The above is a poster produced quickly for Rob Wringham to promote his literary gig at the CCA in Glasgow. I enjoyed making it, but wonder whether I shouldn’t have taken more time to make it flow a little better.
There is something about how centered it sits and the amount of fleurons that makes me slightly uneasy. Jan Tschichold, in The New Typography, derides the use of symmetry as vulgar. Indeed, when he finally came to employ the technique at Penguin it was because he was only creating templates and symmetry is easier for the less-gifted to make the covers look pretty.
I’m not particularly interested in prettiness at the moment, instead embracing the palate-cleansing effects of ugliness. I have been reading this essay by Jeff Keedy and thinking about the daunting sense of freedom offered by opening yourself up to the more outré formulations of graphic language.
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Aaaah, it looks great. Everyone involved loves it.
Of course, you could always do us another one next time. Wink.
I too have been lambasted for laying out a webpage in a similarly centred way (by my online friend Tim - the New Escapologist typographic adviser). Interesting notes there from Tschichold.
Talking of typography, I should also have mentioned the typefaces employed - it’s mainly Emigre’s Mrs Eaves small-caps, with a roman italic here and there and the explosions from Emigre’s ZeitGuys.
Mrs Eaves was my cookery teacher. She once gave me an ‘E’ (for Eaves) for some bad scones. Her catchphrase was “Don’t you speak to me like that, I’ll have you removed”.