COMMUNICATION ARTS TYPOGRAPHY ANNUAL 4
Ariane Spanier Matthew Turley Mick Wiggins Pereira & O’Dell The Meta Agency Exhibit
January/February 2014 Twenty-Four Dollars commarts.com
IN BERLIN, SOMEWHERE BETWEEN ART AND BUSINESS
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by Ellen Shapiro
n her world, type does magical things. It splits into a million fragments. It lights up like neon. It peels open, revealing something very different underneath. It spills over from a book’s cover to the edges of its pages. It’s drawn by hand in pencil or it’s mechanical, geometric, architectural. In animations, it organically morphs into new forms.
“I am an illustrator, but I don’t draw pictures,” Ariane Spanier explains in almost-perfect English lightly accented with German inflections. She lives and works with Norwegian-born artist Björn Hegardt and their three-year-old twin daughters in the Berlin neighborhood of Kreuzberg. There, she and two design assistants serve an international client list that focuses on what she calls the cultural sector: museums, galleries, architects, artists, curators. And she and Hegardt—she is the art director, he, the editor—publish an annual 136-page artist’s book/magazine of contemporary drawing entitled FUKT. In other CA profiles, say, that of an illustrator in New Mexico or Colorado, the writer might open with a description of what it’s like to share a beer with the artist on the porch as the sun sets behind the mountains. Skype gives new meaning to time-traveling for the sake of journalism. There’s no
going through security, of course, and from my comfortable desktop I get a 360-degree tour of Spanier’s studio, one of many in an 1890s warehouse complex that’s been converted into artists’ lofts. In an open space filled with books and craft materials, design assistant Stephie Becker and intern Mareike Bode look up from their screens just long enough to wave to the laptop Spanier is carrying around. The laptop and Skype, alas, do not take me outside the building to tour Kreuzberg, which Spanier describes as “an old workers’ neighborhood, now in gentrification mode, where in every second backyard you have a design studio or an immigrant family. It’s full of former Turkish guest workers and their now second-generation family members and Turkish food; lively, with loads of restaurants and clubs in weird places,” she says, adding that it was a hot spot for artists even before the Berlin Wall came down, and “as it gets more famous and expensive, it’s still attractive to thinking, creative people.” Spanier was eleven years old in 1989 when the Wall came down, opening up her birthplace, Weimar, in the former East Germany, to the influences of the West. Growing up in the East was not as bleak or isolated as it’s depicted in films
Captions were supplied by Ariane Spanier Design, the design firm responsible for all projects shown. Right: “Illustration for a publication titled Extra: Encyclopaedia of Experimental Print Finishing. Thirty international designers were invited to design pages in the book to illustrate available print finishing techniques with real examples, giving information on production and costs. My contribution shows the use of a stamped hologram.” Rimini Berlin, client. 38
Typography Annual 2014
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POSTERS 1 Tamara Pesic (Nis, Serbia), designer POP Depression, client “This poster was made for Chuck Prophet & The Mission Express’s concert in Belgrade, Serbia. The main element, a stylized guitar head, is linocut. All typography elements are handwritten.” 13½ × 19½, printed in two versions, 3-color and black-and-white, digital.
2 Christian Northeast (Cobourg, Canada), typographer Daren Guillory/David Hoyt, art directors Tangelo, design firm Mahindra, client Art created for Mahindra’s Women in Ag scholarship for young women pursuing an education in agriculture. 24 × 36, 4-color. Typefaces: Farringdon, Futura Condensed Medium.
3 Katherine Hughes, designer Clifford Stoltze, art director Stoltze Design (Boston, MA), design firm Harvard Business School, client “To honor philanthropist John Whitehead’s 90th birthday, Harvard Business School collected adjectives and quotes that describe his impact on the school. To represent stability, potential and the branches of the university, we molded the quotes into a tree’s armature, foliated with descriptors. We worked with EM Letterpress to create a limited-edition run of the poster.” 18 × 24, 3 PMS, letterpress. Typefaces: Archer, Bickham Script, Hoefler Text, Sentinel, Trade Gothic.
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TYPEFACE DESIGN 1 Alejandro Paul, typeface designer Sudtipos (Buenos Aires, Argentina), foundry “Rolling Pen is a monolinear connected script that pulls together aspects of precise, ornamented penmanship and a minimalist, modern aesthetic. Properly pumped up with Open Type chutzpah, this single-weight script practically overflows with swashes, ligatures, initials, finals and other typographic treats.”
2 Michael Doret (Hollywood, CA), typeface designer Alphabet Soup Type Founders, foundry “The genesis of Dark Angel began years ago when its style was born in a sketch for a new logo for the California Angels baseball team (later renamed the Anaheim Angels). That logo never happened, but the sketch rose from the dead to become the basis for this new font design—and was also the source of its name. Dark Angel incorporates many features never before seen in blackletter fonts such as swashes, tails and numerous ligatures.”
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Encouraging diversity in visual communications Since 1990, the Richard and Jean Coyne Family Foundation, established by the co-founders of Communication Arts, has been funding programs to assist underrepresented young people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds to develop portfolios and qualify for admission to art school, as well as providing college scholarships for the study of graphic design, advertising, photography and illustration. Below are a few of the programs supported by the foundation.
❝ Osmosis Design Education Initiative, Chicago, IL, (projectosmosis.org) is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is “design education for underserved minority youth.” Project Osmosis is devoted to preserving and promoting the enduring achievements of professional designers of color while mentoring the talents of youth.
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Diverse thinking advances graphic design to a new level of sophistication, providing a distinct sense of proficiency and style.
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—Maurice Woods founder/executive director Inneract Project
Inneract Project, San Francisco, CA, (inneractproject.org) is a design program that introduces inner-city youths and their communities to the field of design, serves as a facilitator to aspiring designers and mentors young people to pursue higher education in order to become valued members of the design community.
Increasing diversity in visual communications dispels the practice of hierarchy in and around the profession.
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—Vernon Lockhart executive director Project Osmosis
The L.A. Futures Academy, Pasadena, CA, (lightbringerproject.com/l-a-futures-academy) partners with major creative companies to deliver a career pathway program in support of collegepreparation initiatives at diverse public high schools. The school-day model engages senior high school youth in a professional work environment for two years, illuminating the many disciplines associated with advertising, marketing and digital communication.
❝ The Parsons Scholars program, New York, NY, (scholars.parsons.edu) offers a free multi-year program to motivated New York City public high school students interested in pursuing college and careers in art and design. During 10th through 12th grades, students participate in year-round programming at Parsons the New School for Design that provides a foundation in art, design and college readiness.
Corcoran Pre-College Portfolio Development, Washington, DC, (ce.corcoran.edu/precollege/ classes) is designed for high school students, ages 16–18, who want to prepare for undergraduate college admission. Students strengthen their fine art, design or photography portfolios and earn college credit. The program draws upon a faculty of artist-educators, college alumni, the cultural riches of Washington, DC, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art.
Diversity strengthens visual communications by expanding its language and adding a greater breadth of expression, ideas and human experience.
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—Thomas Coston president, Light Bringer Project
Know a 501(c)(3) organization whose mission includes encouraging diversity in visual communications and would be a good fit with the foundation’s goals? Please contact Jean_Coyne@commarts.com.