15 Under 30: Get to Know Tomorrow’s Design Leaders Today

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Why Marketers Choose Print:
Reason #9:

PRINT
Is
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“At our very core, we are a
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Daniel Dejan, Print & Creative
Manager at Sappi Etc. “Our
sense of touch is highly
developed, and we seek that
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In fact, the neuroscience of

touch has proven that as soon
as we touch something – such
as a print piece – we begin to
feel differently about it. We
value it more.*

“If done well,” Dejan explains,

“such as with special effects
and excellent paper, print is
very meaningful to us. It can
even become a treasure.”

To get the facts about

PRINT
visit ChoosePrint.org.

To learn more about how print’s tactility affects us, scan the code or visit
http://tiny.cc/Meaningful .

*Eagleman, Dr. David, A Communicator’s Guide to the Neuro Science of Touch: Haptic Brain, Haptic
Brand, Sappi North America, 2015.
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I AM
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Remaining relevant as a creative
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from Pratt Institute, and an MS in integrated marketing
from New York University.
 THANK YOU FOR MAKING
HOW DESIGN LIVE 2016 THE BEST YET!
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 THE
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FROM
Creative Strategy and the Business of Design
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As a creative professional, it’s becoming more and more important
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30 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FEATURES

5 1 INTRODUCING PRINT’S 2016 NEW VISUAL ARTISTS — 15 creatives under 30 who are shaping tomorrow’s design landscape.

Liron Ashkenazi 52 Santiago Carrasquilla 54 Raphael Geroni 56 Yazan Halwani 58 Victor Koroma 60

Adam J. Kurtz 62 LaMia  64 Tony Lee Jr. 66 Jiani Lu 68 Gemma O’Brien 70

Eric Amaral Rohter 72 Jeff Scardino 74 Karishma Sheth 76 Joseph Veazey 78 The Yarza Twins 80

15 Under 30: Get to Know Tomorrow’s Design Leaders Today

Diversity & Design | Innovation in Illustration

PRINTMAG.COM 70.2 SUMMER 2016

Joseph Veazey’s record packaging for Vinyl Moon Vol. 1. Cover by Gemma O’Brien

Print (445-120) is published quarterly, four issues per year,

8 2 BLACK DESIGNERS: STILL MISSING IN ACTION?
The author of a 30-year-old Print article on diversity surveys
the industry to see who is designing the solution to a prob-
lem that continues to this day.
BY C H ERY L D . H O L M E S - M I L L ER
9 0 MAGICAL THINKING AND
APOSTASY: A MANIFESTO
Why does so much graphic design look the same? Here,
the Malcontent thinks deeper about design thinking.
WO RDS A N D DESIGN BY MARK KINGSLEY
by F+W Media Inc., 10151 Carver Road, Suite 200, Cincinnati,
OH 45242. Volume 70, Issue 2. Periodicals postage paid at
Cincinnati, OH, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send
address changes to Print, P.O. Box 421751, Palm Coast, FL
32142. Printed in the U.S.A. Subscription rates: one year: U.S.,
$40; Canada, $55; international, $81.
 PRINTMAG.COM 31

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The 2016 New Visual Artists

often, print looks back—we fully
acknowledge our fetish for all the alley-
ways and lost corridors of design history.
In our last issue, we took stock of the
present—analyzing the “celebrity” person-
alities who rule the design scene today.
In this issue, we look to the future.
Not long ago, Print associate editor Cal-
lie Budrick was working on a piece about
diversity (or lack thereof) in the design
world. As most investigations into the topic
go, she eventually found her way to Cheryl
D. Holmes-Miller, who wrote a now-classic
Print article in 1987: “Black Designers:
Missing in Action.” Holmes-Miller told
Budrick that to this day, she is regularly
asked about the article for quotes, advice,
wisdom. She also made an offer: “Would
you like me to do a 30-year update?”
Absolutely. You can find it on page 82.
In 1987, in addition to concluding that
black designers indeed existed but were
missing from public view, Holmes-Miller
had a prediction: That as the design world
diversified to more fully reflect and serve
the world in which it exists, it would also
become more international in scope.
Today, this rings true.
Consider our 2016 New Visual Artists.
We select our list of 15 top creatives under
30 by obsessively studying all the portfolios
we receive. After we finalized the list, we
discovered an international class hailing
from Colombia, Israel, Lebanon, Ger-
many, Australia, Spain and many points in
between—again proving Holmes-Miller’s
thesis. (Though, naturally, being the design
realm, many currently reside in Brooklyn.)
As the digital present has erased all
borders, tomorrow’s design leaders must
indeed be prepped to take on the chal-
lenge of designing for a world that is as
diverse as it is demanding of change. It is
my belief and hope that this driven, hun-
gry and passionate group has the moxie
to do just that.
Moreover, this issue celebrates all those
who question the world around them,
such as Holmes-Miller, and are rethink-
ing design as we know it.
This issue is all about the future. And it
is about hope.
The future is bright—but only if we stoke
the fires that will make it so.
—Zachary Petit
Postscript: Thank you to everyone who
stopped by the Print booth at HOW Design
Live 2016, presented with Pressing On:
The Letterpress Film. Go see the flick.

COLUMNS/DEPARTMENTS
3 3 GRIDS+GUIDES 4 2 STEREOTYPE 46 OBSERVER 96 THE LAST WORD
Gustavo Piqueira redefines reading. Penguin Tired of all the “type crime” talk? It’s time to Is the illustration field finally primed to get Lewis Carroll and the final
resurrects Romeo and Juliet. Aaron Draplin declare an end to the wasteful War on Type. the critical eye and appreciation it deserves? rabbit hole.
reveals Pretty Much Everything. BY PAU L SHAW BY RIC K POYNOR BY SEYMOUR C H WAST

4 0 EVOLUTION 4 4 HISTORIOGRAPHY 48 DESIGN MATTERS: IN PRINT

Print traces the rise of tabloid headlines that In 1968, the head of RCA proved he had a By creating a phone that is simply a
give life to headless bodies in topless bars, bold appreciation for a subject many phone, Joe Hollier proves that less is truly
bat boys and everything in between. corporate CEOs disregard: Design. more in our digitally disruptive age.
BY S T E V E N H E L L E R BY STE V E N HE L L E R BY DEB B IE MILLMAN
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 PRINTMAG.COM 33

A smattering of the latest from the world of design.

Grids+Guides by Karli Petrovic

BOOKS

READING BETWEEN THE TINES

playing with your food is a sure faux pas … but what
about reading with it? The Lululux Narrative Dining Set by Gus-
tavo Piqueira uses 20 napkins, six placemats and eight coasters
to bring together story time and dinner time like never before.
“I’ve been playing with some boundaries of both graphic design
and written narratives over the past years,” Piqueira says. “Here,
I’ve tried to question how much of a written narrative is perceived
as a ‘book’ if we print it over something people identify as a
completely different thing in terms of its functionality.”
Each silkscreened item in the 34-piece set includes a fragment
of the overall narrative (in Portuguese) and a number to delin-
eate the sequential order, although readers can dive into the
story at any point and progress however they want. Diners are
also encouraged to interact with the set in any way that tickles
their fancy, whether that means employing it as a discussion
piece or simply using it to slop up spilled beverages.
“Some of the funniest reactions I’ve heard came from people
who were trying to use it for dinner after reading [it], but always
gave up because they didn’t want to ‘destroy’ their copy of Lulu-
lux,” Piqueira says. “This reallocation of symbolic functions and
the reactions it generates are, for me, what Lululux is all about.”
Lululux intends to transform the reading experience, and
Piqueira says it’s working.
“I’ve known about a group that was discussing if Lululux was
something meant to be read or not—which sounds funny, con-
sidering there’s nothing there but thousands of words and sen-
tences,” he says. “It’s very interesting how people get confused
when something falls outside of their established cultural values.
“On the other hand,” he continues, Lululux “also generates
some immediate negative reactions from people who refuse to
go beyond their usual standards, and consider it just a silly joke
or some kind of weird marketing strategy.”
Even the challenges of shaping a fixed amount of text on physi-
cal objects seem simple when faced with the task of explaining
the concept to the clearly puzzled. Ultimately, with a limited run
of 600 numbered copies, not everyone will have the opportunity
to decide what the narrative dining set means to them. Those
who can’t get their hands on the set that was silkscreened at
Casa Rex’s Print Workshop can still experience the project at
www.lote42.com.br/lululux. Although the website is also in
Portuguese, the photos speak for themselves, shedding insight
into what Piqueira has been pondering all along.
“After all, what is a book?” he asks.
34 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6 Grids+Guides
BOOKS

METHOD BEHIND THE MAPS

in the era of mobile maps, cartography can seem like For designers, there’s an opportunity to embrace the aesthetic
a lost art. In Cartographic Grounds: Projecting the Landscape value of these maps by questioning what information is being
Imaginary (Princeton Architectural Press), authors Jill Desi- presented and how it’s displayed. Desimini wonders if this will
mini and Charles Waldheim feature maps detailing all seven eventually lead to something more.
continents, all five oceans and the moon. The book delves into “I hope people will demand a higher standard of graphic
cartographic techniques and the intersection of cartography quality out of contemporary maps,” she says. “I also hope
and design to uncover incredible tidbits about what these the book will inspire people to try more ways of drawing for
drawings reveal about history and the world. themselves, to appreciate the incredible range and capacity of
Through the ages, explains Desimini, “Maps are influenced cartographic technique.”
at the beginning and end of the process—first, by changes in
the methods people use to measure terrain and, second, in the
means of printing, reproducing and disseminating drawings.
Thus, the changes over time are drastic, from early maps filled
with monsters to contemporary dynamic maps that allow users
to pan and zoom freely.”
The book also explains how maps can vary wildly based on
where they’re produced—and that country’s wealth.
“The most significant difference actually has to do with the
level of available information to include on the map. We should
acknowledge that detail is a privilege,” Desimini says. “Accu-
rate surveying and high-resolution data are expensive. There
is, and always has been, a correlation between power and the
availability of geospatial data.”

KEEPING IT SIMPLE
patterns may soon be a thing of
the past (yet again), and Stuart Tol-
ley’s MIN: The New Simplicity in Graphic
Design (Thames & Hudson) has more
than 400 original works from 150 design-
ers to prove it. Minimalism is again on
the rise, and Tolley thinks Apple’s focus
on simplicity and functionality may have
something to do with it.
“Their market dominance, especially
when the iPhone was introduced, has
allowed minimal, clean and classic design
to be appreciated by everyone, and not just
people working in the visual culture indus-
try,” he says. “This appreciation, coupled
with the constant bombardment by digital
advertising, social media addiction and
work spilling into our leisure time, has
led to a desire to seek a simpler lifestyle.”
Nowadays, designers who want to cap-
ture an audience’s attention need to stand
out from what Tolley calls the “increas-
ingly visually disruptive landscape” with
work that communicates timelessness
and clarity. This stands in stark contrast
to the typographic flourishes and ornate,
expressive designs that dominated over
the last decade.
Today, Tolley praises everything from
the Amon Tobin Dark Jovian laser-cut
white vinyl that boasts an outer white
silicone wheel to the Ishoku orange book
cover by Hong Kong–based studio Edited.
Surprisingly, the minimalist movement
has also prompted some interesting
tendencies in the digital age, including
a fresh appreciation for what is often
deemed a slowly dying artform.
“I think the main thing is that people
still yearn for a tactile print experience,”
Tolley says. “It’s very human. For me, this
is good to see and a far cry from four or
five years ago, when the magazine indus-
try looked to be on its knees.”
 PRINTMAG.COM 35

BOOKS

THE WORLD, ACCORDING TO AARON

it’s not every day that a still-breathing designer gets the
opportunity to survey his studio’s work in a monograph, espe-
cially mid-career. Then again, Aaron James Draplin and his
Draplin Design Co. are anything but ordinary. (Just consider
the “proud list of services” listed on his website: “big words,”
“bounty hunting,” “a firm handshake,” “wrastlin.”)
An influential designer, speaker and entrepreneur, Draplin’s
résumé includes work for the Obama Administration, Target,
Nike, Timberline and Sasquatch! Music Festival, alongside his
own projects such as Field Notes memo books and the “Things
We Love” state posters. Now, he has a hardcover book to add to
his list of work, merch and gigs.
“I got the call from the big leagues,” says Draplin, who admits
to feeling scared and “a smidge inadequate” when approached
by Abrams Books, the well-respected publisher behind titles on
Charles and Ray Eames and Stefan Sagmeister. Mostly, Draplin
didn’t want to be that guy.
“I didn’t get into graphic design to be the guy who writes
a book,” he says, praising his editor “brother” John Gall for
shepherding him through the process as he wrote, illustrated
and designed the aptly titled Draplin Design Co.: Pretty Much
Everything. “When they called me, I hemmed and hawed and
got sweaty and nervous, but they said ‘this is your chance,’ and
that’s what put me over the edge.”
Draplin’s initial reluctance makes sense considering Pretty
Much Everything isn’t just a look-book. It includes how-tos,
advice, a pointed discussion of the contemporary design scene,
case studies, inspiration and more—all bound together with a
large dose of Draplin’s trademark bluntness and humor.
And despite having recurring nightmares about typos, Dra-
plin is excited to share his 256 pages (complete with 300 full-
color illustrations).
“I’m proud I got to pull it off,” he says. “I hope people dig the
very honest perspective.”
36 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6 Grids+Guides
BOOKS

NEEDFUL THINGS
from trendy adult toys to sexual accessories, Objects of Overall, Orrell says such erotic products are “big business,”
Desire: A Showcase of Modern Erotic Products and the Creative Minds with the sexual wellness products industry projected to bring
Behind Them (Schiffer) delves deep into the sex-design revolution. in $32 billion by 2019, and designers should consider it when
Author Rita Catinella Orrell conducts interviews with sex blog- looking to make their mark.
gers, shop owners and designers, and uses concise descriptions “All of these products need logos, packaging and advertising for
to accentuate Jason Scuderi’s minimalist layout presentations. an increasingly sophisticated consumer base,” she says. “When
In Objects of Desire, the kinky prototypes, gadgets and artworks you have a product like a condom that can’t be displayed without
speak for themselves. packaging, that packaging becomes critical to helping it stand
Orrell came up with the idea for the book when she discovered, out from the crowd.”
while scoping out projects for her blog (www.designythings.com),
that sex toys win industrial design awards.
“I was quite surprised because that seemed so at odds with what
I remember of the industry from my youth—basically shelves full
of cheaply made products made of mystery materials that you
tossed out after a few months because they broke or you had no
idea how to properly clean them,” she says, noting that when she
started conducting research, she uncovered beautiful, innovative
products. “I thought a design book on the subject was overdue.”
Objects features an impressive array of pieces, from the high-
tech to the handcrafted. One of the more interesting Orrell dis-
covered is an artificially intelligent vibrator that uses feedback
technology to sense a vaginal climax and respond in ways that
will prolong the experience.

FOR LOVE OF LETTERS

there’s lots to be learned Smithsonian preserves more than 20 million documents, includ-
from looking at a person of note’s ing hundreds of thousands of letters, some of which date back
correspondence. That’s the gist of to the 18th century.
editor Mary Savig’s Pen to Paper: Art- “I selected letters by a dynamic composition of painters, sculp-
ists’ Handwritten Letters From the tors, photographers and craft artists. The book even includes
Smithsonian’s Archives of American a letter by an activist nun,” Savig says. “Each letter offers a
Art (Princeton Architectural Press). unique glimpse into the life of an artist and their contribution
From messy handwriting to biting to our culture.”
wit, readers discover a great deal about
artists like Georgia O’Keeffe, Andy
Warhol and Hanne Darboven simply
by how, why and when they wrote.
“So many people have such visceral
responses to handwritten letters—we want to hold and cherish
them because the presence of the author is evident in the intrica-
cies of their words,” Savig says, noting that she celebrates read-
ers’ varied reactions to the letters, especially in an age where
texting and email are the primary forms of communication.
“Teenagers tend to approach these letters with curiosity for
the unfamiliar scripts,” she says. “For older generations, the
letters often evoke nostalgic memories of primary school and
corresponding with distant friends and family members.”
Choosing the letters that would resonate deeply and make
the final cut in Pen to Paper was no easy task. Savig says the
 PRINTMAG.COM 37

GOODS&MISC.

A STAR IS ADORNED
for creatives who spend their day jobs designing ratio of the majority of the films, Geroni wrote detailed blog
and crafting for clients, the after-hours struggle to develop posts about each film and title card and snuck in visual Easter
fulfilling personal projects is very real. Raphael Geroni, a New eggs for other movie buffs to appreciate.
York City–based designer with Louise Fili Ltd., understands “The typeface I used for the captions under each card is set
this all too well. in a font called Meyer Two—an intentional misspelling of [film
That’s why he used The Judy Garland Film Title Project to producer] Louis B. Mayer’s last name—which was one of five
turn his passion for classic films into an initiative celebrating fonts that Linotype cut to Mayer’s personal specifications to be
his favorite actress. Drawing inspiration from the original used at MGM in their film titles and silent film subtitles. It was
titles and promotional ephemera from Garland’s films, Geroni drawn in 1926 and digitally revived by David Berlow in 1994.”
designed and lettered retro title cards using historical typog- The completed project is printed on metallic stock at the
raphy, deep research and Art Deco style to inform his black- one-sheet poster size of 27-by-41 inches, enhancing its filmic
and-white pieces. quality. Geroni says the ultimate goal of the production is to
“I wanted to develop a project that I was passionate about, that “remind you of a vintage silver gelatin portrait you might have
involved my personal interests and that I could share with fans of received after writing to your favorite MGM star.”
Garland, historical typography and Hollywood history,” Geroni The poster is currently available for purchase at www.raphael
says. “I thought a great deal about how special title designs are to geroni.com. For more on Geroni, who was selected after the
fans, and about their increased importance because they literally initial writing of this article to be a Print New Visual Artist,
flash before your eyes. Before home video and the internet, the turn to page 56.
titles could only exist for fans in the form of their memories, and
revisiting long out-of-print films could be incredibly difficult.”
Geroni wanted to pay homage to this by documenting and
presenting a cohesive visual representation of Garland’s filmog-
raphy on his website (www.raphaelgeroni.com), beginning with
her most popular movies, and later working chronologically.
While the 34-title project progressed three title cards at a time,
Geroni’s appreciation for Garland’s talents began as a child
when he became enchanted with The Wizard of Oz.
“It was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. I was enamored with
the artfulness of that movie,” he says, noting that it wasn’t until
much later that he discovered the full extent of Garland’s career.
“A Star is Born is my all-time favorite movie and one of the
greatest films ever made, even though it was snubbed dur-
ing awards season. Another one of my favorites is The Pirate,
although it’s not widely loved because it was intentionally
campy before camp was cool.”
Geroni’s love for Garland successfully translates to the proj-
ect. In addition to ensuring the pieces matched the 4:3 aspect
38 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6 Grids+Guides
GOODS&MISC.

MEMORY LANE, REENVISIONED

dutch artist sigrid calon gives the classic children’s the abstractness. To further increase the game’s difficulty, Calon
card-match game a colorful, alphabetic upgrade. also intentionally used each background color twice.
“Last year, I developed my own typeface out of a grid with 3-by-3 “This game is about watching and looking,” she says. “I hope
dots, and I thought it was a great idea to use that for a memory people learn to train their eye in looking at form and color. It’s
game,” Calon says. everywhere around you—in the street, in buildings, in the super-
The Sigrid Calon Memory Game uses florescent, Risograph- market, in nature. When you appreciate abstract things, you can
print–inspired patterns that combine two variations of her sig- live more intensely.”
nature typeface to create an additional mental challenge for the
savvy player.
“Instead of using just one single letter per card, I made a com-
bination of two different shapes of the same letter in one image:
the CalonBlock (white with outline letter) and the CalonSpeed
(the colored letter).”
The two forms become a third, and when players turn a card,
the legibility becomes even more abstract. Calon’s palette of cyan,
magenta, yellow, black, fluorescent pink, green and any addi-
tional tones she could make by mixing the original six, adds to

PRINT’S POSTER CHILD

people of print, the same team that used a Kickstarter campaign
to fund Print Isn’t Dead magazine, is at it again with an innovative
twist on another print medium. Posterzine is a mini-monograph that
folds out to an A1 format. Although the British Library registered the
publication as a magazine, it differs wildly.
For one, Posterzine’s unique fold distinguishes the printed piece from
a pamphlet without giving it the appearance of a perfect or stitched
binding. Another element is the color selection, which features two
special Pantone spot colors for each edition. Because the combina-
tion won’t be repeated, each Posterzine has a totally distinct aesthetic.
In true Print Isn’t Dead fashion, Posterzine is intended to further
prove the print medium’s staying power by eschewing traditional
publishing models.
“Posterzine strengthens relationships between the industries, brands,
organizations and individuals through a series of crisp, articulate inter-
views and insights into talented and established professionals around
the world,” People of Print explained in materials accompanying its
most recent issue. “It is proof that print is very much alive and thriving.”
The publication is available via subscription on the first Tuesday
of every month at the People of Print Department Store (www.depart
ment-store.co).
 PRINTMAG.COM 39

COVERS

SHAKESPEARE IN THE 21ST CENTURY

it’s a crucial commission for with two-color illustrations, with accents in white or black on
any artist to design a book series, the front, back and spine. They’re a modern take on the Bard,
let alone 40 titles—and 40 legend- with designs that Waldia describes as being inspired in equal
ary titles at that. This year, to coin- parts by ancient hieroglyphs and modern iconography.
cide with the 400th anniversary The illustrations are unexpected, both for well-known
of Shakespeare’s death, Penguin plots—Buckley points to Romeo and Juliet as his favorite so
Classics is relaunching the Pelican far, in which the title characters are represented as two caskets,
Shakespeare series with 40 new cov- rather than two people—and for Waldia’s Easter eggs, such as
ers by Manuja Waldia, art directed a stabbed eyeball as the spine ornament for King Lear, a refer-
by Paul Buckley—a huge debut for ence to when Cornwall gouges out Gloucester’s eyes.
the 24-year-old Waldia. The resulting series is a young artist’s 21st-century take
Buckley’s choice of Waldia was on 400-year-old plays, proving that Shakespeare remains as
serendipitous. Previous editions of relevant as ever.
Shakespeare had been designed by —Claire Lui
big names—including Milton Glaser (twice), David Gentleman
and Riccardo Vecchio—and Buckley was feeling the strain of
choosing someone who would be able to deliver 40 amazing covers.
“I was in full-on panic-stricken mode when I received an email
from someone I had never heard of: Manuja Waldia,” Buckley
says. After looked at her website, Buckley “was truly blown
away. Manuja’s vector work embraces its vector-ness like no
other work I’ve ever seen, and it does so with perfect design
precision.” He immediately thought, Something like this vector
drawing would be so wrong for the topic of Shakespeare, followed
by, and that’s why it’s such a beautiful idea.
The covers have black backgrounds for the tragedies, light
blue for the comedies, and eggplant for the histories, adorned

DESIGNING A DUCHESS
margaret cavendish, the 17th-
century duchess whose life is the inspi-
ration behind Danielle Dutton’s new
novel Margaret the First (Catapult), was
a writer, eccentric and celebrity. With
such a fierce and fabulous titular subject,
art directors Charlotte Strick and Claire
Williams wanted to create a cover that
gave Margaret her full due.
Strick and Williams reached out to fine
artist June Glasson to create an oil painting
that would both pay homage to historical
portraits and also invoke the novel’s con-
temporary style. Glasson was particularly
inspired by Dutton’s description of one
of Margaret’s dresses that was “designed
to look like the forest floor … thick with
green and black with moss and lit by starry
mountain-laurel clusters puffed up in the
dark,” and created an outfit of layered
botanical images for the duchess. She fin-
ished off the portrait with some small black
stars with which Margaret liked to adorn
her cheeks, making her, as Strick says, “a
17th-century Ziggy Stardust.”
The title and author’s name were also
hand-drawn by Glasson and “fastened”
onto Margaret’s neck in Photoshop.
Catapult press launched in September
2015, and Strick and Williams have tried
to incorporate handlettering into all of
their covers, with the jacket copy for
Margaret the First being a particularly
inspired example. “The final result is an
enigmatic Margaret, emerging from the
dark of night where green moths take
flight,” Strick and Williams say. ▪
—Claire Lui
40 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6
Evolution
Touched in the Headline
Steven Heller breaks down the rise of tabloid “screamers”
that give life to headless bodies in topless bars, bat boys and
everything in between.
A
single poster-sized word on the
cover of the New York Daily
News—“DEAD!”—is the most
powerful headline in the annals
of sensational newspapers. The
year was 1928, and the headline ran
over a blurry photograph of a housewife
named Ruth Snyder, who had murdered
her husband, in the electric chair at the
very instant that a lethal jolt ran through
her tremulous body. (The image was cap-
tured by a reporter using a covert camera
strapped to his ankle.)
The eye-catching, mind-boggling head-
line/picture combo is a bit more eloquent
than this contemporary one—“Redneck
Vampire Attacks Trailer Park” (Weekly
World News)—published more than 80
years later. Granted, one is news, the other
is fiction. But both emerged from a genre
“Obama Wins!” Conversely, crafting the
“Kiss Your Asteroid Goodbye!”
of tabloid sensationalism also known as
scandal sheets, originally designed to
pique popular interest in the underbelly of
everyday life while providing a voyeuristic
respite from the monotony of the average
reader’s routine.
The genre began in London during
the 18th century. As Jessica Grose docu-
mented in The New York Times, “British
society of the 1700s had already given us
the fundamental elements of contempo-
rary tabloid culture: an emerging industry
of publications dedicated to covering bad
celebrity behavior, and an abundance of
notorious personalities who were commit-
ting it and blabbing about it later—not to
mention an increasingly literate reader-
ship that was enthralled with it.”
In 1903, British publisher Alfred Harm-
sworth started the first modern tabloid
newspaper, The Daily Mirror. It was half
the size of a broadsheet and aimed to
titillate the masses with crime stories,
human tragedies, celebrity gossip, sports,
comics, and more photographs than any
other paper. The format was conducive
for shocking words in large type and
caught the attention of even the most
aloof reader.
One does not have to be a literary
genius to write a front-page newspaper
headline like “Man Lands on Moon” or
perfect “screamer,” as large sensational
headlines were called (“wood” is another
term, owing to the big wood type used
to make them), still demands a cocky
wordsmith with a quirky, agile mind,
capable of wit, brevity and the ability to
combine words in ways both clever and
cleverly crass.
Sensational headline writing must illu-
minate in an instant a story that takes
dozens or hundreds of words to explain.
And those words aren’t even necessary
if the headline says it all—if you see the
picture without the picture—like this one
by the New York Post’s master headliner,
the late Vinnie Musetto, when a meteor
missed smashing into the Earth in 1998:
Great screamer heads run from the
poetic—“Headless Body in Topless Bar”
(New York Post, written by Musetto)—
to the ironic: “Saddam Has Gas” (New
York Daily News). Here, the former had
to convey a horrific murder, and the latter
implied the impetus for the war against
Iraq. Each was brilliant for conjuring up
mental pictures by using double entendre.
However, these headlines were for legiti-
mate tabloids that more or less publish
factual news stories. The truly sensation-
alist grocery check-out genre may be less
nuanced or sophisticated but still has
plenty of guile.
Getting readers to feast on decidedly
fictitious or exaggerated stories is a sen-
sationalist con. The reader must want to
believe. The following randomly selected
headlines are both absurd yet somewhat
conceivable, and in any case, they pique

curiosity: “Man’s Head Explodes in Bar-
ber’s Chair,” “World’s Fattest Cat Has
World’s Fattest Kittens,” “Severed Leg
Hops To Hospital!” (all from Weekly World
News, which is essentially tongue-in-
cheek, though the majority of its readers
take it seriously) and “Monster Rats the
Size of Cows” (Daily Star). Sheer nonsense
… but if you’re bored in a long enough gro-
cery line, the mind does strange things.
When New York City had a robust
newspaper culture with over a dozen
dailies before a newspaper strike reduced
that number by over half in 1963, sensa-
tionalism was simply part of the jour-
nalistic diet. Circulation did not entirely
depend on the headlines, but they helped
move “EXTRA” editions when a big story
grabbed the front page—so the larger the
“wood,” the better.
Sensationalism truly moved to the next
level in 1952. Generoso Pope Jr. trans-
formed The National Enquirer from a
racing tip sheet into the Police Gazette,
Confidential slander rag, replete with
shocking headlines and exaggerated sto-
ries about celebrity mishaps, political
PRINTMAG.COM 41
scandals, wanton sexuality, UFO sight- To appreciate the full power and per-
ings and ridiculous health claims. While suasion of a screamer headline, it is
mostly fabricated, the stories had enough still necessary for it to be in print. Now
factual threads to seem to have a modi- produced digitally and in full color, the
cum of credibility. bold gothic type (often in yellow with
From the early Enquirer evolved an black outline) that signals the scandalous
entire genre of totally fictionalized tab- and prurient is still preferred because it
loids—affectionately known as “blood is undisputedly the recognizable style.
and guts tabs”—including Hush-Hush There’s no other way to telegraph that
News, National Mirror and others pub- “Oprah Hits 246 POUNDS!” or Kirstie
lished by Myron Fass’ Countrywide Alley has “ONLY 4 YEARS TO LIVE.”
Publications. Al Goldstein, who founded While sensationalism may be the sew-
Screw in 1968, worked on both of these age of journalism, there are countless con-
tabloids, sometimes writing a story an sumers who still voraciously eat it up. This
hour. There were few restrictions where article is not a celebration of sensational-
sex and violence were concerned, and ism, which distorts real-life quirks, foibles
these tabloids held sway throughout the and misery while appealing to salacious
late ’50s and ’60s and appealed to a male appetites—but it is the acknowledgement
audience of bathroom readers. that even in this publishing genre, talent
Today, sensationalism has not lost is still required to do it right. ▪
any of its sordid appeal, and the visual
tools used to grab its audience have not Steven Heller is the co-chair of the MFA Design/
changed. Sensationalist newspapers Designer as Author + Entrepreneur program at
and reality TV are also now two sides of School of Visual Arts, and the author of more than
the same rag. (Though TV ethical stan- 170 books. He is an AIGA medalist and received
dards removed some of the more colorful the 2011 Smithsonian Institution National Design
aspects from the latter.) Award for “Design Mind.”
42 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6

Stereotype
“It should be a rule that lowercase is
never and under no circumstances to
be letterspaced.”
Although Tschichold’s essays often
focus on typographic details such as
widows and orphans, the thrust of his
texts is about the responsibility of the
typographer/book designer as a guard-
ian of knowledge, someone entrusted
with aiding its transmission from writer
to reader, from one moment in time to
another. Thus, he proclaims, “Personal
typography is defective typography.”
For Tschichold, “perfect typography”
depends on harmony between all of its
elements and is only achieved through
long experience. That experience allows
one to ignore absolute statements about
typography if they don’t fit the circum-
stances. Tschichold’s flexibility is not
that surprising once one recalls that the
basis of his famous fight with Max Bill
in 1946 was over Bill’s Modernist idea

Decriminalizing that there was only one true path to typo-

graphic grace.
Tschichold’s stricture against letter-

Typography spacing lowercase letters—a peculiarly

German practice rooted in the defi-
ciencies of blackletter types—was more
Paul Shaw declares an end to the needless and
colorfully expressed by the American
wasteful War on Type. type designer Frederic W. Goudy several
decades earlier as, “Anyone who would

T
here seems to be an epidemic of tentionally encouraging this rampage of letterspace lowercase letters would steal
lawlessness in the world of typog- typographic depravity. sheep.” Erik Spiekermann and E.M. Gin-
raphy. More and more I keep When and why did this obsession with ger memorably appropriated Goudy’s
encountering the chilling phrase “type crimes” arise? In trying to answer phrase as the basis for the title of their
“type crime.” At a time when this question, I first assumed its roots popular book on typography, Stop Steal-
crime has been decreasing in American resided in the rigid pronouncements of ing Sheep and Find Out How Type Works.
cities, it seems to be on the upswing in a German or Swiss typographer, spe- But despite the finger-wagging title, their
the world of design. The website for cifically Jan Tschichold, who, as Robert text is blissfully free of “don’ts.” Which
Thinking With Type, Ellen Lupton’s pop- Bringhurst pointed out, “loved categori- is what one would expect from Spieker-
ular book on typography, contains a sec- cal statements and absolute rules.” After mann, author of Rhyme and Reason: A
tion entitled “Type Crimes.” Ilene Striz- all, the English translation of a collection Typographical Novel, whose mantra is
ILLUSTRATION BY ELEANOR SHAKESPEARE

ver, author of Type Rules!, posts the “Top of Tschichold’s writings on typography “Everything interacts.” Like Tschichold,
Ten Type Crimes” on www.fonts.com and book design is entitled The Form of he is concerned with the details of typog-
while Laure Joumier lists the “Top Ten the Book: Essays on the Morality of Good raphy only as a means of achieving an
Type Crimes for Science and Mathemat- Design. But upon rereading the book, I optimal reading experience.
ics” on the blog incend. Amber Alerts found no dire warnings against “type The absolutism of Swiss typography is
are issued by other bloggers, many tak- crimes” and only a few explicit com- more oracular than punitive: Sans serif is
ing their cues from Lupton and Strizver. mandments: the typeface of our time; or, the flush left,
One, the grammatically awkward “Most “Paragraphs without indent … are a bad rag right setting is natural. In the writings
Wanted Type Crimes,” seems to be unin- habit and should be eliminated.” of Emil Ruder, Josef Müller-Brockmann
 PRINTMAG.COM 43

and Karl Gerstner, one can search in vain tion. That practice was common in the The bad typography
for a list of proscribed typographic acts. 19th century among professional composi-
What is forbidden is implied by what is tors and can be found in the best print-
of the type scolds only
promulgated as not only right but obvi- ing and typography manuals of the day, pisses off designers.
ous and inevitable. including some that predated the inven- Ordinary readers are
Similarly, the proponents of clas- tion of the typewriter. The British author oblivious to such “crimes.”
sical typography (the “Crystal Goblet” C.H. Timperley (1838) said that en spaces
approach), such as Beatrice Warde, Stan- were normally used after punctuation, the 20th century—from W.A. Dwiggins
ley Morison and Oliver Simon, rarely con- but that under some circumstances two- to Robin Kinross—have designed books
sider the nitty-gritty of typography and em, three-em and even four-em spaces replete with widows. There are 16 or
thus don’t inveigh against “type crimes.” were required (!). Thomas MacKellar, one more widows (the exact number depends
Their tone is gentler. In An Introduction of the partners in the Philadelphia type on one’s definition of a widow) in 36
to Typography, Simon writes, “Any dis- foundry MacKellar, Smiths and Jordan, pages of text in the original Compu-
play incorporating swash letters should and author of The American Printer (1871), graphic edition of Detail in Typography
be kept within the bounds of reticence; had a more variable notion of spacing: by Jost Hochuli (1987). When I pointed
their too-frequent use becomes tiresome. “The comma requires only a thick space, this out to Hochuli years ago, he simply
Only when they are used in moderation but the other points should have a hair shrugged in response. Why? Because
can the element of surprise and fancy be space before and en quadrate after them, he believes that the greater “crime” (to
maintained.” There is no shrill warning, except the full-point, which should have use the Strizver/Lupton terminology)
only reasonable advice. an em quadrate, as terminating a sen- is inconsistent line spacing in a justi-
The “type crime” trend apparently tence.” He considered close and wide fied setting or a poor rag in an unjusti-
began with Lupton and Strizver over a spacing as “unworkmanlike.” fied one. His book—recommended by
decade ago. What sparked it? In Strizver’s The question of how much space to www.typecri.me—does not even men-
case she seems fixated on the differences place after punctuation is something that tion widows and orphans.
between typewriting and typesetting (aka has changed over time because notions These type scolds have encouraged
typography). This is a bit strange today of what constitutes ease of reading have budding typographers to focus on details
since the current generation of young changed. Timperley et al. thought that that are only a small, and nonessential,
designers never learned to use a type- extra spaces aided the reader. The gaps part of good typography. Thus, we get
writer, and thus never absorbed its rules. did not bother them. But today’s ideas blogs (claiming to channel Lupton),
Oddly enough, the authors of typogra- of what constitutes good typography which ignorantly proclaim, “Good typog-
phy books in the 1980s and early 1990s—a derived from Beatrice Warde’s “Crystal raphy grabs attention, bad typography
period when there was legitimate con- Goblet” essay and the writings of Jan pisses people off.” Bad typography is lik-
cern over confusion among typewriters, Tschichold, who assumed that ease of ened to misspelled words, pulling the
word processors and personal computers reading is best accomplished by an even “reader/viewer focus from the design-
(Robin Williams even titled her 1989 book appearance of the text block. This is the er’s intended message.” No. The bad
The Mac Is Not a Typewriter)—avoided root of the common prohibitions against typography of the type scolds—misuse
scolding their readers. For example, James not only extra word spaces, rivers, rags of primes, dashes, etc.—only pisses off
Felici, author of The Desktop Style Guide, and widows, but also the source of the designers. Ordinary readers are oblivious
simply says, “In typeset pages, never debate between American and British to such “crimes.” The bad typography
use multiple word spaces.” Dutch type typographers over the proper use of that frustrates and irritates nondesign-
designer Gerard Unger, author of Typog- dashes and quotation marks. ers has to do with the basics: choice of
raphy: Basic Principles and Applications, This brings up another annoying typeface, point size, leading, line length,
is even less strict. Regarding proper word aspect of the current “type crime” letterspacing. This is what Tschichold,
spacing, he wisely states, “The gap should attitude: the strict campaign against Dowding, Hochuli and Spiekermann all
only be so large as to ensure that the words orphans and widows. The landing page understand. Thinking about type should
are clearly separated, not much more. It is at www.typecri.me even has “No sym- be thinking about how to optimize these
difficult to lay down hard-and-fast guide- pathy for orphans and widows” as its parameters and not about whether or
lines for upper and lower limits, however: motto. While it is true that every good not one is committing a “type crime.” ▪
Word spacing has an elastic property.” typography book of the past 60 years—
While the typewriter’s legacy is right- from Dowding to Bringhurst—has con- Paul Shaw is a designer and design historian. He
fully castigated as the source of the misuse demned these disruptions of the text teaches typography and calligraphy at Parsons
of double and single primes for quota- block and the experience of reading, School of Design, and the history of graphic design
tion marks and apostrophes, and double their presence is not so dire as to con- at the School of Visual Arts. He is the editor-in-
hyphens for dashes, it is not at fault for the stitute criminal behavior. In fact, many chief of Codex, a series of volumes on aspects
use of double spaces following punctua- of the most esteemed typographers of of letterforms.
44 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6

Historiography
a mosaic or, more aptly, a television screen
whose luminescent dots are constantly
changing to form broad new patterns.
He continues his rationale by address-
ing the company’s history and future:
RCA’s corporate look, exemplified by its
circled initials and lightning bolt, was one
of the most famous in the business world.
It dated from a time when the company
was devoted entirely to international
wireless communications—a commitment
that has continued to grow, but today
accounts for only 2% of our total volume.
The question then, was whether a design
system devised for a wireless company in
the 1920s could suggest the diverse opera-
tions of RCA in the changing environment
of the ’60s and beyond.

Tuned In, Tuned Up Sarnoff proceeds with a description

of the process itself and his own involve-
ment with it:
In 1968, the head of RCA proved he had a bold appreciation The analysis of a corporate identity, like
for a subject many corporate CEOs disregard: Design. that of an individual personality, calls for
objective, professional help. We discussed
by Steven Heller RCA’s needs with several design and com-
munications consultants. In June 1966, we

I
BM, Westinghouse, General Dynam- 1922 advertisement for the Grand Aeriola engaged the firm of Lippincott & Margulies.
ics, CBS and others adhered to what radio receiver (featuring an endorsement … During the next 18 months, I was involved
IBM’s Thomas J. Watson famously by Guglielmo Marconi), and was one of in the project every step of the way and took
said: “Good design is good business.” the best-known American trademarks. special interest in its progress, for it added
Less famous, perhaps, but no less “Anatomy of a New Trademark” showcases new insights to my own examination of the
eloquent, is a 2,000-word article by Rob- the intelligence necessary to ensure that company as its new president. …
ert W. Sarnoff, then the new president of the project, which took over two years to Lippincott & Margulies’ conclusion after
the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), complete, achieved a more than satisfac- six months of study was that the outward
which detailed the development of the tory outcome. face of RCA should reflect more fully its
company’s new identity and logotype. Since the entire essay is too long to inner reality. Our corporate look should
The essay, published by Saturday reprint in this space, I’ve distilled the measure up to an enterprise that, in less
Review on April 13, 1968, explained the piece down to its narrative essence, which than 50 years, had advanced from its base
rationale behind RCA’s change of visual I hope retains Sarnoff ’s design acuity. in wireless communications to technological
strategy almost six decades ago—a trade- First, he lays out a clear declaration that frontiers extending from the core of the atom
mark that remains in use today—and sets the stage for his compelling argument to the surface of Mars. It should suggest the
still speaks strongly to contemporary about why a shift in design strategy was diversity of a corporation producing some
branding practices. Titled “Anatomy of necessary for the company: 12,000 different products, most of which
a New Trademark,” it is an extraordinary The public view of a corporation is a com- were not in existence as recently as a decade
example of how one leader of American posite of millions of private impressions. It ago. … Our first need was a clearer concept
industry, particularly in the electronics is the combined experience of all those who of the scope of RCA. We drew up what, for a
and computer field, understood the value use its products and services or receive its lack of a better term, we called a “corporate
of good design and the role of designers visual and verbal messages. For RCA, it is philosophy”—a basic view of the company
in the maintenance of corporate image. the executive consulting a computer, the as it is and as it should develop in the future.
Incidentally, changing the RCA mark student using an instructional system, the For the sake of the layman and stock-
was not taken lightly, since the company’s housewife reading an ad, the job-hunter holder, Sarnoff pinpoints how the com-
original circular logotype dated back to a leafing through a company brochure. It is pany had grown out of its old skin:

We started with our full corporate title,
which, as someone pointed out, was remi-
niscent of Voltaire’s remark about the Holy
Roman Empire—that it was neither holy,
nor Roman, nor an empire. The Radio Cor-
poration of America remains a corporation,
to be sure, but it is by no means restricted
in its facilities, products and services to the
radio industry or to the American continent.
The full name, furthermore, is too long and
unwieldy for visual and phonetic impact.
We would retain it as our legal title, but we
would henceforth focus on the RCA initials,
which over the years have become the pub-
lic’s natural way to refer to the company. …
For all its nostalgia, the old trademark
presented several design problems. Its
Roman letters were closer in spirit of the
Jazz Age than to an era of space exploration.
The lightning symbol, fitting enough for
the early days of radio, had become more
familiarly associated with the power indus-
try than with electronics. The circle itself
was not only restrictive in its effect, but sat
uneasily on the rectangular forms of most
of our products.
Sarnoff was a realist. Paul Rand likened
The Designer’s Resource For Online Continuing Education
a logo to a rabbit’s foot. Sarnoff wrote not
in mystical terms but in functional ones:
Any commercial design must eventually
stand the acid test of practical application.
Before making a decision, therefore, we put
the block letters and the other new logos to
the test. We applied each of them to a selec-
tion of more than 50 products.
This practical demonstration made it
clear that the block letters had the distinctive
and flexible style we were looking for. Their
clean, unique design caught the attention
and held it. They could be rendered opaque,
transparent or in outline. … On a gleam-
ing Spectra 70 computer or a Video-comp
typesetter, the mark not only measured up
to the product but enhanced it.
After all the prep work, the decision to
make the change was made, and Sarnoff
understood it had to be in keeping with
tradition yet be forward-looking, too:
By late 1967, we were ready for the
immense task of putting the new system
into effect, and we created a corporate posi-
tion to supervise the effort and keep the new
look up to date. … The corporate style must
also be translated into the design of office
HOWDesignUniversity.com
PRINTMAG.COM 45
interiors, research centers and manufac-
turing plants. To a company’s employees,
customers and suppliers—and to the public
that simply passes by—these are often the
most visible and memorable expressions of
corporate style.
We were especially encouraged by the
enthusiastic response of many creative
people—product designers, advertising
artists, copywriters and architects—who
felt that the new style would liberate and
revitalize their efforts to communicate the
dynamism and diversity of the company.
On the whole, this piece is a fascinat-
ing look into the past and it’s heartening
to see a CEO with such an enthusiastic
and knowledgeable response to a corpora-
tion’s identity.
Sarnoff ’s kicker reads like the goal of
every designer, identity consultant and
chief executive:
For me, however, the most significant
comment of all came in a letter from an
electronics engineer of another firm who
had just seen one of our new ads. “RCA,” he
wrote, “looks like the kind of company that
I would like to work for.” ▪
46 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6
Observer
Illustration, Illuminated
Is the illustration field finally primed to get the critical
eye—and appreciation—it deserves?
by Rick Poynor
B
ack in 2010 in this column, I com-
mented on the state of research
and writing about the field of
illustration, which I called its
“missing critical history.” A sur-
vey of contemporary illustration had
just been published, the latest in a long
line of similar books, and it seemed to
represent another missed opportunity
to engage with the practice at a deeper
level. I wasn’t referring to how-to books
aimed at the student or freelance illustra-
tor—illustration has some good ones—but
historical and critical studies of illustra-
tion that treat the subject as a potentially
serious artform, which I have always
believed it to be.
In the years since then, I haven’t been
paying so much attention to illustration,
though I remain a keen reader of Varoom!
magazine, published by the Association
of Illustrators in London, which I cited as
a positive sign in my Print column. Then,
last fall, I was invited to Rhode Island
School of Design to deliver a keynote at
the sixth annual symposium convened
by a group of academics and scholars
who form the Illustration Research Net-
work, based in the U.K. The symposium’s
spectacularly ambitious and provoca-
tive title was “The Illustrator as Public
Intellectual.”
I was so intrigued I agreed to take part
immediately. It was an eye-opening
event, attracting more than 30 partici-
pants from Canada, the U.K., Germany,
Australia, India and Lebanon, as well
as the U.S. In the manner of academic
conferences, speakers presented papers
organized by panels with sub-themes
such as “Challenging Professional
Identities and Roles,” “Visual Satirist
as Public Intellectual” and “Illustrators
Usurping Writers.” While a handful of
well-known practitioners—Seymour
Chwast, Nora Krug, Anita Kunz—took
part in an informal roundtable discus-
sion addressing cartooning and illustra-
tion as modes of authorship, most of the
contributions were by educators who
publish their research. These presenta-
tions were of a consistently high stan-
ILLUSTRATION BY JAMES YANG
dard, and the conference was one of the
most stimulating and inspiring I have
attended in a while. What it brought
home to me forcefully is that in the past
few years illustration has become a field
in which there is now a concerted inter-
national effort to establish benchmarks

for the academic study of the subject,
and to challenge perceptions elsewhere
in academia that illustration is anything
less than a fully fledged discipline with
its own history and theories of practice.
RISD went out on a limb to bring the
symposium, usually held in the U.K., to
the U.S., and it deserved a bigger audi-
ence—the number of attendees probably
didn’t exceed the number of speakers.
Any nonacademic practitioner who
stopped by would have been excited
by the intellectual energy now puls-
ing through the field—but bridging the
divide between academic symposia and
professional conferences, and exposing
illustrators to this kind of investigation
and inquiry, is a challenge. American
illustrators already have the big biennial
ICON conference first staged in 1999.
This offers a plethora of workshops, as
well as talks by stars of illustration, and
it focuses on the practical and profes-
sional needs of working illustrators. It’s
not the kind of event, on the face of it,
where a presenter would have the temer-
ity to unveil a paper titled “Metapictures:
Signposts to an Illustrated Public Space,”
as Stuart Medley from Edith Cowan Uni-
versity in Perth did at RISD. Yet the likes
of ICON would be greatly enriched if it
were possible.
In my “missing history” column, I
complained about the lack of a text-
book attempting an integrated inter-
national history of illustration, point-
ing to how the study of graphic design
had benefited from the arrival, in 1983,
of Philip Meggs’ A History of Graphic
Design, and from other general histo-
ries that eventually followed it. At the
RISD conference, I learned that this
shortage is now being addressed with
vigor. Since 2014, a mammoth research
effort has been underway by a team of
more than 40 writers, coordinated by
main editor Susan Doyle, head of illus-
tration at RISD, with the assistance of
Jaleen Grove and Whitney Sherman.
Fully international in scope, The His-
tory of Illustration is now written and in
production, and is scheduled to be pub-
lished by Fairchild Books in early 2017.
If the daunting task of interweaving so
many contributions lives up to the edi-
tors’ fighting talk on the project’s web-
site—“illustration has always been the
most pervasive and popular of artforms
in the world … and is arguably the most
influential”—then the book stands an
excellent chance of decisively expand-
ing our understanding of the field. My
only hope is that the text and layouts
aren’t orientated in content and style
so far toward the needs of teaching (a
tagline describes the initiative as “an
educational resource for students, teach-
ers and practitioners”) that the book
neglects to propel its message outward to
broader audiences in design, communi-
cation and the visual arts. If illustration
really is as pervasive, popular and influ-
ential as they say, then everyone should
know a lot more about it. But the signs
of outreach are certainly encouraging.
The editors took the trouble to intro-
duce the project at ICON 8 in 2014, and
in July they will speak about the book
again, as it nears completion, at ICON
9 in Austin, TX.
Another welcome initiative was the
2014 launch of the Journal of Illustration,
a twice-yearly, peer-reviewed publica-
tion edited by Desdemona McCannon, a
British illustrator and academic. Three
issues have appeared, and as I write, two
more are scheduled to arrive at the same
time. In the first issue, Doyle describes
the “general lack of understanding [of
illustration] by the academic commu-
nity outside of illustration,” and sets out
the case for reform. “I have been asked
repeatedly by colleagues as to what dis-
tinguishes illustration as a discipline,”
she notes, “or even more negatively, ‘Is
it a discipline?’” Illustrators in every
branch of the profession would benefit
from the elevation of the activity to the
status of a fully accepted academic disci-
pline, regarded as a branch of knowledge
in its own right. But this growth can
only occur through the processes and
platforms of academic inquiry and dis-
course: research, writing, conferences,
journals, textbooks, and plenty of them.
Catching up with these still-new devel-
opments in the study of illustration—we
are only talking about the last three or
four years, after decades of existence
as a professional practice—I could see
PRINTMAG.COM 47
what a milestone, and perhaps even a
tipping point, the discipline has reached.
For longtime watchers of graphic design,
it’s striking to observe the pressure drop
that has occurred within what we might
broadly term graphic design studies
(history, criticism, discourse). Graphic
design wanted the same historical cred-
ibility for itself that illustration now
seeks. This drive started earlier, if we
take Meggs’ book as an indicator, and
by the 1990s the discipline seemed to be
getting what its more forward-looking
members were convinced it needed. In
1994, for instance, the journal Visible
Language published three—yes, three—
simultaneous issues devoted to “criti-
cal histories of graphic design.” That
indicated a field of studies on a roll,
full of vitality and hope for change. But
two decades later the intellectual and
publishing momentum hasn’t been sus-
tained, despite the numbers studying
graphic design, and few believe today
that graphic design history will some-
day achieve acceptance as a standalone
academic discipline. How could it when
graphic design, as it was historically con-
strued, has become so unsure of what it
is now, this uncertainty extending even
to its often-contested name?
Illustration, on the other hand, has
everything to play for. It’s as ubiquitous
as these researchers insist, and it can
clearly be discussed in properly aca-
demic terms.
In the span of ideas encompassed by
The Illustrator as Public Intellectual,
and in the enthusiasm of its speakers,
the symposium reminded me of graphic
design events I attended 20 years ago.
There is the same sense of deep commit-
ment to the subject, a pleasure in belong-
ing to a network of colleagues engaged
in a shared mission, and an energy to
carry out the work that remains to be
done. It will be crucial, though, to get
the message out and entice practicing
illustrators, and also designers who use
and value illustration, into the public
discussion. ▪
Rick Poynor is a British writer, lecturer and
curator specializing in design, photography and
visual culture.
48 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6
Design Matters: In Print
Joe Hollier
By creating a phone that is simply a phone, Joe Hollier
proves that less is truly more in our digitally disruptive age.
by Debbie Millman
I
first met Joe Hollier in the spring of
2013 in a class I teach at the School
of Visual Arts. He was soft-spoken
but smart and I was impressed with
his humility and lack of pretense.
Because I teach the business of design
and not the practice of design, my sense
of his talent was limited. When I finally
did take a look at his portfolio, I was
astounded. This shy young man was a
creative powerhouse. His work included
short films, design, art, stop-animations,
collages, patterns, music videos, docu-
mentaries and books. He also was the
director of Five on That, which not only
served as his platform to initiate proj-
ects, but was a unique marketplace for all
things skateboarding. As I listened to him
deliver the graduation address at SVA’s
commencement that year, I watched as
he enchanted the audience with his calm
candor. I knew I could expect greatness
from this young man—and I have not
been disappointed.
In the three years since he graduated,
Hollier has worked with Sagmeister &
Walsh, the Office of Paul Sahre, CNN and
Nike, and was named a Print New Visual
Artist. But the project that has brought
him the most global attention is the Light
Phone—a slim, credit card–sized device
designed to be used as little as possible.
It forwards all of your calls from your
existing smartphone, but eliminates the
rings, dings, pings, “Likes,” texts and
all the other distractions inherent with
today’s communication. Launched as a
Kickstarter with a hefty $200,000 goal,
the campaign was wildly successful and
brought in over $400,000. Now in pro-
duction, Hollier and his partner Kaiwei
Tang expect the phone to launch shortly.
How did you get the idea for the Light
Phone? I joined the 30 Weeks incuba-
tor, sponsored by Google, here in New
York City in September 2015. It was a new
dive into the world of technology for me,
coming from a more traditional graphic
design background. The hypothesis of
the program was great: They said design-
ers are at the founding table of the most
successful companies, and if given the
right resources and guidance, design-
ers could lead innovative new startups
that solved real problems with empathy.
Wow, I thought. At the time I was working
as a freelancer and initiating personal
projects and exhibitions that brought
me great joy, but I felt anxious. I wanted
the things I made to speak louder and
to reach larger audiences. I would finish
a collage and put it in the corner of my
room and move on to a new one; I knew
that no collage I could make would bring
the slightest change that I wanted to see
in the world. I was pretty terrible at mak-
ing a living as a freelance artist, and I was
itching to go back to school, so I joined
out of curiosity and to buy myself some
space from paid work.
As the program kicked off we met
pretty much daily with various found-
ers and investors and I was learning on
a deeper level how and why technology
products were being built or funded. It
was thrilling to see the amount of poten-
tial to turn ideas into real companies,
but it was also a little bit freaky. I was
shown how products could be engineered,
like marketing, to use our vulnerabili-
ties against us. The feedback circles,
the notifications—the entire experience
was manipulated oftentimes around the
metric of retention. How long does a user
spend with that product every day? These
products were being built because people
could become addicted to them—they
could sell advertising and our data—but
not because they solved a real need or
added value to our lives. At the same time,
the Apple Watch was just announced and
there were new startups coming out every
day claiming to “make our lives better.” I
just couldn’t believe it anymore.

These products were forgetting about
the two most important things in my life:
my time and attention. Yet I also found
myself taking them for granted during
the more than 150 times a day that I open
my smartphone. Answering a simple text
message unconsciously led to snapping
out of what felt like a daze 20 minutes
later, not particularly happy or sad, just
kind of tired. I realized, anything can
happen on this stupid thing, but nothing
ever will.
I thought back to my first memories
of the internet, the days of AOL Instant
Messenger with away messages and sign-
ing off. There was a specific chair and
desk in my parents’ house, and when I
sat there and had the patience to let the
modem load I could be on the internet,
and when I left that chair and that desk, I
left the internet behind. Now I bring the
internet with me everywhere all of the
time—it’s become my nervous habit. And
it doesn’t fill empty time, it fills the time
I used to experience solitude and bore-
dom—two essential aspects of creativity
or any serious work, for that matter.
I wanted to build something that
inspired people to consciously choose
to experience quality time without the
internet—I wanted to make that choice
feel special. Whether that’s spending
time getting lost in my artmaking or
with the people and animals I love the
most, that is my precious time. The Light
Phone is designed to be used as little as
possible. Every aspect of the design, from
the universal form factor to the mini-
mal interface and intentional limitations,
reflects that goal. The value lies in the
lack of features.
Why do you think we behave in this way
with our smartphones? One of the hard-
est things to do is take responsibility for
our time at any given moment. It’s easier
to let our devices feed us information
to react to, and the supply has become
infinite and is only getting more targeted
at us. The long-term harder questions
about what I’m doing with my life can
seem much too heavy to think about,
so I get drunk from my feeds to avoid
those thoughts. We’ve always had distrac-
tions, and have always procrastinated
as humans—we see this in the writings
of Seneca—but the smartphone gives us
the perception of productivity with a ton
of stimulation that is socially acceptable
to abuse. Multitasking is a myth, it is
addictive and exhausting. … When we
consume so fast, there is no way for us
to appreciate anything, and it is in that
appreciation that our lives have meaning
and purpose.
Has anything surprised you as you’ve
taken the Light Phone journey? Every-
thing is pretty surprising to me about the
journey; it’s kind of unreal how many
stars have aligned, and continue to do so,
to make it all possible. The right people
and opportunities keep coming my way.
I met my co-founder Kaiwei Tang in the
incubator program. Kai is the only per-
son in the world that could be my co-
founder, and there would without a doubt
be no Light Phone without him. Kai is a
product designer and developer who has
brought over 12 mobile phones to market
while working as a project lead for 10
years. His first project was the Motorola
RAZR. He quit his job because he felt
that the phones were in a spec race and
[the companies] weren’t interested in
the user as a human and their needs.
He finished his second master’s degree
from [IIT Institute of Design] in human-
centered design before joining 30 Weeks,
where we met and became friends.
PRINTMAG.COM 49
I have for a very long time worked
almost completely by myself, and I’m
very used to controlling every aspect. It’s
powerful to be able to collaborate with so
many people, with all of these amazing
skills that I lack, and to see how much
more we can accomplish together.
What made you decide to fund the Light
Phone through Kickstarter? We reached
a point, having been funding the whole
thing on our credit cards for months, that
we needed to prove the idea in order to
move forward with it. I was showing it
to my friends, guests of the program and
design heroes that shared their time with
me, but we were struggling to raise capital
and secure partnerships without having
traction around the potential success
for the Light Phone. It was too risky
for many factories to take on without a
given demand, and investors in the tech
world proved to be far more conservative
than they want to appear. We were also
anxious to share our project with the
world; we knew we needed help and it
kind of felt like pouring our hearts out
to the world.
Were you surprised by the incredible
success? It was and still continues to be
the most incredible feeling to constantly
be interacting with new people who have
been moved in some way by our project.
We had no idea that it would be successful;
50 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6
I obviously felt very strongly that the idea
was genuine and our goals honest, but
$100 for a phone that intentionally does
nothing and isn’t expected to ship for at
least a year felt like quite the ask.
The biggest surprise was the interna-
tional reach that we received; I did not
realize how universal the problem of
connectedness actually was. We’ve had
backers from 71 different countries, and
a generous variety of digital, print and
television publications talking about our
phone in different languages all around
the world.
When is the phone going to launch? We
will begin shipping the phones, starting
with smaller regional rollouts, in June
of 2016, one year from the completion of
our Kickstarter campaign. It has been the
longest project I’ve ever worked on, and
has given me a whole new understand-
ing of patience, something I’ve always
lacked quite a bit of. We are planning to
continue taking the Light Phone globally
and eventually plan to make it available in
stores as well. I get excited about the idea
of seeing the Light Phone in stores that do
not sell consumer electronics: bookstores,
camping stores, skateboard shops.
What’s a typical day like for you now?
They haven’t been that typical or con-
sistent lately. Since starting the Light
Phone I have become more connected
than I’ve ever been to my inbox. Whereas
I used to spend most of my days working
with my hands either animating or illus-
trating, now there is a lot more screen
time and meetings—lots of meetings. We
have been traveling a lot to meet with our
various partners—we spent two months
in San Francisco with an accelerator
program, and I recently returned from
China. It was so amazingly weird; I loved
it. We currently have a little office in a
co-working space in Bushwick. It’s loud,
small and cheap and I can only really sit
there and use my laptop or a sketchbook.
It has been helpful to be so small and
limiting; I go there and can focus. I enjoy
the constant changing environment of
moving around, too, working only out
of my backpack versus feeling the need
to have my whole studio.
I bring my cameras everywhere as Kai
and I have been traveling around. We
have been documenting everything for
the Light Phone. My photography has
become the main aspect of the Light
Phone branding, using film cameras
for everything. I am able to rationalize
how business-y my new day-to-day has
become to myself because I make so
many photographs and feel creatively
satisfied from that.
When you were first designated a Print
New Visual Artist, was this something
you ever imagined yourself doing? Not
in the least bit; I was never interested in
starting a business. I wanted to make
books and films, to travel, and to work as
little as possible for others. I do remem-
ber when I had the idea for the phone and
felt a little weird that I had been focusing
so much time on something that wasn’t
exactly “art.” I asked my friends about it
and they all told me that it felt “very Joe,”
and that was relieving.
You’ve collaborated with some of this
year’s NVAs, including Santiago Car-
risquilla. What kind of work have you
been doing? Santiago has been a good
friend of mine since we graduated SVA
together, and he was one of those friends
I asked about the phone right away.
We’ve worked on a variety of things in
the past, and if there is one thing that
we like to say about the work we make
together, it is very much influenced by
our desire to really enjoy the process
together and we selfishly make work
with that goal in mind. We tend to work
for people we admire, whether it was
the Sagmeister & Walsh studio, our very
talented friend Gabriel or past teachers
like Paul Sahre. Santiago was very gener-
Design Matters: In Print
ous in helping me with the Light Phone
videos as well, which involved going on
trips with spontaneity and cameras. It’s
nice having someone with energy like
Santiago around.
What was it like to work for Sagmeister
& Walsh? I really enjoyed the level of
trust and responsibility that they give
to the designers working for them on a
given project. Their projects are inter-
esting, and unlike most things I make,
the projects you work on at their studio
will actually be seen, which is always
satisfying too.
What’s next for Joe Hollier? As we begin
to share the phone with the world, it will
be really exciting as I have lots of ideas
for videos and things I want to make to
support that. I also want to continue to
expand the Light Phone through acces-
sories and software. What I started with
the phone is a new kind of technology
brand, and it won’t end with this phone—
we have a roadmap for other products
too. One of our Kickstarter rewards is a
process book of the journey so far, and
I look forward to producing that book
quite a lot.
I still love painting and collaging, and
having the freedom to do so without hav-
ing to rely on it for paying my rent. I look
forward to sharing those works sometime
in the future, but the lack of pressure
around needing to share them makes
them extremely therapeutic.
I’ve become very interested in architec-
ture lately and still love the idea of going
back to school forever, but I try to not let
myself soak too long in thoughts of the
future, as I tend to do too often. I have
been surprisingly pretty good at taking
things day-by-day for once, so let’s see
how long that can last.
I’m so used to becoming bored of proj-
ects before I finish them, but somehow
the Light Phone continues to give me
the same thrill it has from the begin-
ning. ▪
Debbie Millman is the editorial and creative director
of Print, a programming partner for HOW Design
Live, the host of “Design Matters,” and an author,
educator, artist and brand consultant.

This is the second year we’ve run our New Visual
Artists: 15 under 30 in Print. What was for years a
tightly edited list of 20 of the best and brightest young
designers working today has become a more in-depth
portfolio of 15 of the most interesting, challenging, pro-
vocative new voices working in visual communications.
What does it mean to receive this type of accolade so
young? I wouldn’t know, as it never happened to me. But the
advantages are clear: lots of exposure, bigger opportunities,
public acclaim. But there, buried beneath the benefits, is a
sinister challenge: When you “make it” so young, you have
that much more to maintain. Ask any one-hit wonder of the
music industry; being “of the moment” is quite a different
phenomenon than making work that lasts over time.
PRINTMAG.COM 51
Print’s NVAs have managed to
make it happen and make it last.
The list of past NVAs reads like
a veritable who’s-who in graphic
design: Scott Dadich, Eddie Opara,
Alan Dye, Jessica Walsh, Jessica Hische.
While their output is varied both in style and execution, the
common denominator is a work ethic of epic proportions.
To achieve acclaim so young is certainly enviable. But our
history of NVAs and our current crop of young designers
proves that design can be both timely and timeless. It will be
interesting to see how the 2016 class of New Visual Artists
grows and evolves over time as well.
—Debbie Millman
52 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6
Age: 26.
From: Israel.
Current city: New York City.
Education: School of Visual Arts
(BFA, Design).
Earliest creative memory: As a teenager
in school I didn’t do as well as my par-
ents hoped. I had all the potential—or so
everyone kept saying—but I was never in
the right mindset. Instead, my thoughts
would carry me towards spaces and
shapes and my notebooks were filled
with doodles and poems rather than
notes. At the age of 21, I learned that I
have ADD. This helped reconcile what
had seemed previously like disparate
parts of me—I was always drawn to do
something, but lacked the means to har-
ness my passions. Instead, I had
developed my own methods to feeling
fulfilled and self-worthy. The first activ-
ity I chose to partake in was photography.
The camera gave me a way to express
myself at a time in which there was no
other way for me to shout to the world, “I
am different.”
Path that led you to design: After complet-
ing my two-year service in the military, I
knew that I needed to continue with the
three things that, very quickly, became
my biggest passions: composition, typog-
raphy and motion. So I decided to apply
to SVA simply because I knew it was the
best, and decided to focus on design and
not motion simply because I already had
experience in that field.
N E W V I S U A L A R T I S T S 2 0 16 : 15 U N D E R 3 0
Career in a nutshell: I can’t say what is
going to happen next, but I do know a
few things. I was fortunate enough to
work very closely to both Jessica Walsh
and Stefan Sagmeister at Sagmeister &
Walsh throughout this year. The amount
of knowledge and creativity I have been
exposed to is truly singular. The studio
shaped me a lot as a designer. Specifi-
cally, my close connection with Jessica,
who taught me something new every
single day. Next, I am hoping to partner
with my husband, Gal Eldar, whom I’ve
been with for 10+ years. We are hoping
to work as a duo doing experimental web
design, installation, motion, print and
basically anything creative we feel pas-
sionate about.
Motto/design philosophy: Good content,
good eye, less rules.
Work of which you’re most proud: My the-
sis project, “Fuck the Block,” discusses
all the aspects of creative block from a
helpful standpoint. I begged Jessica
Walsh to join me on a journey to the
unknown, as my mentor. As the months
went by, I slowly found myself in a deep
creative block and couldn’t produce any-
thing meaningful. Jessica tried to help
me in any way possible. … I realized that
the only way I would be able to produce
work was to just focus on the only thing I
was feeling and living at the time—com-
pletely blocked. So I started researching
how to resolve the situation that I got
myself into. The project consists of six
separate visual projects, each reflecting a
different side of the block, all trying to
“The cover offers a
reference to my design
process—specifically the
act of unveiling layers and
peeling the self in order to
reach one’s very core.”
find a solution to overcome it or a way to
produce despite it. I’ve designed a card
game, a few websites, two books, a pack-
aging project, posters, an app, and
collected stories and testimonials from
other creatives about their experiences
dealing with creative block.
What defines you: Passion, curiosity
and love.
Cause that means the most to you: Fight-
ing against animal cruelty, supporting
animal sanctuary farms; also, helping
people understand ADD better, and
finding ways to treat children who suffer
from it—with art instead of medication.
What you want to accomplish before all is
said and done: I want to make a change in
the world through my art. I hope one day
I can open a school that teaches design,
conceptual thinking and art to students
who aren’t given the chance to excel in
conventional educational systems.
What you think the future of design is:
More creativity, more technology, more
individual talents. Design is becoming
important and relevant to everyone in
the world, not just designers. I see that
continuing to move forward. Interactiv-
ity is becoming a key quality of good
design, and I love it.
Website: www.lirona.me
H E AD S H OT: GA B RI E L M ELO
Anything else: The amount of creative
energy I get from the people around me
is massively influential: My friends and
family, all of them in their own way or
field, are the reason I do what I do.
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4 5

1. Spreads from As a Wife Has a Cow: A love story, an experimental typographic zine. 2. Spreads from The Book of Fear, a project born out of the desire to understand what people are
afraid of. 3. “Your Hair Smells Nice,” an experimental 3D illustration. 4. Self-portrait exploring Ashkenazi’s deepest insecurities, fears and questions. 5. Custom typography designed
for a four-part poster series advertising lectures by fictional characters. The series is titled Étrange, meaning strange in French.
54 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6
Age: 27.
From: Bogotá, Colombia.
Current city: New York City/Los Angeles.
Education: School of Visual Arts.
Earliest creative memory: When I was
about 7 years old, asking my mom to
take me to an art supply store to buy a
canvas and some paint. I got home and
painted a beach scene. I remember the
very strong visceral feeling that painting
gave me.
Path that led you to design: I always had
an affinity for the arts (as most children
do). During my childhood I drew a lot,
and then in my teenage years I spent
most of my time playing music.
When I was 17 I fell in love with Malia,
who moved to New York. I decided
to move too but in order to make that
happen I had to make a cover-up plan.
Somehow, I decided I would study
advertising at the School of Visual Arts.
I spent a year at Santa Monica Com-
munity College taking all sorts of art
classes and building a portfolio to get me
into art school. When I arrived to SVA I
N E W V I S U A L A R T I S T S 2 0 16 : 15 U N D E R 3 0
switched to design and animation and
spent four years learning and developing
with incredible teachers in a very special
city. It was a beautiful time in my life.
Career in a nutshell: I worked at Sagmeis-
ter & Walsh for three years and left that
to start my own studio and work with
my friends.
The key to good design: Good designers.
Motto/design philosophy: Produce as
much work as possible and learn from
the process itself. What’s most impor-
tant is the momentum generated by
having done a lot of work and letting it
envelop your life. With patience the
answers reveal themselves.
Work of which you’re most proud: I particu-
larly like all the work I’ve done with my
collaborators and friends Gabriel Gar-
zón-Montano and Joe Hollier. The work
we’ve made together is special because it
closely mirrors our friendships. When
you work with your friends, one word
carries much more weight; everything
can be more efficient and rich. The work
also often becomes a symbol for some of
the best memories.
“Quite literally, I chose to
represent each of the 15
New Visual Artists by a
small clay sculpture. I then
photographed them in a
group, having beauty and
humor as the main goals.”
Biggest influence: Nature.
How you would classify your style:
I wouldn’t.
Design Hero: Stefan Sagmeister.
Favorite artist: The list is very long and
impossible to narrow down to one. But I
would say that Kenny Scharf was a cru-
cial and huge influence during the first
few years of my development. My prox-
imity to him and his family allowed me
to see the inseparable quality between
his life and his art. That fact alone has
been a huge guiding star in my own life.
Favorite typographer: Ed Ruscha.
Favorite writer: Gabriel García Márquez.
What defines you: My friends and family.
Cause that means the most to you:
Education.
H E AD S H OT: H E N RY L E UTW Y LE R
Biggest fear: Not seeing the core of
my fears clearly enough and therefore
being blinded and controlled by their
side effects.
What you want to accomplish before all is
said and done: A full life.
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2 3

4 5

1. Stills from “If I Don’t Ask, I Won’t Get” (in collaboration with Sagmeister & Walsh). 2. Limited-edition packaging for typographic films shown as part of the traveling exhibition
“The Happy Show” (in collaboration with Sagmeister & Walsh). 3. Vinyl design for The Sentence by Zach Cooper. 4. Album cover for Alma del Huila by Gabriel Garzón-Montano.
5. SHMM by Space People casette design and animation.
56 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6
Age: 28.
From: Perkasie, PA.
Current city: Brooklyn.
Education: Tyler School of Art (BFA).
Earliest creative memory: Making cut-
paper portraits of Bert and Ernie from
“Sesame Street” when I was 2. I insisted
they be hung at my height on the refrig-
erator and that I be photographed
between them, wearing a vest and bow
tie, giving a thumbs-up.
Path that led you to design: When I was
accepted into Tyler School of Art, I had
every intention of becoming a fine artist.
I hadn’t realized that many of my inter-
ests were graphic design–based or that
typography was a thing I could learn
more about or do for a living. Growing
up, I loved music, and my favorite part of
getting a new CD was reading the inserts.
I read the small type and saw who
designed them, then noticed their work
in other places. I valued design very
early, and that never went away.
Career in a nutshell: Growing up in the
suburbs, every weekend I traveled with
my family, competing as a professional
drag racer from age 8 until 18. While
dominating the dragstrip, I secretly
wanted to become an artist, so I applied
to art schools. To pay for my apartment,
I worked as a background actor and
started a T-shirt business with a friend
where we screenprinted out-of-copyright
quotes about wine on shirts that got into
N E W V I S U A L A R T I S T S 2 0 16 : 15 U N D E R 3 0
Napa,
stores in Na
N CA. In my last semester
pa CA
at Tyler I worked as the Heads of State’s
first intern and designed an exciting
typographic project about The Great
Gatsby with them. After winning top
portfolio and graduating from Tyler, I
worked at Headcase Design as a book
designer and illustrator for five years. I
wanted to focus more on typography
and lettering, so I applied for a position
with Louise Fili in NYC, and a few short
weeks after that, my husband and I
packed up our 1,100-square-foot loft to
move into an apartment half the size in
Brooklyn, with our anxious cat and
boxes of irreplaceable books.
The key to good design: I’m drawn to
people and work that are authentic,
personal and sincere.
Motto/design philosophy: “Always be a
first-rate version of yourself, not a sec-
ond-rate version of somebody else.”
—Judy Garland to Liza Minnelli
Work of which you’re most proud: I’m espe-
cially proud of The Gershwins and Me.
During this project I realized I wanted to
do more with historically based typogra-
phy and that having an interest in the
nerdy or obscure could be an asset. It
made me want to learn more and truly
invest myself in subjects that I can’t get
enough of. It also led to my recently
completed film title project [Ed. Note:
See page 37].
Design hero: Doyald Young. (I have a
tattoo of one of my favorite pieces of his,
“My cover is inspired by the
unique and diverse roles
the NVAs play in the world
of design, which are repre-
sented by custom-lettered
signage typography set up
in lights for all to see.”
which is very elegant and simply says: “I
fuss a lot.”)
Biggest influence: I’m always looking for
undiscovered typography and ornament
in vintage printed ephemera.
How you would classify your style: Typo-
graphically focused, historically inspired
and never the same.
Favorite artist: Alex Steinweiss.
Favorite typographer: Mark Simonson.
What defines you: I’m known for being a
wearer of dapper hats with color-coordi-
nated feathers, and I usually have a glass
of wine in my hand—and if I don’t, I’m
certainly looking for one.
Cause that means the most to you:
LGBT equality.
Your idea of happiness: I would be abso-
lutely thrilled if someone contacted me
to create something for them simply
because they wanted my personal take
on it. It sounds so simple, but that’s it!
What you think the future of design is: I
hope it will involve more storytelling
rather than the perpetuation of internet
memes and “going viral.” I’m hoping
things will advance like they did during
the “print is dead” phase. Many outside
of the print industry bought into that
phrase, but those within it rose to the
occasion, asserted the value of physical
objects, and some of the most exciting
print pieces now exist because of it.
Website: www.raphaelgeroni.com
 PRINTMAG.COM 57

1. Art Nouveau–inspired birth announcement. 2. Cookbook cover that combines the author’s passions. 3. Monogram for an investment advisory firm in New York (designed with/art
directed by Louise Fili). 4. The Gershwins and Me CD designed to reference vintage record labels. 5. Identity and illustrations for a natural foods market in Clinton, NJ (designed with/
art directed by Louise Fili). 6. Spreads from the official companion book of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” (designed with/art directed by Paul Kepple at Headcase Design).
58 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6
Age: 22.
From: Beirut, Lebanon.
Current city: Between Beirut and Dubai.
Education: American University of
Beirut (Bachelor of Computer and
Communications Engineering).
Earliest creative memory: That is very
hard to remember, as creativity for me
is a continuous process rather than
“eureka” moments. I create my pieces
through continuous thinking and
focus in small amounts of time for
each piece.
Path that led you to design: My main
objective was to paint a positive
image of my city, Beirut, after the
civil war, and to remove all pictures
of politicians on the walls that hijack
the city’s beauty. I designed murals
that sprayed across the city.
N E W V I S U A L A R T I S T S 2 0 16 : 15 U N D E R 3 0
Career in a nutshell: An Arab muralist/
artist on the move.
The key to good design: When a mural
fits within the urban landscape as if
the city was built around it.
Motto/design philosophy: Letters can be
letters, faces and art at large.
Biggest influence: Traditional Arabic
calligraphers who paint old-school
political propaganda banners—I love
their talent, but hate their messages.
How you would classify your style: A
blend of faces and Arabic calligraphy
with a twist.
Design hero: I don’t believe in heroes.
Favorite artist: Leonardo da Vinci.
Favorite writer: A poet, Mahmoud
Darwish.
Favorite typographer: An Iraqi calligra-
“The artwork is a transla-
tion of ‘NVA 2016’ using a
modern Arabic calligraphy
styling that I have devel-
oped from my work on
murals around the world.”
pher called Khalil Al-Zahawi.
What defines you: So far, my perpetual
search for identity …
Cause that means the most to you:
Making cities reflect the lives of
their inhabitants.
Your idea of happiness: People getting
possessive over murals I have painted:
stealing my cement sculptures from
the street, taking out a door that was
part of my mural, or asking me to fix a
mural that was damaged because the
mural is next to their homes.
What you think the future of design is:
For Arabic calligraphy at least: being
able to express meaning not through
the meaning of the word (which can
only be understood by Arabic readers)
but by the shape and stroke of the letter.
Website: www.facebook.com/yazanone
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1. “The Arabic Spring, or the Girl and the Calligraphy Flower” in Djerba, Tunisia. 2. “The Flower Salesman” mural in Dortmund, Germany. 3. Mural of Lebanese singer and actress Sabah
in the Hamra neighborhood of Beirut. 4. Mural of Lebanese singer Fayrouz installed next to the 392rmeil393 art gallery in Gemmayzeh, Beirut. 5. “The Arab Man, and the Asian Cherry
Blossom Tree,” painted live during the Singapore Art Fair in 2014.
60 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6
Age: 28, but feel like a starry-eyed
13-year-old.
From: Born in Freetown, Sierra Leone,
grew up in Alexandria, VA.
Current city: Los Angeles.
Education: The Art Institute of
Washington (BFA).
Earliest creative memory: This memory is
still vividly imprinted in my mind. And
if it radiated a color it would be electric
red. I remember my 10-year-old self or so
arming himself with scissors and super-
glue in an effort to create hybrids of his
toys. I had a red Mighty Morphin Power
Rangers action figure I would tightly
clutch in my tiny hand and wildly run
around with, pretending he was flying.
One day I thought it would be so cool if
the action figure had wings. So I got my
Gargoyles action figure that had wings.
And before you know it, my red Mighty
Morphin Power Rangers action figure
had Gargoyle wings superglued to its
back! I remember being pretty amazed
with the results, but mostly that my idea
had come to fruition.
Path that led you to design: If I were to
plot my current location like a constella-
tion in the night sky, I would say I’m
currently at the star of a polymath,
multi-hyphenate. My artwork is mixed
media photography that utilizes ele-
ments of photography, illustration and
painting. I make electronic music under
the moniker Shy Away, which samples
N E W V I S U A L A R T I S T S 2 0 16 : 15 U N D E R 3 0
’80s music that’s accompanied by my
chopped-up vocals. And I also write
short stories.
The path that led me to where I’m at
can be traced back to when I picked up
skateboarding. It taught me how to see
the world in a new way. Handrails and
staircases were all of a sudden obstacles
to do tricks down, whereas before they
were just structures that assisted walk-
ing. Also, I had skater friends who were
writers, musicians and artists. By just
hanging out all the time I got into various
creative outlets. …
My skater friend whose dad was a
cameraman would let us borrow his
video and photography equipment. So
we would make skate videos and take
photos to document our tricks. Because
of skateboarding I developed a love for
photography and went to art school.
After graduating, I still stayed in tune
with photography, writing and music.
But my photography started to morph
because I didn’t have access to all the
super-nice cameras I used while at art
school. I had to reinvent. That reinven-
tion is what got my photography work
to where it is now—a combination of
multiple mediums.
Current place of work: Museum of
Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
The key to good design: Minimal. Alluring.
Intuitive. Easily functional.
Motto/design philosophy: Think like a kid.
Work of which you’re most proud: My new
“My Print cover design
captures the exuberance
of being a young creative—
and how we are all kings
of our individual creative
worlds.”
book Gallery Walk-ins (Unsolicited):
Starting From the Bottom of the Creative
Ladder. It’s a collection of short stories
and art criticism. It documents what it’s
like to be a 20-something-year-old artist
trying to make it. I gave that book my all,
it drove me insane, but I’m elated it
exists in the physical world.
Biggest influence: Probably Pharrell Wil-
liams, since I wanted to be a combination
of him and Usher when I was younger.
Also other creative people making amaz-
ing stuff—it could be a film by Wes
Anderson, a record by Childish Gambino
or an installation by Snarkitecture.
Design hero: Jonathan Ive. I have a
religious obsession with Apple. And the
skeptic part of my brain believes that
Steve Jobs is in Tron getting it ready for
the rest of humanity.
Favorite typographer: Herbert Bayer and
the whole Bauhaus typeface.
Favorite writer: Tao Lin.
What defines you: I define me.
Cause that means the most to you: The
cause to embrace and celebrate the
things that make you different. I’ve
always been the “weird kid,” the one
who doesn’t really fit it. The misfit.
What you’re most afraid of:
Complete happiness.
What you think the future of design is:
Kanye West?
Website: www.victorkphotography.com
 PRINTMAG.COM 61

1. “A Beautiful Mess” is an attempt at making something dirty look beautiful. 2. “Our Fantastic Death by Crayons” is a series that juxtaposes tools that symbolize death with tools that
symbolize creation and youthful imagination. 3. Images from “Sex, Drugs and Office Supplies,” a series that explores perception and function of everyday objects and attempts to
transform them into objects of desire.
62 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6
Age: 27.
From: Toronto.
Current city: Brooklyn.
Education: University of Maryland,
Baltimore County (BFA, Design).
Earliest creative memory: I used to make
so much shit for my mom that she had
nowhere to put it. I have this memory of
her being like, “Hey, why don’t you save
this one for me?” because she didn’t
need any more glued popsicle sticks.
Path that led you to design: I spent most
of my teens on message boards and
building fan websites. I didn’t know
what else I cared about so design
seemed like the obvious focus in college.
I find that my path keeps shifting and
evolving. It’s been very strange to be
given additional creative titles by others
over the last few years.
Career in a nutshell: I recently described
my career path as a “fluke pattern.”
Current place of work: My apartment.
The key to good design: Design is commu-
nication. Figure out what you are saying
and then fucking say it.
Motto/design philosophy: THINGS ARE
WHAT YOU MAKE OF THEM.
Work of which you’re most proud: I’m sure
it’s obvious, but I’m most proud of my
books, 1 Page at a Time and Pick Me Up.
I’d been self-publishing zines and my
annual Unsolicited Advice agendas
N E W V I S U A L A R T I S T S 2 0 16 : 15 U N D E R 3 0
when an editor at Penguin Random
House reached out and changed my life.
Being “a published artist/author” has
given me the sort of legitimacy that oth-
ers might need to comprehend why “a
weird guy” would make so much “stuff.”
The books act as an anchor for the mix
of projects and ideas I’m constantly
working on.
1 Page at a Time is an interactive jour-
nal that combines a lot of the themes
that are found elsewhere in my work:
directly addressing intangible emotions,
the passing of time, collecting, and
making something from nothing. The
book is a thinly veiled recovery journal
that can help anyone who’s feeling a bit
stuck, creatively or otherwise. I worried
that it was too obviously “me working
through my own demons,” but appar-
ently that’s universal. It’s now been
released in over 15 languages, and was
just rereleased in new cover colors here
in the U.S.
Pick Me Up (out in October) follows
the similar idea of a book-as-journey,
but this time it’s nonlinear by design.
The new book encourages users to look
within for everything they already know.
It also incorporates more of my own
writing, in a way that I hope is useful
without being preachy. It’s a self-help
book in the truest sense. You write your-
self advice when things are OK and then
come back later when they’re not.
Biggest influence: Alanis Morissette.
“Language has evolved. ...
My cover has maximum
engagement potential,
while highlighting the
ridiculousness of trying to
be heard when every word
is fighting for our attention.”
How you would classify your style: My
10-year-old self, with modern tools and
a college education.
Design hero: Chris Muccioli.
Favorite artist: Nathaniel Russell.
Favorite typographer: Eric Hu.
Favorite writer: Sarah Jean Alexander.
What defines you: I’m not sure when
I’ll know the answer to this. I spent a lot
of time trying to be cool and realized
that nobody was buying it. I’m just
being as “myself ” as I can be and ignor-
ing any other definitions. (Just kidding,
who has that kind of self-control? But
I’m trying.)
Cause that means the most to you: I
care a lot about emotional and mental
health–related issues, whether it’s self-
care, learning how to navigate our own
lives or research and treatment for diag-
nosed illness. I try to make work that
encourages people to speak up for them-
selves, offers a means to speak through,
or speaks to them directly.
Biggest fear: Dying, but also not dying.
What you want to accomplish before all is
said and done: I would love to feel com-
pletely at peace for even five minutes.
H E AD S H OT: DAVI D B RO O K TO N
Your idea of happiness: Fresh-
baked bread.
What you think the future of design is: Mil-
lennials value experiences over objects.
Website: www.adamjk.com
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1. Joy Division shirt featuring Unknown Pleasures’ artwork (photograph by Michael Burk). 2. Illustration for The New York Times, “What’s on Your Mind?” (art direction by Matt Dorfman).
3. Cover of 1 Page at a Time (photograph by Michael Burk). 4. Illustrations for MEL magazine: “Motivation in a Bottle” and “The Invisible Weight of Digital Hoarding.” 5. Illustration from
monthly Design*Sponge column that tackles topics relevant to creatives with a mix of useful thought and some humor.
64 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6
Age: 28.
From/current city: Berlin.
Education: Institute of Design Berlin
(Diploma in Communication Design,
Art Direction).
Earliest creative memory: I remember the
magic of paint drops falling into water—
this was very inspiring for me as a child.
I also enjoyed listening to meditation
music and painting for hours to express
myself—painting with my hands and
fingers was pure joy.
Path that led you to design: It has always
been my inner desire to design the world
that surrounds me, to feel balanced and
at ease.
Career in a nutshell: During my diploma I
experimented a lot with materials and
fell in love with tape. I started my own
tape art projects and experienced a flow-
ing transition to self-employment. My
partner Rob and I founded the TAPE
OVER crew in spring 2011. Owing to a
large network of musicians and event
managers, I could present my art to the
public and use the city’s vibrant electro
clubs as a creative playground. This led
the way to incredibly interesting and
inspiring experiences as well as the con-
stant exchange and collaboration with
other artists. We are working as a crew,
exchanging ideas and skills to express
our art in different styles. Through per-
sonal recommendations I was hired for
my very first commercial job for Mer-
cedes-Benz in 2012. … Flexibility and
N E W V I S U A L A R T I S T S 2 0 16 : 15 U N D E R 3 0
freedom enabled successful and fasci
fasci-
nating project offers around the globe.
Since 2011 the crew has grown from two
to six artists.
Current place of work: Our studio in
Berlin Kreuzberg; projects in Hawaii,
Austria, Switzerland, Lebanon, Nether-
lands, Poland, France and Sri Lanka.
The key to good design: Free your mind:
Fully embrace the topic, the question, the
location and the goals. Overcome inner
walls you might have. But most of all, let
it flow—don’t stop until you are 100%
satisfied and convinced with your result.
Motto/design philosophy: Tape it or leave it.
Work of which you’re most proud: One of
my absolute favorites is the “Deep Seas”
artwork we created in 2013 at private
electronic music festival Schatzalp in
Davos, Switzerland. It was a collabora-
tive project with ONDÉ, a sound and
visual collective from France. We put
everything we’ve got into every piece of
work we do. The only thing we love more
than seeing one of our creations starting
to take shape is seeing it come to life.
This is made possible by the visually
incredible world of projection mapping;
we like to call this unprecedented fusion
of urban art styles “Tape Mapping.” For
“Deep Seas” we … achieved this some-
what radiant result by using thin rolls of
white tape to outline jellyfish on a matte
black canvas, and then ONDÉ projec-
tion-mapped the taped lines in order to
animate the entire piece.
“Tape art sticks in your
mind ... not just on your
wall. My true passion is
analog art.”
Bigge influence: Nature with all her
Biggest
shapes, creatures and plants. Music is
the driver behind creative energy, start-
ing the flow of work.
Favorite typographer: Rylsee, hand-
drawn type artist.
What defines you: I was born in Berlin,
under the constant influence of a multi-
cultural atmosphere, making me a free
soul with a curious, open mind. I was
brought up in an artistic hippy family,
who supported me to express myself
creatively, and empowered me to explore
opportunities from a young age.
Biggest fear: Heights (until I did a
skydive from 14,000 feet in March).
What you want to accomplish before all is
said and done: My overall goal is to get in
touch with creatives all over the globe
and collaborate; in the process I want to
grow with the challenges life hands me.
The best outcomes are when artists
come to work together in synergy. …
My new focus is to create interactive
installations—it’s a pleasure to see peo-
ple getting involved with our art instead
of only consuming it.
Your idea of happiness: Walking barefoot.
What you think the future of design is:
HEADSHOT: NORA RICCI
Open collaboration, combining
globalization with communication.
Websites: www.tapeover.berlin;
www.vimeo.com/tapeover
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1. Mural installed by TAPE OVER at the Artlake Festival in Berlin, inspired by the natural location and made to look like an intricate cell pattern. 2. TAPE OVER created this piece at
Cabaret Aléatoire in Marseille, France, using blue duct tape and aluminum tape to create contrast. 3. TAPE ON YOU, a unique style using tape to create individual and extraordinary
looks. 4. “Deep Seas,” created in partnership with ODNÉ. 5. Tape art for Mercedes-Benz’s Concept Style Coupé as part of the 2012 DMY International Design Festival. 6. Tape art of
impalas at a waterhole for the Fuchsbau Festival in Hanover.
66 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6
Age: 26.
From: Silver Spring, MD.
Current city: Brooklyn.
Education: Carnegie Mellon University
(BFA, Communication Design).
Earliest creative memory: Getting really
into origami.
Path that led you to design: As a kid, I
went from wanting to be a composer to
architect, and then I didn’t really know.
By the time I had to start thinking about
colleges, I thought about majoring in
something like English or art history. I
had been taking art, and my high school
art teacher pushed me into thinking
about design as a career. She recom-
mended a few schools to look into; I
ended up going to the School of Design
at Carnegie Mellon, and the rest ended
up falling into place after that.
Career in a nutshell: Started at Penta-
gram in New York, went to MoMA and
worked my way up to senior designer,
left to design at SYPartners, and
returned to MoMA as an art director.
Current place of work: MoMA, The
Museum of Modern Art.
The key to good design: Asking the right
questions, having a good reason for
everything, and explaining ideas in the
right way.
N E W V I S U A L A R T I S T S 2 0 16 : 15 U N D E R 3 0
Motto/design philosophy: Try it, see
what happens.
Work of which you’re most proud: One of
the best projects I got to work on was
for a MoMA exhibition called “Applied
Design,” which was curated by Paola
Antonelli and featured 100+ really
diverse design objects (including video
games like “Pac-Man,” “Tetris” and
“The Sims”). Everyone was freaking out
about the video games, which MoMA
had just acquired as part of its collec-
tion, but it didn’t make sense to focus
on just the video games for the graphic
design and identity for the show.
Of all the ideas I presented for the
exhibition identity, Paola chose the
one she felt represented everything: to
create icons of each of the works in the
show, and to use the icons to form the
letters in the title. We could have made
a static silkscreened title, but intrigued
by one of Paola’s original inspirations
for the show—the idea that code could
be elegant—I wanted to make a pro-
jected animation where the title and
icons would constantly be moving, and
had the idea to code it in Processing
(which was also being showcased in
the exhibition).
I’m proud of this project because
at one point I didn’t know for sure
whether it would work. It was a small
“The original idea behind
the cover was to play with
type as if I was a kid again,
being messy and throwing
letters everywhere.”
leap of faith in going one step further
with the design, but it ended up being
a great alignment of fun, dynamic
typography, a wiling curator and a
great design team to be a part of.
Biggest influence: Hsien-yin Ingrid
Chou, my creative director at MoMA.
She is like a sassy work aunt, and has
instilled a great sense of play and fun
in design, getting stuff done and focus-
ing on smart conceptual thinking.
How you would classify your style: I
honestly don’t know if I have a distinct
one. Maybe “simple with a twist.” If
something doesn’t need to be there, it
won’t be.
Design hero: Alvin Lustig.
Favorite artist: Joseph Cornell.
Favorite writer: J.K. Rowling.
What defines you: Grit.
Cause that means the most to you:
Being empathetic.
Biggest fear: Losing perspective.
Your idea of happiness: Traveling with
my fiancée, Stephanie, and eating
H E AD S H OT: M ARTIN S E C K
good food.
What you think the future of design is:
Constantly changing.
Website: www.tonyleejr.com
 PRINTMAG.COM 67

1. Identity for the 2012 MoMA exhibition “Applied Design.” 2. Identity for “EXPO 1: New York.” 3. Designed for MoMA’s Art Lab, an interactive space for kids and families to learn about
art hands-on. 4. Exhibition design for MoMA’s “Gaugin: Metamorphoses.” 5. Exhibition identity, graphics and custom typography for the Quay Brothers. (All photographs courtesy of
Martin Seck.)
68 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6
Age: 25.
From/current city: Toronto.
Education: York University/
Sheridan College (Bachelors of
Design Honours Program).
Earliest creative memory: Designing
and constructing a sticker album with
leftover sticker sheets, a stapler and
lots and lots of glue.
Path that led you to design: Making
websites on Freewebs and GeoCities.
Career in a nutshell: Interned briefly at
Underline Studio while in school.
Worked at Slash, a branding studio,
after finishing school. Decided to leave
the job to pursue a more flexible work
practice and have more time for travel.
Current place of work: Freelance.
The key to good design: Merging aes-
thetics with functionality and purpose.
Motto/design philosophy: Seek opportu-
nities that challenge you to grow and
learn. Even, or actually especially, if it
means having to face initial discomfort.
Work of which you’re most proud: I’d
have to say my recent project with
-ING Creatives—an organization based
in Dubai that coordinates design
events. This April featured their larg-
est event to date with 30+ artists flying
N E W V I S U A L A R T I S T S 2 0 16 : 15 U N D E R 3 0
in from around the world, and a
roster of exceptional speakers includ-
ing Timothy Goodman, Neville Page
and David Delgado giving talks and
hosting workshops.
Over the course of nine months, I
worked on developing all print and
digital assets for the 2016 -ING Creative
Festival. This included social media
and website visuals, as well as post-
ers, postcards, magazine ads, program
guides, badges, tickets, banners, invita-
tion cards and event signage.
We began with photographing a
series of images that acted as the foun-
dation for the festival. This was done in
collaboration with Ryan Romanes, one
of last year’s NVAs, who did the photog-
raphy art direction. These photos were
captured in settings that resonate with
the region and the local residence of
Dubai. We identified authentic land-
scapes—avoiding typical touristic spots
and instead opting for boundless sand
dunes and mountainous barrens. A
colorful selection of sheen fabrics were
used and involved hundreds of attempts
in throwing the fabrics up in the air to
capture a large spectrum of dynamic
shapes and forms. The final images
are a result of multiple takes layered
in surreal compositions. These photos
were then transferred into the festival’s
digital and print collaterals.
“My cover utilizes the
four fundamental forms
of visual art and design in
harmony with CMYK ...
in a composition that
celebrates the medium
of print.”
Biggest influence: The Behance
community.
How you would classify your style:
Simple, minimalistic, understated.
Design hero: Thomas Heatherwick.
Favorite artist: Olafur Eliasson.
Favorite typographer: Adrian Frutiger.
Favorite writer: Alan Moore.
What defines you: My personal projects.
Cause that means the most to you:
Animal rights and being a voice for
the voiceless.
Biggest fear: Getting too comfortable
and stagnating.
What you want to accomplish before all is
said and done: I’m still trying to figure
that out. At the moment I’m more
focused on the journey than a final
end result.
Your idea of happiness: Exploring new
landscapes in combination with listen-
ing to the perfect playlist.
What you think the future of design is:
Sustainable design. Design that aims
to minimize negative impacts on
society and the environment.
Websites: www.behance.net/jianilu;
www.lujiani.com
 PRINTMAG.COM 69

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1. A self-initiated project, Bookbinding Essentials is a basic toolkit for beginner bookbinders. 2. Photos used as the foundation of the promotional posters for the 2016 Creative
Festival by –ING. 3. Fold-out A1 brochure for the Contemporary Heritage Festival put on by 1971 Design Space and –ING. 4. To My Future Self is a trio of handbound booklets
narrating design, travel and outlook. 5. Windows Farm Guide Book is a self-initiated project that gathers instructional information and data on window farming.
70 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6
Age: 29.
From: Brisbane, Australia.
Current city: Sydney, Australia.
Education: University of New
South Wales: College of Fine Arts
(BA, Design).
Earliest creative memory: Winning a
first-grade painting competition with
an artwork of my pet chicken Rosie.
Path that led you to design: I quit law
school after a year and realized I
needed to be doing something creative
for the rest of my life. So I switched to
a design degree and fell in love with
typography after learning to hand-set
type in the letterpress studio. From
that point forward I have been devel-
oping a practice that sits between art,
illustration, design and typography.
Career in a nutshell: I got noticed in the
type world back in 2008 when I made
an experimental video where I drew
lettering on my body for a university
project. I was then invited to speak at
Typo Berlin at age 21. This was defi-
nitely a kickstart to my career in the
early days. I then worked as an art
director in a couple of design and post-
production studios before deciding to
freelance about four years ago. Since
then I’ve created custom lettering,
illustrations and murals for Volcom,
N E W V I S U A L A R T I S T S 2 0 16 : 15 U N D E R 3 0
Nike, Diet Coke, Playboy magazine
and many more. I also host handletter-
ing workshops around the world and
try to maintain personal art projects on
the side.
Current place of work: My home studio
attic, or makeshift hotel room studio
while abroad. (Technically though:
freelance artist and illustrator repre-
sented by Levine/Leavitt in the
Americas and The Jacky Winter
Group in Australasia.)
The key to good design: A solid idea and
well-crafted execution.
Motto/design philosophy: Take your
work seriously, not yourself.
Work of which you’re most proud: I think
this changes with each new challeng-
ing project that arises. I am proud of
my first gallery exhibition, which was
held at the Fremantle Arts Centre in
2013. This was the first time I hand-
painted large-scale lettering, and it was
really a game-changer in terms of my
work since then. I am also proud of my
side project, The Spew Bag Challenge,
which I started for fun while flying on
airplanes a few years ago. It combines
three of my favorite things: puns, hand-
lettering and travel (www.spewbag
challenge.tumblr.com).
How you would classify your style: My
“I wanted to create a
typographically led design
with color and graphic
elements that were fresh
and playful. The piece was
hand-painted to add a
sense of scale and a
human touch.”
style shifts within the bounds of letter-
ing and typography. Sometimes loose,
energetic and calligraphic, and some-
times big, bold and intricately detailed.
Often black and white.
Biggest influence: ilovedust. This
studio combines illustration and typog-
raphy like no other. I love everything
they do.
Design hero: Sagmeister.
Favorite artists: Yayoi Kusama,
Jenny Holzer.
Favorite typographers: I have many …
Luca Barcellona, Alex Trochut, Jordan
Metcalf, Martina Flor.
Favorite writer: Jason Crombie.
What defines you: My laugh!
Cause that means the most to you:
Mental health.
Biggest fear: Forgetting Mum’s
birthday.
What you want to accomplish before all is
said and done: Some good memories
with all my favorite people.
Your idea of happiness: No new emails.
H E AD S H OT: E L LE G R E E N
What you think the future of design is:
The future of design is human.
Website: www.gemmaobrien.com
Anything else: Boomer Lives!
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1. “People Who Love to Eat,” a mural in Westfield, Australia. 2. “Love/Fear” installation, part of Art & About Sydney. 3. Editorial illustration for Australian Geographic, “30 Years of
Conservation.” 4. “Prove You’re Human” installation at Laguna Solo Exhibit (photo by David Zimmerman). 5. “Pure” illustration for Lamono magazine. 6. “Art Loft” mural for Volcom.
72 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6
Age: 29.
From: The U.S.
Current city: Bergen, Norway.
Education: American University (B.S.,
Audio Technology/Graphic Design).
Earliest creative memory: I spent my early
childhood in Mexico City. Some of my
first memories are of the colored blocks
of buildings on the way to the market
and the intricate patterns on the sugar
skulls during Dia de los Muertos (Day of
the Dead). Color and pattern have
always intrigued me.
Path that led you to design: Music led me
to design—I’ve always played and lis-
tened to music. I have a degree in audio
engineering, and never really planned to
work with design professionally. But I
always found myself designing things for
bands—record covers, flyers, posters and
websites. It just felt right, so in my last
years of university, I took an intense
amount of design courses.
Career in a nutshell: I got my first job out
of university at a prestigious design firm
in Washington, DC [Design Army]. I
pushed myself through three or four
years of learning everything and any-
thing I could from this. After a growing
interest in European design, I packed up
and moved to Norway, where I worked
my way up to being a creative director
for one of Norway’s top creative agencies
[ANTI Bergen]. I learned a lot about
design, but even more about business,
N E W V I S U A L A R T I S T S 2 0 16 : 15 U N D E R 3 0
and decided that it was time to start
something of my own. I’ve recently
started Larssen & Amaral—a design
consultancy—with my partner. Her
background and interest in retail and
interior design is letting us offer a new
approach to creating brand experiences
by blurring the lines and finding the con-
nections between disciplines of design.
Motto/design philosophy: Give design
purpose. Never stop learning.
Work of which you’re most proud: The
first is the visual identity and branding
campaign for Bergen International Fes-
tival—Scandinavia’s largest classical
music and art festival. This project
(done during my time at ANTI) gave
me a chance to apply my background in
music to visual communication—finding
a graphic system that mimicked and rep-
resented music. The other project is the
product of a pitch that never made the
light of day—rebranding the World
Children’s Festival. The festival is an
international gathering of children and
students age 6–18, families and teachers
from all around the globe. The concept
was to give the visual identity and its
ownership to the children and attendees.
Biggest influence: Travel.
How you would classify your style: I work
across disciplines, largely with branding,
but also with illustration, product and
interior design as of lately. I would say
simplicity is a common theme through
all of my work. Living in Scandinavia has
“Pulling inspiration from
the diversity of disciplines
of the 15 winning
creatives, each letter is
made from a variety of
materials that reflect
different aspects of
their work.”
definitely made an impression on my
aesthetic style. But I don’t like to claim a
style—good design serves a purpose, and
therefore as a designer your style should
be fluid, able to adapt to any task at hand.
Favorite artist: Arvo Pärt—an Estonian
composer who once said, “Every note is
a blade of grass.”
Favorite typographers: Islamic and East
Asian calligraphers—they value typogra-
phy more than most of us, and have a
deeper connection to each letterform.
Favorite writer: Currently: Haruki
Murakami—a true talent for painting
pictures with words. Always: J.K.
Rowling—Harry Potter for life!
Cause that means the most to you: I’m not
one to make a political statement, but I
truly believe in improving the quality of
life on earth, for all its residents. Two
things we can start with are taking action
on global warming, and looking for ways
to end gun violence. We can only hold
ourselves responsible for these problems.
What you want to accomplish before all is
said and done: Ultimately: being able to
live a fulfilling and successful life doing
what I love, surrounded by people I love.
Superficially: building a cabin on the
west coast of Norway.
H E AD S H OT: RO B E RT DAL E N
What you think the future of design is:
Pursuing a balance to ensure technology
doesn’t dominate all aspects of our lives.
Websites: www.ericrohter.com;
www.larssenamaral.no
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1. Visual identity for Acapo law firm (designed at ANTI). 2. Visual identity and website for Norwegian artist Sivert Høyem (designed at ANTI). 3. Typographic wrapping paper and
patterns. 4. Visual identity for Bergen International Festival (designed at ANTI). 5. Visual identity for World Children’s Festival.
74 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6
Age: 29.
From: Ashtabula, OH.
Current city: New York City.
Education: Ohio University E.W. Scripps
School of Journalism; The Creative
Circus Portfolio School.
Earliest creative memory: My grandma
taught both my brother and I how to
draw at an early age. So I have always
embraced my artistic side. When I would
enter coloring contests, they would
refuse my entry because they were con-
vinced I had help. Then when I was in
elementary school, I created my own
book that was almost published. It was a
series where I merged fairy tale storylines.
Path that led you to your work: My early
love for drawing led me into other art-
forms. I started painting in high school,
and once in college I explored photogra-
phy and broadcast as a radio disc jockey.
I spun alternative rock for my college’s
radio station but could never get into
painting my fingernails black. From
there I dabbled with sports announcing,
stand-up comedy and finally journalism.
In journalism school, I joined the
Advertising Club and learned about the
creative side from guest speakers in the
industry and also from portfolio schools.
To me, it sounded like the closest thing
to being an artist without starving. So I
doubled my student loan debt and
headed south to portfolio school.
Current place of work: Freelance creative
N E W V I S U A L A R T I S T S 2 0 16 : 15 U N D E R 3 0
hybrid/creative director; teacher at
Miami Ad School; permanent Favourite
Website Awards Mobile judge.
Career in a nutshell: A little bit of luck. A
lot of hard work. A ton of iced coffee.
Motto/philosophy: Would I give a shit?
When I come up with an idea, I always
ask myself if I would actually pay atten-
tion to it. Which is a tough barometer
because I’m very cynical and have a
short attention span.
Work of which you’re most proud: Every
creative has that one idea they carry
with them from agency to agency, brand
to brand, trying to get it made. And the
Dreams Reclaimed film was mine. It took
a few years to land her but it was worth
the wait. Certain sleep conditions can
cause you not to remember your dreams,
or even cause you not to dream at all. So
as part of a bigger sleep initiative for
Aetna Insurance, I took three people
who hadn’t dreamt in years due to a
sleep disorder, and had them record
their first dream after treatment. I then
took those dreams and recreated them
in a film.
Biggest influence: My wife, Angelle
Juneau. She’s an amazing art director/
designer and has always pushed me to
be better. We met in portfolio school,
where she was a year ahead of me. So I
started off trying to impress her, and I
haven’t stopped.
Favorite artist: I’m fascinated by contem-
“Emojis have spawned a
new visual language
because words alone don’t
always convey emotional
tone. Soon, you’ll be putting
‘emoji’ under ‘languages’ on
your résumé.”
porary art. I’ve been following Jeff
Koons for a while. I love how he’s able to
make us think differently about popular
culture and second-guess our under-
standing of social norms. But for me, the
description write-ups are the true genius
of contemporary art. They can trans-
form a basic mirror hanging on the wall
into a window into your insecure soul.
What defines you: My shoe collection.
Biggest fear: Never being truly satisfied.
This is something that has propelled me
to be successful so far. But I worry that
nothing will ever be enough. And that
I’m missing out on enjoying the moment.
What you want to accomplish before all is
said and done: My end goal has always
been and still is to own my own advertis-
ing agency. But that said, the great part
about being in the creative world is that
you’re introduced to a lot of different
industries, and are approached with a
myriad of different opportunities.
Your idea of happiness: Manicotti
with meatballs.
What you think the future of design is:
360-degree environments and virtual
reality. YouTube and Facebook both
already have incorporated video players
that allow you to interact seamlessly
H E AD S H OT: DAN IE L YI M
with 360-degree videos. And more and
more companies are launching virtual
reality headsets. Immersive experiences
are becoming the norm.
Website: www.jeffscardino.com
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1. Illustration from “the relevant résumé”—the first résumé that sets you apart by showing off your failures. 2. Machine Eleven, created in partnership with Aetna. For the price of one
cigarette, Machine Eleven will give you a memorable 11-minute experience. 3. Smoking Hot was a social experiment on the Tinder app that proved smoking is found unattractive in the
dating world. 4. Images from Dreams Reclaimed, a film that recreates the first dreams three people had in years following a sleep disorder.
76 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6
Age: 29.
From: It’s complicated. I’m a third
culture Indian kid who grew up in
London; San Antonio, TX; and Dubai.
Home is more of a concept to me. But
I’ve now lived in New York longer than
any other city.
Education: School of Visual Arts (BFA).
Earliest creative memory: My father is a
perfumer, and growing up I never
understood why there weren’t perfumes
for kids (I was never allowed to use any).
When I was 6 years old, I tried to con-
vince him of starting a line for kids by
giving him a book I made—complete
with bottle designs, packaging, logos
and taglines. I guess he knew what lay
ahead then.
Path that led you to design: I interned at
a design studio in high school and was
shocked I could do such a thing for a
career. I was really into math, science
and art at the time, and it seemed like
a great field to use both my left and
right brain.
Career in a nutshell: Pentagram, Doyle
Partners, New York Magazine.
Current place of work: SYPartners.
Motto/design philosophy: “Why not?”
N E W V I S U A L A R T I S T S 2 0 16 : 15 U N D E R 3 0
The key to good design: Work that
expresses the essence of an idea, cre-
ates emotional impact, compels people
to think and (if you’re lucky) inspires
them to act.
Work of which you’re most proud: When I
first started at New York Magazine, it
was a weekly issue (designed and dis-
tributed the same week). [Mayor]
Bloomberg was leaving office after 12
years, and we decided to do an info-
graphic package that showed
everything he changed in New York
during his reign. I don’t think I’ve ever
designed that fast, as I ended up hav-
ing to do the whole thing in essentially
two-and-a-half days. It was a great
challenge to tell a story through data,
illustration, design and photography.
And as a cherry on top, it won an award
from the Society of Publication Design-
ers the following year.
Biggest influence: My father. He played
the most formative role in helping
me figure out that I wanted to be a
designer, and is the first person I go
to whenever I need career advice.
How you would classify your style: By not
having a particular style.
Design hero: Alan Fletcher. His thirst
“Each New Visual Artist’s
path has consisted of
many turns, detours,
mistakes, twists and
discoveries.”
for all kinds of knowledge and playful-
ness are inspiring.
Favorite artist: Olafur Eliasson. His
work is the perfect intersection of art
and science, creating emotionally
powerful experiences.
Favorite typographers: Ed Ruscha and
Herb Lubalin.
Favorite writer: Zadie Smith.
What defines you: My curiosity.
Cause that means the most to you:
Education. It shouldn’t be a luxury.
Biggest fear: Losing the ability to see.
What you want to accomplish before all is
said and done: Be kind, inspire others
and do good work. And maybe one day
live on a tropical island.
Your idea of happiness: The perfect iced
chai on a breezy summer day.
What you think the future of design is:
H E AD S H OT: CA RO LY N G RI FF IN
Design is going to be more ubiquitous
and crucial in people’s everyday lives
as things get more overwhelming. I’m
also really hoping a robot won’t be tak-
ing over my job anytime soon.
Website: www.karishmasheth.com
 PRINTMAG.COM 77

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1. Proposed campaign to celebrate spring at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. 2. Infographics designed for the Intelligencer section of New York Magazine. 3. Infographic detailing the
changes made to New York City during Mayor Bloomberg’s reign (photographs by Christopher Anderson, illustrations by Mark Nerys). 4. Zine by Jerry Saltz that appeared in New York
Magazine (illustrations by Jeanne Verdoux, lettering by Erik Marinovich). 5. A personal project titled “Why Read” that focuses on the difference between fiction and nonfiction reading.
6. “Two Queens” infographic published in New York Magazine.
78 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6
Age: 29.
From: Lilburn, GA.
Current city: Brooklyn.
Education: Savannah College of Art and
Design (BFA).
Earliest creative memory: Drawing
dinosaur scenes on endless sheets of
old-school printer paper with the perfo-
rated strips along the sides, which my
dad would bring home from work.
Path that led you to design: I loved to draw
when I was young, and as I got a little
older I realized that I really loved it when
I could apply my art to something that
could be used, rather than just hung on a
wall. I started designing birthday party
invitations, personal basketball cards,
custom-painted sneakers and T-shirts,
etc. I got the most pleasure out of these
projects when I could involve drawing
and painting, so I’ve done that ever since.
Then in high school someone showed
me a site that had images of Polish post-
ers. They blew my mind, and I knew I
wanted to be a designer.
Career in a nutshell: Studied graphic
design at SCAD; interned and later
worked for Adult Swim in Atlanta, where
I learned a lot under art directors/men-
tors Jacob Escobedo and Brandon Lively
(and others). Then I moved to New York
City and became art director for new
fashion label Azede Jean-Pierre, followed
by freelancing several years for compa-
nies like Vice, Tribeca Film Festival,
N E W V I S U A L A R T I S T S 2 0 16 : 15 U N D E R 3 0
Moog, Nickelodeon, Vinyl Moon, and
Ogilvy & Mather. Finally, this year I
started working again for Adult Swim
(this time from NYC), along with con-
tinuing to freelance for various other
clients. My work has been selected multi-
ple times for the Print Regional Design
Annual, American Illustration, Creative
Quarterly, and I have received a Gold
Medal from the Society of Illustrators.
Current place of work: My Brooklyn studio.
The key to good design: First there’s the
practical stuff, like it has to solve the
problem, fulfill a function, make sense to
its intended audience, etc. But then
there’s the mystical side: It has to move
people, cause a reaction, be brave, smart,
weird, funny, unexpected, startling and/
or heartfelt.
Motto/design philosophy: I just try to put
myself in the work and really create
something I’m proud of on every single
project. To me that means coming up
with a strong idea up front, and execut-
ing it in a beautiful or surprising way. I
also try to avoid trends as much as I can.
Work of which you’re most proud: It’s not
an individual project, but I’m probably
most proud of getting to a point where I
was able to support myself solely by free-
lancing. This took an incredible amount
of work, leaning into fears and giving up
comforts. It took more faith and deter-
mination than I knew I had in me.
Biggest influences: Stefan Sagmeister,
“I chose to represent the
15 under 30 as 15 young
piglets suckling on the
teat of design. Hopefully
their hunger and youthful
vibrance shows through
in the illustration.”
Tibor Kalman, Push Pin Studios,
Polish Poster School, outsider art,
Tadanori Yokoo.
Design hero: Tibor Kalman.
Favorite artists: I have a soft spot in my
heart for the early Flemish guys—the
van Eycks, Campin, van der Weyden,
Bosch and Brueghel.
What defines you: My work, my passion,
my drive, how I treat others.
Causes that mean the most to you:
Taking care of the Earth, equality.
Biggest fear: The deep sea is very dis-
turbing to me but I love learning about it.
What you want to accomplish before all is
said and done: I want to leave a legacy of
lasting work that I’m proud of and will
inspire many. Also do something big to
give back and help change something for
the better for others, and become suc-
cessful in something outside of design.
Your idea of happiness: Doing exactly
what I want to do every day and being
surrounded by great people.
What you think the future of design is: I
think design is doing the same thing
today that it was in ancient cave/rock
H E AD S H OT: AZ E D E J E AN -P IE R R E
paintings and shamanistic sculptures.
But the tools we create it with, mediums
we view it through, and styles it is cre-
ated in will continue to evolve with the
new technology/culture.
Website: www.josephveazey.com
 PRINTMAG.COM 79

1. Poster for an Adult Swim Hudson River party cruise as part of New York Comic Con. 2. Record packaging for Vinyl Moon Vol. 1. 3. Adult Swim Comic Con booth featuring a 30-foot
flowing cat beanbag toss (designed in collaboration with Trey Wadsworth). 4. Record packaging for Vinyl Moon Vol. 1. 5. Interactive invitation to an Azede Jean-Pierre fashion show.
6. One poster from a series for Vevo, illustrating their brand values.
80 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6
Age: 27.
From: Vigo, Spain.
Current city: London.
Education: Eva: Universidad Com-
plutense de Madrid (BFA, Fine Arts);
Central Saint Martins (MA, Communi-
cation Design).
Marta: Universidad Politécnica de
Madrid (Construction Engineering);
Central Saint Martins (MA, Communi-
cation Design).
Earliest creative memory: In first grade
we had to design a newspaper for a
class competition. The teacher liked
how we drew and asked us to make
caricatures of politicians. We also
decorated all the headlines with faces
in every letter. Everyone was very
impressed and we soon earned respect
for our drawing skills.
Path that led you to design: E: I thought I
would study art restoration until I joined
a design class while studying fine arts.
My teacher had such a passion for design
that I couldn’t help but fall in love with
this industry.
M: When I started my construction engi-
neering degree I felt very stressed—the
exams were really complicated, and I felt
under a lot of pressure. So I began to
paint weird images. It helped me to can-
alize my feelings and gave me a reason to
wake up every morning.
Career in a nutshell: We do it with passion.
N E W V I S U A L A R T I S T S 2 0 16 : 15 U N D E R 3 0
(Eva + Marta Yarza)
Current place of work: E: Magpie Studio;
before, I interned at Sagmeister & Walsh.
M: Freelance.
The key to good design: E: Good design is
knowing the rules and breaking them.
M: Something that makes me think: Oh
yeah! How did they think about that How
did they do that
Work of which you’re most proud: Panifica-
dora, as it’s a project that grew up with
us. Panificadora is an old brutalist bread
factory abandoned in the center of our
hometown, Vigo. When we were 18, we
heard that the government planned to
demolish the building to build ugly
apartments, so we collected 5,000 signa-
tures and finally, four years after, the
building was protected by the council.
Today it is still ruined, so this year we
decided to create [spec] branding for it
as if it had become a museum. It was
well received in Vigo and the world, so
we hope we can one day announce that
the building is finally being restored.
Biggest influences: E: In general, all my
teachers, my parents and siblings, and
everyone who has been a blessing and a
lesson in my life and has defined the
person who I am today.
M: London by itself is an amazing influ-
ence. You can meet so many interesting
people here. The streets are full of art
and nobody will judge your design style.
It seems like there is space for every-
thing here.
“We did [our] cover to
reflect how new artists,
designers and young
workers in general are
forced to work for low
rates or nothing in order
to get ‘experience.’ …
We hope the future will be
more fair to youth.”
How you would classify your style: Multi-
disciplinary. We give big importance to
the concept; once we have it, we do the
impossible to make it true. So far we
have combined typography with coding,
video, animation and photography.
Design heroes: E: Stefan Sagmeister
and Tibor Kalman—both of them
opened doors in design that didn’t
even exist before. Also my sister Marta;
I cannot imagine someone else whom
I feel more confident to work with.
M: Alex Trochut. He brought the world
of graffiti to typography and created
such a unique and amazing style.
Favorite typographers: E: Neubau Berlin,
Grilli Type and Louise Fili.
M: It may sound egocentric, but my
favorite typographer is my sister Eva.
She has a big instinct that makes her
know what is right or wrong in the com-
position of letters. She’s definitely my
typography teacher.
What defines you: Our Spanish accent.
Cause that means the most to you:
Animals’ rights.
Biggest fears: E: Answering phone
calls.
M: Cockroaches. It’s the only insect that
scares me. But they also remind me of
certain periods of my life. I love using
them in my illustrations.
Website: www.yarzatwins.com ▪
 PRINTMAG.COM 81

1. Quotes designed for AIGA’s “Quoted” project. 2. Bespoke typeface designed for Haustraks, an online magazine for electronic music. 3. Portrait from the “Shape of Lie” project that
features well-known Hispanic politicians who have been accused of corruption. The lines of distortion represent the sound of their voice as they deny the accusations. 4. Orchid, a
typeface inspired by the motion of nature. 5. Minimalist illustration inspired by traveling, based on color and simple shapes. 6. Branding for Panificadora, an old bread factory the Yarza
twins helped save from demolition.
 BLACK
82 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6

DESIGN
STILL MISSING IN ACTION?

The author of a 30-year-old Print article on

diversity surveys the industry to see who is
designing the solution to a problem that
continues to this day.
by Cheryl D. Holmes-Miller
 PRINTMAG.COM 83

NERS:
84 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6

I
t’s been nearly 30 years since Print published my tion where there is a racial,
first article, “Black Designers: Missing in Action.” cultural and ethnic seat for
Bobby C.
I was completing my communications design my personal truths. In 1987,
Martin Jr.
coursework at Pratt Institute. The head of the pro- there were no multiracial cat-
Martin is a
gram at the time, Etan Manasse, demanded that I egories other than black for
designer and
not submit a design thesis project to fulfill my me to self-identify. I was con-
educator in New York
degree requirements. Instead, he asked me to make sidered and even branded
City. He co-founded OCD:
“a contribution to our industry.” myself as a black designer. The Original Champions
The editorial and advertising offices of Print magazine were Suppressing my truths of of Design in 2010 with
blocks from my design firm in New York City. Empowered with being multiracial, there was Jennifer Kinon. Together
purpose, I will always remember marching over to the Fifth no place and it was no time they develop brand identity
Avenue hub with a manila clasp envelope in hand, containing for me to come out of the pro- systems for a broad range
my thesis “Transcending the Problems of the Black Graphic verbial “one-drop” thinking of clients—from the Girl
Designer to Success in the Market Place.” It was tagged with of my blackness and trying to Scouts of the USA to The
a naively handwritten yellow Post-It: “I would like to have my succeed as a designer. Racial New York Times and Nike.
enclosed thesis become a magazine article.” Before I could ambiguity shrouded my fam-
return to my drafting table and get situated for a day of work, ily’s truth of actually being “It’s so important for people of
the phone rang. Martin Fox, Print’s longtime editor, called me African American, white and color to be involved in design
directly—they wanted it. Filipino. My dad’s pre–Civil organizations and events,” he
In September 1987, my article was published and shed light Rights era solution of hav- says. “In New York City, people
on a disenfranchising issue facing black graphic designers. The ing mixed-raced kids was to like Michele Washington, Victor
graphic design industry had no idea about the anomaly of black raise me as a black woman: Newman, Jonathan Jackson, Ian
designers or that they even existed. I questioned if the industry “Cheryl, be the best black Spalter, Forest Young, myself and
was the entity missing out on a segment of practitioner, or if it woman you can be.”
others have sat on the board of
AIGA/NY. Richard Hollant [and]
really was the black designer who was missing in action. After By 1987 I had completed
Ashleigh Axios have recently been
pages of narrative and presenting a catalog of black designers, I my undergraduate and
appointed to the AIGA board at
concluded that black designers indeed boldly existed, but were graduate degrees and was a
the national level. Gus Granger
missing from view. practicing designer in New
and Antionette Carroll and others
Print allowed my voice to emerge, and began the industry’s York City. Somehow I knew
have done a great job leading
primary discussion of diversity, equality and inclusion. The exactly what the industry
the diversity initiatives for AIGA.
discussion evolved into subsequent AIGA articles, conferences would be facing in the 21st- … You need to be a part of the
and new voices pushing the envelope of this important topic. century “-isms” of race, cul- system to change the system.”
Thirty years have passed, and the black designer is still look- ture and ethnicity. We would
ing for solutions to a lack of visibility. Now greater in numbers be facing new messages, new
than in 1987, the black design community is demanding its peoples and demanding audiences. I sounded the alarm. So
own solutions. Throughout this article, you’ll find an array that was then, and here we are now. The 21st-century designer’s
of designers who read my original article and sought me out, palette is more than the black-and-white shades of my baby
whether to thank me, seek my counsel or just say hello; they boomer world. It is full of global colors, traditions, cultures,
are black designers, in action, today. My words remain: Not ethnicities and new uncharted ethoses of race and gender. The
using the designer of color in today’s marketplace is a missed graphic design industry and its practitioners, along with many
opportunity. It was a missed opportunity in 1987 and it’s a cross-disciplines and industries, must finally embrace the topics
missed opportunity today as the end marketplace has diversi- of diversity, equality and inclusion in today’s world.
fied and become global.
For decades, I’ve fielded inquiries from designers, research-
ers, academicians and the like, unearthing me and seeking A NEW DAY
my current reflections. The most recent inquiry led me back Every morning I drink my coffee, read my emails and post on
to Print. Facebook. I keep up with my social media skills and try not to
Thirty years have served me well; a design project for Union have my graphic design advocacies haunt me. But my mind
Theological Seminary led me to embrace a theological education. does wander to my basement full of The Cheryl D. Miller Design
I have uniquely professionalized both occupation and vocation. Inc. studio of yesteryear.
Most importantly, I can now consider how to frame the decades One day, I was sipping and clicking as usual, and to my sur-
of gleaning wisdom about succeeding as a designer and, against prise a peculiar post caught my attention. It was a JPEG and the
all odds, a black designer. charge, “Vote for Akilah Johnson’s Doodle 4 Google Competi-
So many things have changed over the years, especially tion, ‘What Makes Me … Me.’ Help Akilah win a scholarship.
my voice and identity. I seemingly have arrived at a destina- Vote for her Doodle, ‘My Afrocentric Life.’”

Akilah Johnson was a 15-year-old African American 10th
grader in Northeast Washington, DC. My immediate thought
was, “Good luck with that …”
And just as quickly as my old-school realities flashed by, I
wondered if maybe things had changed somewhat. Maybe
enough that a variety of diverse imagery could indeed represent
today’s global community.
Segmented marketing campaigns of the 1980s contained
visual ethnicities directed to 12–15% of the population. Herb
Kemp, the black advertising pioneer and former executive for
UniWorld Group, was best known for developing ethnic market
TV campaigns for Burger King. The “have it your way” slogan
primarily targeted blacks and Hispanics. Kemp believed and
shared with me then that advertising “must communicate to a
larger, broader community.” He contended that black culture,
and its rich imagery, had to cross over. No longer should it be
confined only to one community. He spoke prophetic words to
me in our 1987 interview.
Today, Johnson’s Google entry was a challenge of not only
excellence, but also acceptance.
Immediately, I shared the voting link to the 10,000-member
Facebook group “I Grew Up In DC.” Johnson’s dream had been
my dream; I thoroughly understood the call to be our true selves
in the expression of our art and craft.
And then, soon enough, it happened: “My Afrocentric Life”
was selected from nearly 100,000 student entries from all 50
states, Puerto Rico and Guam. Johnson is Doodle 4 Google’s
first African American doodle winner. She will receive a $30,000
college scholarship and a $50,000 education-technology grant
for her high school.
Johnson’s achievement is a great success, and it’s worth
noting that she has been exposed to a superior art education.
Her Eastern Senior High School art teacher, Zalika Perkins, is
trending as the best art teacher in America, having won $80,000
in Google grant and award monies for her inspired advocacy.
While studying at Georgia State University, Perkins worked
closely with the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards program, a
national art competition for accomplished students.
Lisa N. Alexander
Known as “The Marketing Stylist,” and author of
This Woman Knows, Alexander has worked as an
art director, graphic designer and marketing con-
sultant throughout her 20-year career. As a consultant, she
helps small business owners grow their enterprises through
strategic marketing and branding.
“Early in my career, I was practically ‘the only one,’” Alexander says, “the only
person of color doing production work—and I was almost always the only
woman of color. I didn’t see people of color in lead design roles in the main-
stream positions I held. … I was in my mid-20s when I moved to Houston,
and that’s when I discovered that a community of black designers existed. I
didn’t know women of color were succeeding at such a high level.”
PRINTMAG.COM 85
Black graphic designers have
great opportunity to fill an
incredible void caused by a
changing American platform,
palette and demographic.
It’s time to be the solution;
it’s time to be seen, designing
the solution now.
She noticed there was a lack of diversity among Scholastic
entrants who advanced to final categories. Inspired to make a
difference, she began exposing her own students to art compe-
titions. It became her drive to fill the void for diversity in the
competition arena. “[Johnson] winning gave confidence to
many students who did not previously think that the arts were
a practical thing to pursue or that they could ever accomplish
something on such a great scale,” Perkins says. “I think that
the outpouring of support came from many people who were
excited to see her viewpoint—a viewpoint that is rarely seen
in mainstream arts and design. Participating in national com-
petitions gives African American artists like Akilah exposure
and visibility.”
Needless to say, I was speechless to discover Akilah had won,
and won big. Art education, great inspiration and answering the
call to make a diverse difference in the art and design world put
this Mid-Atlantic school on the map. It does, indeed, all begin
in the classroom—the seeds of planting change for tomorrow.
A NEW PALETTE
Always making an effort to keep my graphic design knowledge
current, I found my way to a 2015 AIGA event on branding. It
was being held at SASD—the Shintaro Akatsu School of Design,
quietly secluded on the campus of the University of Bridgeport.
I had sojourned for a personal graphic design update, and I
found more than I was expecting.
At the helm of the event was Alex W. White, associate profes-
sor of design management and graphic design at the University
of Bridgeport, author of several bestselling design books and
chairman emeritus of the Type Directors Club in New York City.
Definitely cut from my old-school cloth of design thinking, White
finds himself in Connecticut breaking new ground in graphic
design education. He chairs the graduate Design Management
program at Bridgeport to enlarge designers’ understanding
of their potential contribution to the business. The Master of
Professional Studies Design Management program collects
students from a broad range of backgrounds and allows them to
86 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6

“Diversity begets diversity, which in

turn breeds innovation. If we keep the
door closed to diverse talent because
of subconscious or unconscious
bias, we are limiting our access to
change, innovation, new solutions and
ultimately financial success. Diversity
of thought, perspectives, age, gender,
experiences, cultures, race, etc.,
should be reflected in the images that
we project to reach all consumers.”
—CICI HOLLOWAY

share design innovation in new and exciting ways. They learn
the business of design for today and tomorrow’s application.
White and I met at the AIGA event and he offered me an
occasion to speak to his design management class. Not know-
ing what to expect, both the class and I subsequently learned
from one another. The class became aware of the importance
of developing diversity strategies within the context of design
management, and I was truly surprised by White’s classroom
and its new student demographic and global palette.
My curiosity demanded further attention; I asked White if we
could meet for coffee. I just had to offer an observation and ask
one question: The white students were in the minority—“Where
are these students from exactly?”
White’s classroom demographic screamed of a changed design
academic landscape. Thirty years ago, I predicted this evolu-
tion would occur. Dorothy Ford, now retired, was the Rhode
Island School of Design’s longest-standing administrator for
diversity. In 1987, I found “Dot” running the Minority Student
Affairs office, renamed the Multicultural Affairs Office in 1992.
In our interview for my first article, she shared that 49 minority
Michele Y. Washington
Washington is a user experience researcher, hu-
man interaction designer and a faculty member
at the Fashion Institute of Technology, where
she teaches branding and design.
“My best advice to younger black designers is to be more inclusive and
spread your wings,” she says. “As designers of color, we have an exchange
of culture and intellect that fuels our creative DNA and brainpower. We
need to capitalize on it. … You need to be a big thinker, a good listener …
[and be] willing to work in teams and collaborate with people.”
 PRINTMAG.COM 87

students out of 1,800 total Moreover, “because of the changing demographics in the U.S.,
represented only about 2% there are fewer white students to enroll,” White says. “Those
Maurice Cherry
of the RISD population. slots have to be filled with paying students, so the acceptance
Cherry is the
Today, people of color of a different mix of students is logical. Though some of this
founder and
make up more than 30% evolution is dictated by a sense of fairness and ‘doing good,’
principal of
of RISD’s undergrad pop- much of it is shaped by prevailing societal forces.”
Launch, a design and con-
ulation. Moreover, out of White, himself a middle-aged white man, is fully aware that
sulting studio in Atlanta.
roughly 2,500 students total, He is most well-known,
his persona exemplifies the design establishment of 30 years
935 are international stu- however, for the Black ago, and sheds light on a new and hopeful graphic designer
dents—and for undergradu- Weblog Awards—the addressing a diverse community of the 21st century. “Design has
ates, graphic and industrial longest-running event always been a meritocracy; the quality of thinking and work is
design are the most popular celebrating black bloggers, either in your portfolio or it doesn’t exist. The opportunity for
majors. vloggers and podcasters. In learning and professional advancement is far more available
Now, that’s change. 2015, Cherry published an to anyone with talent and drive than ever before.”
All across the U.S., we have AIGA article titled “Where White closed our conversation noting, “With new audiences
arrived at a well-populated, are the Black Designers?” there must be a new message. The message has to be more
diverse representation of a inclusive.”
world community. Graphic “Let’s look at what we know,” he As The Huffington Post article “A Study on the Chang-
design’s paradigm of the wrote. “Design-driven companies ing Racial Makeup of ‘The Next America’” states, “By 2042,
1960s Madison Avenue white in Silicon Valley like Twitter report so-called racial minority groups will make up the majority
male–dominated design only single-digit percentages of the U.S. population. That’s according to the U.S. Census
practitioner shifted; the shift of American employees of color. Bureau’s latest projection. Building on that, the Pew Research
has shifted. Design conferences and smaller Center recently released an extensive study on the shifting
White specifically
events promise to do better demographics of race in our country, showing that within a
every year after unveiling speaker
answered my question century (from 1960 to 2060), white Americans will have gone
panels with majority white speak-
with an anecdote from his from making up 85% of the population to comprising 43%. …
ers. And between magazines,
personal observations: “I The number of Hispanic and black Americans will have grown
podcasts and other media, the
see that international and substantially over that time period, together making up 45%
field of design can look like it’s
minority students are now of the 2060 population.”
only created for and by a certain
in the majority. I expect that Further, the 2010 Census revealed that 9 million people now
group of people.”
trend to continue. … I see identify as multiracial—a 32% increase from the prior decade.
[that] a 70-30 split of graphic This makes “multiracial” the fastest-growing demographic in
design students is female-dominant. It used to be the other way the country. The same census reports that more minority babies
around a generation ago.” RISD student body statistics confirm were born than white babies. The shift has indeed shifted.
roughly the same as White’s estimate—the undergrad popula- Concurring with today’s political pundits, I contend that even
tion in 2014 was 66.7% female and 33.3% male. the sole white male voter can’t elect President 45 by themselves
White’s insights also embody my personal update on the new without a broad and diverse electorate.
global flair in the design community: “International students On the whole, things are looking bright for design edu-
are more present today than a generation ago, in part because cation and the designers who will make up the industry of
there are fewer American college-aged students to enroll, and tomorrow. … But how is today’s current business landscape
in part because internationalism encourages international stu- handling things?
dents to attend college in the U.S. … One reason domestic design
students are more diverse—perhaps—is because the changing,
evolving middle classes, inclusive of African Americans and A NEW CHALLENGE
other minorities in the U.S. today, are more willing to accept Let me put a lens on the need for astute diverse design practi-
design as a legitimate income-producing discipline.” tioners today. Kirsten West Savali’s report on Gap’s most recent
The feasibility of a career in the arts—that was a perception image faux pas gives us great insight. Savali is a cultural critic
analyzed in my original 1987 article. Back then, studying the and senior writer for The Root. Her April 2016 article “Gap
arts was considered a luxury, rather than something that could Apologizes for Racially Charged GapKids x ED Ad” exempli-
actually support one financially. Joseph William Sims explored fies the call for diverse corporate communications talent to
this concept in “A Study of the Attitudes of Black Parents Toward speak to a broader audience.
Vocational and Non-Vocational Education,” and revealed that Savali enlightens us: “One of the white children in the image
60% of those surveyed preferred their children to study more is resting her arm on the head of the only black child featured, a
“traditional” professions, and a mere 5% said they would like distinctly unempowering pose that harkened back to an antebel-
their children to enter an artistic field. Today, that has evolved. lum South in which black children were used as armrests and
88 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6

footstools, and a present where black children are systemati- Black designers should not still be missing in action. They
cally devalued.” should be creating, selling and designing the much-needed
Savali continues, “In this instance, image matters more solutions for today’s global marketplace and community. This
than intent. And the lack of racial and cultural diversity at is the most ideal time for black designers to claim their seat at
the executive level, which allowed that image to be approved the Harkness table. We have a need, a supply and demand for
and circulated, is one of the many ways in which institutional addressing a more diverse community.
and systemic racism functions. … Gap took responsibility and The AIGA responded to the 1987 clarion call to embrace
made the right decision. Hopefully, more corporations will take advocacy and continue the dialogue of diversity, equality and
notice.” Sounds to me like Gap could use an art director of color. inclusion as it relates to the graphic design industry. They pub-
CiCi Holloway is a global media human resource, diversity lished two articles: “Equal Opportunities? Minorities in Graphic
and inclusion senior executive and consultant for a variety of Design” (1990) and “Why is Graphic Design 93% White?” (1991).
media, TV and entertainment groups. Holloway has a word for In 1989, they also established the Minority Task Force to help
corporations like Gap and organizational entities that must find end the marginalization of people of color. John Morning was
themselves up to the challenge of embracing design diversity the chair; a 1991 symposium convened.
initiatives in the 21st century: Today, AIGA Executive Director Julie Anixter affirms the
“Diversity begets diversity, which in turn breeds innovation. organization’s dedication to diversity as a core organizational
If we keep the door closed value and mandate. “AIGA is committed to providing leadership
to diverse talent because of and activating diversity and inclusion throughout the design
subconscious or unconscious industry,” she says.
Danita Albert
Thirty years ago bias, we are limiting our The AIGA Diversity and Inclusion Task Force, originally
Holmes-Miller access to change, innovation, championed and created by Antoinette Carroll, is now led by
interviewed Al- new solutions and ultimately Obed Figueroa, AIGA national’s Diversity & Inclusion Resident.
bert. At the time, Albert was fi nancial success. Diversity The Task Force’s mission is to encourage inclusion in design
working on her master’s in of thought, perspectives, age, education, discourse and practice to strengthen and expand
design at the Pratt Institute. gender, experiences, cultures, the relevance of design in all areas of society. Jacinda Walker,
“All along, I knew in the back race, etc., should be reflected incoming chair of the AIGA Task Force, is currently complet-
of my mind that I needed in the images that we project ing her MFA in Design Research and Development at Ohio
more training, more of the to reach all consumers. State University.
basics,” she admitted in “As media executives, it is Walker’s thesis, “Design Journeys: Strategies for Increasing
’87. “But I needed a mentor, our responsibility to break Diversity in Design Disciplines,” is full of the statistics that
someone to tell me what I the status quo. It is not were lacking in my era. Though strides have been made, the
was doing wrong, and there enough to be in the room, challenges are still omnipresent: She references the U.S. Depart-
simply aren’t enough visible but to have a ‘voice in the ment of Labor, which reported an increase in the number of
black designers whom I room.’ With over 40% of designers from 2015 to 2016, but a decrease in the number of
could approach for help and
the U.S. identifying as non- black designers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that of
advice.” Today, Albert is the
white, and women already 899,000 professional designers in the U.S., only 3.5% are black.
senior art director at Board-
more than half of the popula- But Walker is working on solutions: “My research explores
room Inc. in Stamford, CT.
tion, our media outlets still diversity in design disciplines and investigates 15 strategic ideas
remain homogenous for the to expose African-American and Latino youth to design-related
“Many owners/department heads
most part. Missing voices careers,” she writes.
do themselves a disservice when
will ultimately translate to Trying to help with the challenges of being isolated in today’s
they doubt [or] hold staunch
missing perspectives from creative community, I keep up with those I have mentored.
belief systems of superiority
over others and practice racially the media landscape.” Recently, I found Danita Albert still busy designing since our
biased behavior against people of Holloway suggests that first interview for my 1987 article. At that time, she had one
color. They miss out on advanc- embracing the issue of main desire for her career: a mentor. Albert, like many oth-
ing their own goals when they diversity at every corner of ers, felt that having an adviser is mandatory for success in the
discount the talents and gifts of business relations is just design world. Today I find her feeling exactly the same way;
all the people they employ—or practical in today’s ever-
could employ. It is up to you, changing marketplace.
designer—especially you of color However, despite diverse
who have to prove yourself time demographics, education— ONLINE EXCLUSIVE
and time again—to find the time, and facts about a new audi- Read Cheryl D. Holmes-Miller’s original 1987
energy and finance to advance ence in need of new content Print piece, “Black Designers: Missing In Action,”
yourself professionally.” producers—things remain at www.printmag.com/summer-16.
the same.

Anthony M. McEachern
McEachern is chairman of the Department of
Art and an associate professor of design at How-
ard University. He teaches courses in advertising
design, digital media arts, web design and creative business.
While studying as an undergraduate at Howard University,
McEachern stumbled across what he calls “an inspirational
document composed on a typewriter in the late 1980s.” Ser-
endipitously, this was a handout Holmes-Miller had written
years ago, one that McEachern says “planted the seed” for
his MFA thesis, doctoral research and dissertation theory
titled “McEachern Model for the Successful Obtainment of
Industry Readiness, Preparedness and Leadership for Afri-
can American Millennial Media and Art Design Students.”
“My personal quest is to make relevant the integration of visual arts, technol-
ogy, business and communications,” he says. “This, I believe, is one solution
to the bigger problem and it can be achieved through the development of
educational programs that streamline the processes for businesses, institu-
tions and organizations while enriching our diverse society.”
being alone and not having a mentor remains a critical issue
for the black designer.
For three decades now, black designers have reached out to me
with the same concerns. “Ms. Miller, black designers do exist;
we are here. But we are isolated.” I continually offer the same
inspiration: “Guys, I analyzed the problem when I was a young
woman. I’m in my seasoned baby boomer years now—you guys
go and be the solution! It’s your time to do things I could never
do. If a racially ambiguous, white-looking, black-of-another-
color woman, hiding her mixed Asian multiracial-ness, can
sell design against the odds after the Civil Rights era as a black
woman, you can too with verve!”
Thirty years of inquiries have required answering countless
questions: “How did you do it?” Developing my own design
firm was my solution to any lack of opportunity I sensed from
trying to practice as a black designer in New York. I succeeded
practicing design with a secret recipe: my business acumen, a
few strategic plans and my husband’s business prowess. Phillip
M. Miller, an MBA, remains a quintessential corporate execu-
tive—an SVP credit card industry strategist. Together, we had
a template, an application and a network to create our design
business. A high regard to design management and a keen
understanding of the Corporate 1,000 organizational structure
gave us what we needed to create design opportunities nation-
ally from a New York City base.
My husband strikes at what is perhaps the heart of the solution
today: “While the hue of the country has changed, the funding
sources are still owned and controlled by the former majority,”
he says. “The new palette must own the income statement and
balance sheet and not just be salaried. Owning power is essential
toward advancing corporate sensitivities and developing diverse
sensibilities in the marketplace.”
PRINTMAG.COM 89
Back then, I used influential, affluent corporate referrals
to develop a client base and massaged our corporate network
every waking moment. Creating business opportunities gave
me the power to control my design destiny. I was confident and
embraced the challenge of defying the odds. My greatest design
support was to myself; I believed that I was a great designer and
my gift was needed, but I had to master the cold call.
I had a deep desire to let everyone know that I was on the
turf—not just playing design, but winning the game of it. I was
crazy competitive, making sure I had all the education I could
get. I kept an honest paper trail of business endeavors. I entered
every contest I could afford. I submitted entries over and over
again. I delivered my projects on time, and priced them com-
petitively. I taught graphic design classes and lectured. I judged
contests. Simply put, I worked extremely hard to compete
against incredible odds. And now I always stop for others to
be the design mentor I never had.
A NEW FUTURE
Black designers are here, on the scene. What is missing is the
black designers’ PR presence in competitions, conferences,
board seats, industry commentary, the education realm and
so on. They are indeed in action, but still missing from our
full view.
The more things change, the more they remain the same. But
I dare say, as things remain the same and in spite of society’s
paradigm shift, the black designer can be the advocate for
change—the solution that is so needed today. Black graphic
designers have great opportunity to fill an incredible void caused
by a changing American platform, palette and demographic.
It’s time to be the solution; it’s time to be seen, designing the
solution now.
When in doubt, I offer my favorite quote; I offered it in 1987
and it remains my personal mantra for transcending obstacles
to success:
“I have learned that success is to be measured not so much
by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles
which he/she has overcome while trying to succeed. Looked at
from this standpoint, I almost reach the conclusion that often
the Negro boy/girl’s birth and connection with an unpopular
race is an advantage, so far as real life is concerned. With few
exceptions, the Negro youth must work harder and must perform
his/her task even better than a white youth in order to secure
recognition. But out of the hard and unusual struggle through
which he/she is compelled to pass, he/she gets a strength, a
confidence, that one misses whose pathway is comparatively
smooth by reason of birth and race.” —Up From Slavery, Booker
T. Washington ▪
Cheryl D. Holmes-Miller is an award-winning communication designer and new
media strategist, theologian and clergy woman, writer, author and lecturer.
Speaking to the nations of Multiracial Multiethnic Diversity, Equality and
Inclusion, her 21st-century voice resounds throughout the Americas and
the Asian Pacific Islander, African and West Indian diasporas.
90 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6

Graphic design is a collage act. Practitioners generally use

A game to play in pitch meetings: Whenever
someone goes into sales mode and starts
to overpromise, think of the line “Mandrake
gestures hypnotically.”
typefaces designed by others, images created by others and
text written by others. But that is also our Postmodern existence.
We ourselves are individual collages of experience, culture
and language.
So in that spirit, the annotations around this essay intend to reveal
the collaged elements contained herein. Homage and appropriation
or, in Bob Dylan’s lexicon, love and theft.

Magical thinking as symbolic magic:

g the meaning of colors, the he
meaning of a sans serif typeface, centered vs. flush left, etc.

Magical thinking as unthinking habit: the expression of individual

Essay from the
preferences that align with “professional practice,” i.e., taste.
French essayer:
to test, to try.

MAGICA
MAGICAL
AL
THINKIN AND
THINKING A D
APOST
POSTTASY
APOSTASY
The word logos has theological origins: the
rational principle that governs and develops
the universe, the divine word of Christ.

To question fundamental principles of design

is, in a sense, to flirt with apostasy.

Why does s so mu
much graphic design
m
An idea first seen in
llook the same? the comments of
fellow designer
Here, the
th
he Malcontent
M
Mal thinks deeper Sam Potts’
Instagram feed.
about design
si thinking.
hink
ki
by Mark Kingsley
AN NOTAT IO NS A ND D E SI G N BY M AR K K I NG S LE Y

The phrase “the Malcontent” refers to my appearance in the

Spring 2016 issue of this magazine. I chose it as the name of
my studio to reflect my feelings about boundaries, definitions
and habitual processes. It also works as a great client filter—
attracting the like-minded, the curious and the alternative.

There’s also an aspirational aspect to the name, because the most

interesting people tend to be malcontents. I was just the first fool
to put it on a business card.
 PRINTMAG.COM 91

Spengler may be
a controversial
figure, but his
“R eligiousness
g is a trait of the soul, but religion is a talent.”
—Oswald Spengler
This is an allusion to the difference
between the mental pleasures of design
and its vocational execution.
work remains a As Design, capital ‘D,’ finds validation as business practice and
great source for a creator of value, the phrase “Design Thinking” has become a
juicy aphorism. common term. There are evvarying
y g definitions s of
o exactly what it … like there are varying definitions of
is, but the general consensus is that design thinking is a pro- strategy, branding, even design.
cess involving numerous iterations, rapid prototyping and the Funny how we abide such fuzzy terms.
acceptance of ambiguity and failure.
This is all very good. Especially the bit about accepting ambi-
guity and failure. Because within that idea is perhaps the addi-
tional acceptance that good design takes time—and money, but
that’s a never-ending battle.
While there’s more and more talk about design thinking, A personal irk: How have things gotten to
there’s a scant amount of discussion on the design thought process the point where we need to reintroduce
itself. Most folks would consider that to fall under the rubric “thinking” to the design process?
of aesthetics—symmetry vs. asymmetry, color theories and so
on—and they would be right. To a point. Because aesthetics is
Philosophy is hard- in actuality a branch of philosophy. And if we adhere to a purist
earned uncertainty. Kantian definition, the aesthetic pleasure of a work is separate
—Nick Alvarez from its content.
@nialv But design exists in that messy area between art and com-
merce, and content has great influence in both the design
process and in design thinking.
This is a bit thorny. Because if design concerns itself with form Loosely taken from Immanuel Kant’s
and content, then there are both (to follow Kantian logic g a bit Critique of Judgement, generally
further) aesthetic and ethical aspects to its practice. We address considered to be the source of the
the pleasures of the design, and we abstract or interpret the idea “Art for Art’s Sake.”
content. This process is filtered and influenced through ideology.
Ideology, often thought of in the political sense, is a collected
system of ideals that explains the world, defines values and
goals, and establishes sets of actions to maintain those values
and obtain those goals. There are personal ideologies and
collective ideologies. They are cultural in the wide sense, and
personal in the specific.
The phrase In this cynical age we are a ggeneration without temper—fore-
p
“generation without going large ideological issues in favor of smaller, more personal
temper” comes ones. Design historians may argue otherwise and point back to
from Rüdiger a couple decades ago as the Dionysian y “Cult of the Ugly”
g y was See: “Cult of the Ugly” by Steven Heller,
Suchsland’s film set against the Apollonian
p ideals of establishment fig gures like Eye magazine, No. 9, Vol. 3, 1993.
Von Caligari Massimo Vignelli. But ultimately that was really ll not that dif-
zu Hitler: Das ferent than the internecine kerning disputes or logo hate-fests
deutsche Kino that flare up on the internet.
im Zeitalter der One could argue that the increased attention to sustainability
Massen, which and social justice by large brands is a significant ideological
was based on shift, but neither I nor Slavojj Žižek—the Slovenian philosopher,
the book with cultural critic and Lacanian/Hegelian/Marxist
anian/Hegelian/Mar scholar—would
a similar name by agree. As Žižek has noted, every time we walk into a Starbucks
Siegfried Kracauer we are immediately told how a percentage of every sale is ear-
(mentioned on marked for sustainability and free-trade initiatives. Our anxiety
the next page). over participation in a rapacious consumer culture is mollified,
because we gave at the coffee shop.
Sadly, our design ideologies are small, built around what we
tell ourselves is a professional standard, but in reality is nothing
more than personalsonal taste
taste.
92 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6

THE RULE OF MOOD BOARDS

In 1980, Dr. Robert Plutchik classified
emotions in a wheel model—similar
to the familiar color wheel. It also builds
on primary emotions, which are then
divided into derivative secondary ones.
Comparing this wheel against most brand
and advertising material reveals the limit-
ed range of our media diet.
See Fredric Jameson’s Postmodernism,
or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism.
The waning of affect means the end of
unique, personal style … where the
feelings evoked by cultural products “are
now free-floating and impersonal and
tend to be dominated by a peculiar kind
of euphoria … where even the auto-
mobile wrecks gleam with some new
hallucinatory splendor … a ‘hysterical’
sublime.”
“We are creative,” we state with pride. “We plumb the depths of
Improvement is an allegory that
begins with the idea that there are
no longer any differences between
the major American religions of
Protestantism, Judaism, Modernism,
Science and Theater. They have all
merged into one.
I could discuss the ideologies of tastes, but it certainly feels like
design is becoming a monoculture.
m l M
Much graphic design seems
to look
l k and d feel
f the same-ish.
i h Much
M of it falls within a narrow
emotional range of slightly detached coolness, with the occa-
sional twee pattern or linear icon set for humor. Websites often
look like they came from the same UX/UI team—responsive
with a touch of parallax movement, menus collapsed into that
three-lined hamburger shape and so on. And our copywriting
partners churn out deadpan prose, finished off with a contrary
line. It’s like you’re being told a joke. But you’re not. It’s like
insightful commentary. But it’s not. The insecurity
Let’s blame the computer, again. The lowered bar of access of fitting in.
and instant finish made available by powerful software are
seductive. As long as it looks like “something.” As long as it
looks like something that looks like “design.”
Let’s blame the internet. A previously obscure designer posts
an innovative type layout on Behanceagram one day, and a
month or two later a large firm in New York does something
similar. It’s not really copying, but more like an alignment. An
absorption
p into the collective. A Postmodern waning of affect.
The rule of mood boards.
All outliers are consumed because they have always been
part of the design body. In his 1927 essay “The Mass Orna-
ment,”, German critic Siegfried
g Kracauer ruminated on a form
off dance
d developed
d l d by
b John
J Tiller in 1889. Tiller’s innovation
gathered girls of similar height and weight, dressed them alike,
lined them up arm in arm, and had them perform tap and kick
steps in precise unison. Such groups still exist today, with the
Rockettes being the most famous.
In a way, this describes design culture. The artifacts produced
may vary, but the stories we tell ourselves about our intent do not.
the mind and soul while making abstract thought real. We are
priests of culture.”
Actually, we’re a herd of independent minds. This line comes
from art critic
The offering of images categorizes human activity and offers Harold Rosenberg’s
The sum of the categories as a sum of possibilities and alternatives essay of the same
Each one of which must be equally good and equally valid, name—originally
Else this system of categories breaks down heard in Robert
—Robert Ashley, from his opera Wyatt’s 1985
Improvement (Don Leaves Linda) masterpiece
Old Rottenhat.

THE PRISON OF TASTE

As a jazz-listening neophyte, I was transfixed by Miles Davis’
use of modes rather than chord progressions, tape collage as
composition tool, and rock instruments at high volume. It all
sounded like the future. And it was intensified by such album
art as Miles’ focused expression on In a Silent Way, or Abdul Klarwein is proba-
Mati Klarwein’s psychedelic mind-trip of Bitches Brew. bly best known for
But, I could not bring myself to pick up On the Corner because
B the cover painting
of the cover. Corky McCoy’s cartoonish Fat Albert–like illustra- on Santana’s
tion seemed like a joke.
k AAnd the Cooper Black-ish typography Abraxas.
 PRINTMAG.COM 93

was too close to the faces available at the custom T-shirt counters
in my local department store. I loved Miles so much, but my
taste was too narrow and this was inconceivable.
It took 20 idiotic years until I finally bought On the Corner,
and of course, it knocked me out. It’s a fabulous record. Miles
incorporated not only Sly and the Family Stone’s funk, but the
Avant-Garde sonic influences of Karlheinz Stockhausen. And
in a Saul-on-the-road-to-Damascus moment, I finally saw the
cover as a perfect representation of his contrarian production
Credit also methods: telling the guitarist to play as if he didn’t know how,
goes to Davis’ insisting that a pianist use an electric instrument, holding down There is much to be
longtime an organ chord for several minutes straight. Herbie Hancock learned from the
producer, describes an evening when he accidentally played the absolute creativity of other
Teo Macero, wrong chord as Miles was soloing. Miles hesitated for a fraction disciplines.
one of the great of a second, then played a phrase that made the wrong chord
unsung sound- sound right and logical.
collage artists. To Miles Davis, there was no right or wrong in the tradi-
tional sense of taste. There were only y events. And those events A similar concept of events
required a reaction that was contextual and reasoned rather appears in Postmodern theory.
than rehearsed.
A rehearsed response is a reflection of taste. In music, it’s
finger memory. In design, it’s an approach to shapes, a dynamic
sense or a short list of acceptable typefaces. Taste is constriction,
restriction and ideology.
Beginning a piece with preloaded aesthetic standards confines Better to design
the work. It removes the discovery of attention and mindful- from the inside out
ness. The “five favorite typefaces,” printing with letterpress, the than the outside in.
Golden Section, setting a phrase in different typefaces while
looking for just the right one (I’ll know it when I see it), proposing
that a photoshoot emulate Guy Bourdin—this is taste at work.
Taste infects our world beyond the creative act itself. It colors
how applicant portfolios are reviewed, how vendors are chosen
and which swipe an art director will appropriate for a layout.
Art historian and Much better to develop p appetites
pp and broaden one’s experience
curator Robert and enjoyment.
Storr speaks
beautifully about MAGICAL THINKING AND APOSTASY
the difference Creative people love to speak about the freedom of possibility.
between taste But the thinking behind their work is often directed toward
and appetite. finding a solution. They do this, and people think that; therefore
we should make X. While this is a logical and respectable
approach, in that equation the black box of creativity isn’t that
Nomadic thought:
mysterious after all. If our thinking still fits within a rational
in reference to
Platonic model, then it really isn’t free.
French philosopher
There will always be an implied, linear order because that is
Gilles Deleuze.
the nature of language. And we merely flirt with h nomadic
n c non-
linear thought
g t when we engage ideation strategies like going
down the wrong path in order to discover the best solution. For
example, if one wants to improve customer enjoyment at an The word ideation
amusement park, begin by asking what will make a child cry and is hideous. But then,
then follow that series of ideas to their reductio ad absurdum. one can bill more for
As far-reaching as that may sound, there are still pragmatic creative exploration
limitations set on that process. The process began with the than sketching.
expectation of a practical result. And the results will be politely
practical—that is, filtered, with corners rounded off.
94 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6
Because processes are easier
to convey and manage than
the nuance of considerations.
To create is to critique.
To critique is to place into context.
To contextualize is to strategize.
Phrase coined by Marshall McLuhan in
Understanding Media: The Extensions
of Man.
See also: Žižek on the ideological
foundations of toilet design.
Another great line I remember being
attributed as an African proverb.
Business and design publications ultimately portray design
thinking as a process. One with a potential for control by scien-
tific management—where each step p and p p
participant can be made
p
more efficient and profi table. Kracauer called the dancing Tiller
Girls a mass ornament, or “the aesthetic reflex of the rationality
aspired to by the prevailing economic system.”
Again, this describes design culture. Yes, there is a legitimate
aesthetic quality to all design artifacts. Regardless of category, Shades of gray
whether it’s Modernist or chaotic, professional or vernacular, rather than
Apollonian or Dionysian, the possibilities of each piece are binary opposites.
equally good and valid. To say otherwise is to be distracted by
the magical thinking of style, taste and variations in content.
To Kracauer, the Tiller Girls were a Marxist metaphor for
man’s rationality applied, not for the benefit of the individual,
but for the process of production itself. Their anonymity was
a requirement for the mass to work, and individual ability was
absorbed so that the mass could have an identity of its own.
Why does so much graphic design look the same? Perhaps it
needs to. Because how else would our mediated culture show
movement? How else would it maintain relevance? Or, perhaps
it doesn’t, but the cumulative effect is one of sameness. The
age of man’s rationality is one of abstraction. One where the
constant rebranding of companies and organizations is its own
meaning. Where the variations of mass media are so numerous
that multivalent textures gestalt into a collective sameness. The
medium is the message and everything
y g else is commentary. y A great line I once
The prevailing economic system keeps on rolling and design- heard from a rabbi:
ers live their lives. They create and consume the stuff that “Love your neighbor.
supports and makes up the system in which they exist. They This is the essence
are priests of culture as well as congregants. Design thinking of the Torah.
improves and is consumed by the system. Design thinking is Everything else
religiousness and religion, aspiration and tactics. is commentary.”
REFLECTION
If you Google Slavoj Žižek, you quickly come across a video id of
him speaking about ideology in the context of John Carpenter’s
1988 science fiction film They Live. In that film, the trope of Excerpted from The
specially enabled sunglasses allows the wearer to “see” things Pervert’s Guide to
as they really are; in this particular case, an alien race’s control Ideology, directed
over humanity. by Sophie Fiennes.
Žižek uses this as a metaphor for ideology, where we may
think that ideology is a matter of putting on a pair of glasses—
i.e., something that is imposed upon us, something that we join.
But in Žižek’s view, ideologies are “spontaneous relationships
to our social world, how we perceive each meaning, and so on.”
For him, ideology is actually a pair of glasses you “take off so
you can finally see the way things really are.”
It grates my sensibilities to hear colleagues claim to be “just a
graphic designer.” There’s an implied bifurcation between the
execution of a tactical outcome and the opportunity to grow as
an individual. It’s like eating
g hamburgers
g every day. But I guess if
you eat the same thing every day,
d at lleast you k
know what kills you.
 PRINTMAG.COM 95

The world is repetitive enough and we can do better. The

opportunity to exercise our individual rationality and imagina-
tion in the service of design is too special to set the bar that low.
Design thinking could be something much more. Maybe even
something deeper.
A result of design’s raison d’être—the solution—is the need
for things to be interpreted immediately. So quick semiotic
hits are baked in and creative work becomes more obvious
than intriguing. Thus we entertain a constant flow of clichéd Delivering conclusions
layouts, photos of ambiguously ethnic models, aesthetic echo rather than making
chambers and confirmation bias. discoveries?
Our ideologies are comfortable, warm blanket forts from
which we frame and understand experience. To change one’s
ideology requires effort and a willingness
g for discomfort.t. What’s
What s
needed is a serious us bit of reflection, supporteded
d by skepticism
I.e., received and a healthy
ealthy cynicism. That is, cynicismm in the ancient GreGreek
attitudes and sense,
se, where there’s a willing suspension of disbelief in th the
approaches. goodness
odness of others’ motivations.
Philosopher
hilosopher Peter Sloterdijk sees three outcomes from reflect- In his Critique of Cynical Reason, Peter
ing upon n cultural structures. First we can attempt to deprogram
dep Sloterdijk describes the ancient kynics
ourselves, taking a Scientologistt stance and throwing
throw out all alien (cynics) as “cheeky,” and engaged in “non-
concepts. We can move through the world as alertly as possible. platonic dialogue”:
Ambivalence as Or we can surrender ourselves to the prevailing system. I don’t
“The kynic farts, shits, pisses, masturbates
the new black? consider these as three distinct areas, but as points on a plane
on the street, before the eyes of the
where I’ve found myself directly at, or somewhere between at
Athenian market. He shows contempt for
one time or another.
fame, ridicules the architecture, refuses
Once I understood graphic design to be a tactic deployed as
respect, parodies the stories of gods and
part of a larger brand effort, I then understood taste to be merely
heroes, eats raw meat and vegetables, lies
a tool and not a primary filter. That first step has helped me
in the sun, fools around with the whores
broaden my appetites, which in turn has broadened my activi-
and says to Alexander the Great that he
ties. In a sense, I deprogrammed myself where the title graphic
should get out of the sun. What is this
designer stopped being ambitious. Graphic design is just one
supposed to mean?”
way in which I see the world and the way I used to define myself.
I’ve felt lighter ever since. ▪

Mark Kingsley has worked under the name Malcontent since 2010. He
teaches in the Masters in Brand program at the School of Visual Arts.

It’s expedient to fit within existing

categories. Expectations are set,
behaviors can be taught and actions
can be managed. Exploring alternatives
can be difficult, if not painful. But
ultimately … probably … hopefully …
worth the effort. Which reminds me of
a line by George Bernard Shaw …

The only man I know who behaves

sensibly is my tailor; he takes my
measurements anew each time he
sees me. The rest go on with their
old measurements and expect me
to fit them.
96 P R I N T 7 0 . 2 S U M M E R 20 1 6

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