ROCK W E L L A S A M E TA P HOR BY STACY Z O U
ROCKWELL AS A METAPHOR
STACY ZOU CLASS TYPOGRAPHY 2: STRUCTURE INSTRUCTOR CHESLEY NASSANEY TERM 02 SPRING 2012
RESEARCH Rockwell is geometric slab serif typeface. It was originally produced by the Inland typefoundry in 1910, which issued it as Litho Antique. American Type Founders revived the face in the 1920s, and in 1934 The Monotype Corporation produced its version of Rockwell, supervised by Frank Hinman Pierpont. Since it is classified as a slab serif, or Egyptian, this means that the serifs are unbracketed and similar in weight to the horizontal strokes of the letter. Because of its monoweighted stroke, Rockwell is used primarily for display rather than lengthy bodies of text. The typeface is often confused with another typeface, Stymie Bold, which is often used for headlines in The New York Times. CONCEPT My first impression of Rockwell was that it was extremely robust, bold, and chunky. If I were to assign the typeface a sterotypical personality I would call it: “the bully” “urban sophisticate” “the authority” “tough guy” “the cow brander” I came to the conclusion that Rockwell is a tough guy.
CONCEPT The more I envisioned Rockwell as a human being, the more I visualized my ex-boyfriend’s fat boss. His name is David Covarrubias, but he calls himself “Juice.” He works at this barber shop in Arcadia, called Infamous Barber Shop. Some people call the shop “hood” or “ghetto” because these two big guys, Juice and Serg, specialize in men’s haircuts influenced by the hip-hop community (meaning if you’re looking for line-ups, fades, tapers, or a giant star shaved on the side of your head, this is the place to visit.) Their mascot is Benjamin Franklin on a hundred dollar bill, and on average, these guys spend an hour to an hour an a half “perfecting” a $12 trim. Rap and hip-hop is always blasting on the radio, while an entire room full of dudes and their one female assistant all holler perverted jokes and insults in Spanish outbursts. This should give you a rough idea of the shop.
CONCEPT Juice is this big, Mexican dude tatted up from head to toe who refers to himself as “big balla,” “the Man,” and “NoChick All-Star.” I knew he would be the perfect model for a Rockwell poster. To make the concept more interesting, instead of having a tough guy do tough guy activities (like a muscle man lifting weights,) I wanted to challenge society’s perception of gender roles. Why are girls at a young age taught to play with Barbies instead of monster trucks? Why can’t boys play dress-up in their mom’s heels and earrings? What if there were football players by day, crossdressers by night?
IDEATIONS
PHOTOSHOOT PROOF SHEETS
PHOTOSHOOT PROOF SHEETS
PHOTOSHOOT PROOF SHEETS
PHOTOSHOOT PROOF SHEETS
WORKING COMPS
WORKING COMPS
WORKING COMPS
SAMPLE MAGAZINE LAYOUTS
A SPECIAL THANKS TO DAVID “JUICE” COVARRUBIAS + INFAMOUS BARBER SHOP WITHOUT YOUR GREAT SPORTSMANSHIP AND WILLINGNESS TO PARTICIPATE THIS POSTER WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE