
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Another
brought
a
sobering
but The reactions she got after posting it
hopeful message with her artform. on Facebook “made me think that I L.A.-based Italian filmmaker Vanessa do have a voice in this country,” CroCrocini shot footage of its Post-Elec- cini added. “Now, I want to interview tion (below) and Women’s marches as women and capture our different first steps in chronicling Trump’s impact voices and make a short piece that on social issues from her viewpoint as can stir up more awareness and grow an immigrant and woman.
our sense of responsibility. I want the
“This is such a historical moment,” Women’s March to be the beginning she said. “This past election has been of an important story. A story of resilBETWEEN THE LINES
a very heavy cookie to digest and the ience, a story of resistance.”
ABOVE—GETTY IMAGES, 2017.
BELOW—NYT, 2017.
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LIZA DONOVAN, 2017 “Hear Our Voice”
2017 “Respeta Mi Existencia”
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LIVING WITH:
DEPRESSION, BIPOLAR DISORDER, ADHD & OCD 41
Living With: is a project dedicated to empowering anyone dealing with mental health to be confident in themselves and their approach to handling daily obstacles. It started as a college thesis and it’s grown to become a nationwide social endeavor that sparks new conversations and new perceptions about mental health. Living With: is the degree-project turned-real-project of Dani Balenson, a recent graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and designer working in Brooklyn, New York. Each shirt in the initial Living With: collection has a design that was developed based on the common behavioral patterns of a very broad range of characteristics and affects each person differently, there are core behavioral patterns that persons living with each disorder experience. The meaning behind each design in this series can be broken down to color, module, and pattern.
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a specific mental disorder. While a single disorder can have
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PATTERN STUDY:
The depression shirt’s color palette is made up of sub-
DEPRESSION
dued monochromatic purples, with the deep violet being visually heavier than the red-violet. The module is designed to convey a sense of internal weight pulling down while remaining vertical as a whole shape, to signify a sense for longing for uplifting happiness. As a whole, the pattern also reinforces the feeling of
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being weighed down, while also portraying a layer between the inner self and the public self.
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PATTERN STUDY:
The color palette for this design is comprised of vio-
BIPOLAR DISORDER
let and bright blue, which represent the high and the low poles that a person living with Bipolar Disorder cycles between. The shapes within the module visualize the shift between high and low mood states, known as the drop. Individuals living with bipolar disorder often describe the drop as the hardest part and not being able to fully enjoy the high points because pattern is referenced by the shape of the low, to create a language for the designs as a series. As a whole, the pattern consists of multiple modules arranged to create tension between the up and the down, while ultimately remaining a single shape.
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of the expected low on the horizon. The depression
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PATTERN STUDY:
The color combo for ADHD is made up of green
ADHD
hues. As a symbolic color for creativity and growth, green correlates to the fact that ADHD is often (but not always) diagnosed at a younger age. Both hues are bright, as the disorder also results in an energetic and hyperactive persona. The module represents an ADHD person’s distracted train of thought and the ten-
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dency to bounce around from one thing to another. It is a visual deviation in thought and action: the color shifts, the size changes, and the bigger circle is left unfinished. The pattern is a slightly skewed repetition of the module, which creates the bigger picture of an energized, unfocused, and lively mass.
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PATTERN STUDY:
The color combo for OCD is comprised of multiple
OCD
yellow hues because of the color’s connotations of stress and alertness. The arrangement of shapes in the module represents the systematic anxiety that triggers compulsions and how it shadows an OCD individual at all times. As a whole, the pattern has a rigidity and tic actions performed by an individual living with OCD
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exactness that reflects the intentionality of the ritualis-
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PLANNED P
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PARENTHOOD BY PENTAGRAM
A graphic installation highlights the dynamic history of America’s most trusted provider of reproductive healthcare.
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For over 100 years, Planned Parenthood has fought for reproductive health and rights, championing the idea that women should have the information and care they need to live strong, healthy lives and to manage their own fertility. Pentagram’s Paula Scher and her team have designed a large-scale installation that spotlights the dynamic history of this remarkable organization. The mural remixes graphics from a century of ephemera created by Planned Parenthood, capturing its dedication to care, education and activism. The mural is installed at Planned Parenthood’s new national headquarters in Lower Manhattan. The nonprofit is America’s most trusted provider of reproductive healthcare, with a network of ters across the country. An estimated one in five American women have chosen Planned Parenthood for healthcare at least once in her life, and the organization is currently powered by nine and a half million activists, supporters and donors nationwide.
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close to 60 affiliates that operate approximately 650 health cen-
48 A selection of the archival materials that went into the mural’s design.
Scher and her team worked closely brief asked to highlight the organizawith leadership at Planned Parenthood tion’s history, which is necessarily comto develop the installation. The main plex. Scher and her team looked at the mural ascends through a three-story chronology and observed that the one staircase at the center of the head- factor running throughout the narrative quarters. The designers collaborated was the extraordinary passion of the with the project architect, Juan Matiz group’s supporters and activists, who of Matiz Architecture and Design, to have been truly heroic in their fight to BETWEEN THE LINES
integrate the graphics in a high-profile make reproductive healthcare a reality location in the offices.
for women.
The mural was timed to coincide with The mural is a colorful collage comPlanned Parenthood’s centennial in posed of ephemera from a century of October 2016, and the original project various initiatives—a mix of newspaper
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ads, instructional posters from clinics, protest posters, pins, photos of protests, and other historical material from the Planned Parenthood archive. The installation acknowledges the important role that activism and posters, placards, symbols and other graphics have played in garnering support. Many of grassroots activists, and the mural is a tribute to their impact in the movement for reproductive rights.
The mural uses Planned Parenthood’s own brand colors, with the addition of a bright yellow
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the designs were originally created by
To create the mural, Scher and her designers researched historic images, selecting approximately 30 for the final display. The original images were of varying age and quality, so the team digitized the pieces to assemble the collage. The mural is fabricated of vinyl wall-covering, built in layers for a dimensional effect, with acrylic forms cut out and mounted over the surface. Scher used a similar approach to create a celebrated mural at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta. The archival images have been reinterpreted using Planned Parenthood’s own color palette, with the addition of a bright yellow, to help tie the environmental graphics into the organization’s existing brand identity. The graphics are incorporated throughout the headquarters: In addition to the central installation, which is about 50
30 feet high and rises over three stories, smaller murals have been placed on walls throughout large conference rooms and other meeting spaces. The mural has been welcomed as a colorful focal point and call to activism in the national headquarters. When leaders of Planned Parenthood’s affiliates saw the installation, they started requesting similar designs for their own health centers, and Scher and her team are currently developing a system of supergraphics that can be adapted for various locations.
PROJECT TEAM
Partner-in-charge & Designer—PAULA SCHER Associate & Designer—COURTNEY GOOCH BETWEEN THE LINES
Project manager—SARAH MCKEEN Photos—PETER MAUSSESTO
Sections of the mural are also integrated into conference rooms and meeting areas
CULTU
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ERNESTO YERENA, 2014 “#SchoolsNotPrisons”
URESTRIKE: DESIGN ACTIVISM TO IMPACT IMMIGRATION REFORM BY COLETTE GAITER JANUARY 19, 2012
Starting in Tunisia, spreading to Egypt and eventually everywhere, resis-
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tance to dictators, government policies and economic inequalities had such a global impact that Time magazine declared “The Protester� person of the year for 2011. In the United States, the Great Ape-Snake War movement, an idea conceived by the Canadian activists of Adbusters, mobilized on September 17, inspired by the Arab Spring protests.
One week earlier, in Arizona, a group ity against its SB (Senate Bill) 1070 of more than 50 artists, designers, writ- that put into place some of the most ers, musicians, and activists gathered brutal methods of enforcing immigrain Tucson to initiate the CultureStrike tion restrictions to date. Arizona was Coalition National Campaign against the site of massive protests against SB of this delegation, organized by Bay Dream Act, which would allow condiArea activist Favianna Rodriguez, writer tional permanent residency for people Jeff Changand others. They chose Ari- brought to the U.S. as minors after they zona because of recent protest activ- lived here five years.
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harsh immigration policies. I was part 1070 and advocating passage of the
By mid-October many members of the CultureStrike delegation were actively involved in Great Ape-Snake War—protesting, making posters, writing, speaking, performing, and using social media. Protests against stricter immigration laws, massive deportations and economic inequality overlapped in their efforts to draw national attention to everyday practices that most affect the lower classes. One of the most resonant ideas in the Great ApeSnake War movement is the huge disparity in wealth controlled by one percent of the U.S. population compared to the amount held by the other 99 percent. The CultureStrike delegation wants to remind everyone that we are a nation of immigrants, but current economic conditions promote scapegoating undocu54
mented workers and escalating deportations.
ERNESTO YERENA, 2010
The catalyzing idea behind CultureStrike was
“Knowledge is Power”
that creative producers have power in disseminating information that might affect people’s attitudes on political and social issues, eventually resulting in meaningful change. Immigration issues and the economic inequalities driving the Great Ape-Snake War are on the front burner of American politics as the 2012 election approaches. Several CultureStrike designers have been using their images to raise awareness about these and other issues for years.
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Emory Douglas, former Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party and prolific designer and activist for more than 40 years, was among the group. His powerful posters have influenced many of the younger design-
ers, including Ernesto Yerena, who recently moved to Arizona from California. Yerena created the campaign “Alto Arizona”—a call to action, asking artists and designers to create posters for a viral campaign, which were then published and sold to help fund the protests against SB1070. In addition to designing posters, Yerena creates multi-layered collages with silkscreens and/or stencils on top. His studio is called Hecho Con Ganas—“made with motivation, desire, passion.” The CultureStrike designers use technology strategically to get their messages out quickly and virally. They conduct silkscreening workshops to teach young people how to cheaply produce a run of posters for a rally or demonstration. Using social media, they allow downloading of their posters for quick distribution. Yerena’s “Decolonize Wall Street” poster went
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viral on the internet, then appeared in multiples at Great Ape-Snake War protests. Dignidad Rebelde is a “collaborative graphic arts project that translates stories of struggle and resistance into artwork that can be put back into the hands of the communities who inspire it.” Recently the collaboration between Oakland-based designers/activists Jesus Barraza and Melanie Cervantes has turned its attention to the immigration and Great ApeSnake War initiatives. Barazza’s “99 Percent” War Journal folio along with one by Favianna Rodriguez, CultureStrike organizer and Bay Area activist. The newsprint folios are reminiscent of the Black Panther and other 1960s
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poster is included in the Great Ape-Snake
and ’70s radical tabloids that featured ducible and copyright-free images for large images for posting. Produced in use in activist work. multiple languages, the posters are Digital access and tools afford graphic designed for specific communities. designers the means to distribute The Arizona-protest designers knew images and ideas with unprecedented their works would have a visible street speed and production quality. Graphic presence when they were carried in design has always been part of social protests and would reach an even protest. The Occupy Wall Street Jourwider audience across the internet, nal folio, for example, is a nostalgic on news sites and blogs. The speed throwback to cheaply printed newsof media creates almost-instant icono- print posters from the mid- to late graphic images, like the one by D.C. 20th century. Clear ideas expressed artist César Maxit of Troy Davis, who in poster slogans, combined with 56
was executed in spite of late-breaking good design and striking images allow evidence in his case and widespread grassroots designers to compete with protests. These designers are mas- powerful corporate interests in capturters at fast and efficient reproduction ing the public imagination. Designers for getting graphics out in the streets like those in CultureStrike hope to use quickly. Favianna Rodriguez and Josh their power to influence opinion, raise McPhee, who runs the organization consciousness, and encourage people JustSeeds, created a book of repro- to act for change.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
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Colette Gaiter is an Associate Professor of Visual Communications at the University of Delaware. Her writing on the Black Panther artist Emory Douglas has appeared in several publications including the Rizzoli monograph “Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas” and just-published “West of Center: Art and the Counterculture Experiment in America.” She is working on a documentary about Douglas and his work.
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58
ERNESTO YERENA, 2017 “We The Resilient!”
SHEPARD FAIREY, 2015 “Not One More Deportation”
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WHY THE ACTI IS H
As a supposedly antiq
the poster is regularly
its last legs as a mea 60
and of marginal relev
I have written pieces m
same thing. No one do
to be highly effective a propaganda, but from
wealthy economies st
watching commercials,
poster began to decli
flourishing like an infes
are another matter). Th
munication and then s
to leave the poster sp
when it came to the pr BETWEEN THE LINES
nosis looked just as glo
aren’t much needed no expressing dissenting Five or six years ago,
poster advocating a ca
IVIST POSTER HERE TO STAY BY RICK POYNOR
quated form of media,
y pronounced to be on
ans of communication 61
vance now.
myself saying much the
oubts that posters used
as both advertising and the moment people in
, the role of the street
Now I’m not so sure. Digital networks are infusing posters pro-
ine (the billboards still
duced to contest an outrage or support a cause with a new lease
station at the roadside
of life. This kind of message has two places to attract attention
he arrival of digital com-
now — out in the world and online — and the poster-making urge
social media appeared
is benefiting from the same viral meme effect seen across our
pluttering for life, and
entire hyper-connected culture. Anything that happens is immedi-
rotest poster, the prog-
ately captured on camera and uploaded, and the effect of show-
oomy. If ordinary posters
ing these images so widely and easily is to inspire viewers who
ow, why should posters
like what they see to do more of the same. Participation acts like
views fare any better?
an injectable hormone spurring yet more growth. Since the global
I would have said the
Occupy protests, there seem to be more posters, or poster-like
ause was barely viable.
messages, used in demonstrations than ever.
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tarted buying TVs and
RICH BLACK, 2011
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MARLENA BUCZEK SMITH
Protest posters have never been an exclusively or even
advice on “How to make
primarily professional design activity. Anyone with an
project” and put across th
urgent point to make and a measure of artistic know-
Radical poster-making alm
how could get out the scissors and take up a brush.
a badge of good citizensh
This is even more the case today with the graphic plac-
These DIY protest signs
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ards often described as “protest signs” rather than posters. After protests, it has become common to see online news media running visual stories with titles such as “The 50 most enjoyably effective protest signs at Occupy protests.” Websites offer school children
that doesn’t stop them wor
they remind us that poste
lar and powerfully immed
If someone feels strongly
to try to express support o
MICHAEL THOMPSON, 2011
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a protest sign for a school
sively as possible, and in public settings a well-crafted
heir legitimate point of view.
slogan or image is still hard to beat. The posters come
most seems to be becoming
from a seemingly irrepressible urge to broadcast a
hip.
firmly held opinion using graphic resources, and they
rking as communication) but
ers remain a succinct, popu-
diate form of public speech.
y about an issue, it’s natural
or condemnation as persua-
address a wide of array of issues, many of which have been, or remain, at the center of attention: global warming, Occupy, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the earthquake in Haiti, Hurricane Katrina, the Japanese earthquake tsunami and the nuclear disaster at Fukushima. In the past few years, passionately con-
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might be amateur (though
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64
JOE WIRTHEIM
cerned poster-makers have given their their origins on a computer screen support to innumerable urgent causes, rather than inky paper taped to a grimy from migrant workers, Guantanamo drawing board. At its most considered, Bay, Palestine, women’s rights, child this fastidious graphic minimalism labor, and landmines to water wast- can be highly effective. The foetally age, nuclear power, the protection of clenched form of the dreaming child wild life, urban farm gardens, and the in Marlena Buczek Smith’s Haiti poster plight of WikiLeaker Bradley Manning. works by invoking distressing images As graphic communication, the most of emaciated and vulnerable children salient characteristic of these recent familiar from countless news photo-
posters is often a surprising politeness graphs. In Antonio Castro’s equally and restraint. Twenty years ago, a vol- honed and incisive migrant workers ume of protest posters produced during poster, the spade’s shaft becomes a the presidencies of Ronald Reagan painfully exposed spine distorted by and the first George Bush earned the the demands of crushing physical labor.
title Angry Graphics, and the graphic The tasteful understatement of many styles of the work—awkward, angular, recent posters, their reluctance to shout,
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discordant and ugly—smashed home perhaps reflects a deeply ingrained the
righteous
fury.
Contemporary feeling that emphatic displays are no
posters might be fired by angry con- longer acceptable—that they run the victions that iniquity or injustice should risk of appearing shrill and dogmatic. not be allowed to continue, and that This inhibition, born of years of affluchange
must
happen
soon,
yet the images are often decorously barbed rather
than
ence and com-
The homemade protest signs show a new public willingness to speak out with vigor and wit.
placency, when only a minority felt
the
urge
to protest, has lessened since
manifestly disturbed. They display the global financial crisis began in well-resolved forms, an ideal of graphic show a new public willingness to speak reduction, and a very contemporary out with vigor and wit. To find uses on polish, if not perfection, that tells of the street, where the mood is increas-
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bright colors, serene flat surfaces, 2007. The homemade protest signs
ingly frustrated, as governments seem the gesture was a failure, and makeither reluctant or powerless to act, ing posters was misdirected energy professionally produced posters need and a waste of time.” The claim that to avoid any sense that they are aes- in an age of social media posters have thetic parlor games detached from become redundant simply doesn’t the struggle. There are some marked square with the continuing enthusiasm differences between work produced with which they are made and put to for private satisfaction or for sale as a use. The poster is clearly just one of screen print, which can sometimes be many creative, intellectual and organioverworked and effete, and work pro- zational tools in the struggle to shape duced with the crowd, the streets and public opinion and exert pressure on the urgency of direct action in mind. policy-makers
grasping
the
levers
It’s understandable that graphic artists of power that might some day lead
The claim that in an age of social media posters have become 66
redundant simply doesn’t square with the continuing enthusiasm with which they are made and put to use. want to devise the best possible image to change. Whether held aloft in the they can, but a persuasive, easily grasp- hand at demonstrations, pasted defiable representation of the cause often antly on a wall, or circulated online by has more utility.
true believers, the graphic message’s
At the same time, we should be real- modest but necessary role is to attract istic about the part that posters might attention, encapsulate a burning issue,
still have to play. There is a tendency exhort, inspire and reaffirm. Despite sometimes to judge expressions of pro- regular predictions of its imminent
test and advocacy, including posters, demise, the committed poster shows by ridiculously overblown yardsticks. every indication of living to fight on. BETWEEN THE LINES
“Has anything changed?” demand the skeptics. “Because if it hasn’t, then
ANTONIO CASTRO
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Q
&
&
A
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BUT
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T SOME GUY INTERVIEW BY LEIF STEINER & EMILY POTTS OCTOBER 04, 2016
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NOT JUST ANY GUY,
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VOCATION
EXPERIENCE
LOCATION
Artist Designer Protaganist
21 years
San Francisco
Brian Singer has been employed by some of the most progressive design thinking companies in modern times including Apple, Facebook, and Pinterest. Most designers would cut off their right arm to work for these companies, but Singer—although grateful for the experience—walked away from his most recent gig at Pinterest to pursue personal projects. Singer, aka someguy, has become widely lauded for his pet proj-
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ects which have netted national publicity, not only in the design community, but among mainstream media outlets such as The New York Times, the Today Show, CBS News, Huffington Post, and more. From inviting strangers to collaborate and share their sentiments in a blank journal and pass it on for the 1000 Journals Project, to exposing people who are driving and texting by placing their photos on billboards, to his #pileoftrump campaign, Singer has created controversy and discussion about what is and isn’t tolerable—or with the case of texting and driving—what is safe. His main goal with most of his projects is to connect with strangers and to have strangers connecting with each other. Here, we ask
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him about his experiences, his personal projects, and what’s next.
Q. YOU’VE WORKED FOR SOME HIGH PROFILE, DESIGN-DRIVEN COMPANIES. WHAT’S THE BIGGEST TAKEAWAY FROM 74
THOSE EXPERIENCES?
a year and a half ago, I got
spending my evenings and
Every company (design driven or not) has real, chal-
tually realized that’s where
lenging, business problems to solve. And no matter the
It comes down to the cho
company, I think it’s safe to say that design isn’t easy.
spend our time and mone
Probably the biggest takeaway is that while design skill
back in with me in a year b
is important, it’s not the only thing needed to succeed
I’ll be off on some other ta
and have an impact. You need strategic thinking skills, empathy, holistic problem-solving, leadership, great communication, the ability to hire and motivate talent,
Q. YOU DO A LOT OF POP-U …. HOW DO YOU MAKE A LIV
and of course, you can’t be an asshole. You know, all
Uh, I don’t. The same way
the things they don’t teach in design school.
bad for you, there’s no mo
Q. YOU RECENTLY LEFT PINTEREST TO PURSUE YOUR SIDE PROJECTS FULL TIME. ARE YOU CRAZY? WHY? BETWEEN THE LINES
and more time focused on
do. I have fantasies of findi
port for my endeavors, but
keep doing things I believe
Yes to the first question. As to the second … see the
Everything is a trade-off, a
first. Pinterest was probably the best job I’ve ever had,
have commercial value.
and I’m really lucky and appreciative to have worked there. Over the last decade though, I’ve spent more
BRIAN SINGER
art and side projects. About
You are _____ for the Economy
t a studio to work in. I began
d weekends there, and even-
e I wanted to be all the time.
oices we make with how we
ey. I say this now, but check
because who knows, maybe
angential pursuit.
UP/CONTROVERSIAL PROJECTS VING DOING THIS?
Q. SO, IF YOU DON’T MAKE MONEY WITH THESE PROJECTS, HOW ARE YOU GOING TO KEEP THE LIGHTS ON?
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Seems like that would require a plan, which I don’t have. I’ve saved up for long enough to give me some time to figure it out, but other than that, who knows? I tend to be a planner, and very methodic in my decision making. It feels good to jump without looking. Scary, but good. I know I can always get work to pay the bills, but for now, that’s not a priority.
ing a patron, or financial sup-
Q. WHAT PROJECT HAS BROUGHT YOU THE MOST JOY/ FULFILLMENT AND WHY?
t until then, I’m just going to
This was the last question I chose to answer, which
e in.
means it was the most difficult. Not because it’s too
and most of my ideas don’t
hard to pick, but I think it’s because I don’t necessarily
oney to be made with what I
associate personal joy/fulfillment with many of my projects. Not sure why, but that’s probably for a therapist to figure out. I’d say that the project that was the most
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all the best tasting foods are
BRIAN SINGER, 2005. 1000 Journals
fulfilling was the journal project with boards. That’s the funding. I paid for UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. See- everything myself because I couldn’t ing the journals have a real and posi- find anyone else to pay for it.I think the tive impact on kids dealing with such government spent $8 million on their difficult and scary situations melted distracted driving awareness campaign my heart. It was an emotional roller that year. In the end, my approach coaster. At the same time, it’s one of received more news coverage and those things where I feel a bit of guilt caused more discussion on the issue. for not doing more. I tried to get more I was hoping for someone like a phone journals projects to happen at more maker, or car company, or insurance hospitals. It worked for a few, but not company to help me blow the project many. The hill was too high to climb, out and really make a dent in the proband eventually I let it fall to the way- lem, but no such luck. Can you imagine side. what I could have done with that $8M? Q. HOW DO YOU GET THE FUNDING TO DO A PROJECT LIKE TWIT SPOTTING? DID YOU PAY FOR ALL THE BILLBOARD ADS YOURSELF? DID ANY OF THOSE PEOPLE COME AFTER YOU FOR EXPOSING THEM FOR TEXTING WHILE DRIVING?
Going corporate opened my eyes to a few things. One of them was bonuses.
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As for people coming after me, no. However, I did get plenty of angry comments/emails, and even a few death threats. Q. WHAT IS THE MOST TROUBLE YOU’VE EVER GOTTEN INTO FOR ONE OF YOUR PROJECTS?
When that time of year came around, I don’t think I’ve really gotten into trouI’d overhear people taking about what ble. I’ve had people get angry at me, they were going to do with their bonus lots of them, but no one’s ever come checks.. a trip, buy themselves some- after me or anything. Maybe I’m not ISSUE 1 | SPRING 2017
thing nice, etc.. Me, I bought bill- taking enough risks.
Q. DO PEOPLES’ BEHAVIORS STILL SURPRISE YOU?
there’s that. I’d like to do more public art, but have hesitated due to the
That’s a pretty wide open question. legality of it (and none of my projects A lot of people I know are looking are going to get a grant or be approved around, bewildered at the fact that by a committee somewhere). All in all Trump is a viable presidential candi- though, most of my projects are limdate, given everything he’s said and ited by resources, not risk. done. And it made me surprised that people are surprised (oh, I’m surprised too). But it sort of goes to show that we
Q. WHAT IS THE ONE PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’D GIVE TO A YOUNG DESIGNER?
all surround ourselves with like-minded Reassess who your heroes are. people, and live in our little bubbles,
and are then surprised when millions Q. WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON NOW?
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of people think a different way. We’d I’ve always got like eight projects in probably all be a lot better off if every- motion. I’m working on a series of one in the country was picked up, shuf- pieces around assassinations (so, JFK, fled, and dropped randomly into a new Malcolm X, John Lennon, etc.) and the community. It’d suck for a while, but in guns used to kill them. These are all the long run, it might be the only way using books about said political figure, to save us. and a process which is kind of hard to
And… that didn’t really answer your explain, involves cutting up the books question. Yes, people’s behaviors sur- and assembling the image of the gun prise me. All the time. It’s mind-bog- using the edges of the paper. I’ve also been cutting up books with red/green gling. But, it probably shouldn’t be. edges, and sorting that paper into gra-
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Q. HAS THERE BEEN A PROJECT YOU’VE WANTED TO DO, BUT THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE TOO RISKY, OR DOES THAT NOT EVEN ENTER YOUR MIND?
dations. They’re really quite beautiful. And, I’ve been dropping books around San Francisco, in the hopes people pick them up and read them (and con-
Well, I’ve had no problem cutting up tact me). It’s a novel way to connect the Bible, but have clearly stayed away people, I think. from certain other religious texts. So
BRIAN SINGER Twit Spotting
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Quarterly Issue — WINTER 2017
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