Typographic Dialogue
1 Print Booklet
2024
The goal of this assignment was to typeset a piece of text from Frank Chimero’s How & Why, along with another complementary text from a source of our choice. We were given the freedom to choose 2 typefaces, and could play around with elements, form and color to expand on our concept. I chose to read through this text with the intention of focusing on the almost visual storytelling and think of other forms of media that shared the same energy. The first thing that came to my mind was a scene from the animated Wes Anderson movie, Fantastic Mr. Fox., which followed similar themes of looking at another living being and understanding your own place in the world better as a form of comparison. Frank Chimero engages with a mockingbird and realises that he may not be as happy about his creative processes because he has subconsciously started mimicking everyone else’s creativity or ideas through his experiences living life as a creative in fast-paced society. This reminded me of how Mr. Fox looked into the eyes of a wild wolf and reflected on the way his own wildness was affected by his suburban family life, and helped him come to terms with this dichotomy within himself instead of fighting it.
I used text from the official screenplay of Fantastic Mr. Fox, and played around with organic shapes and movements to fit the nature-focused themes of both texts. I chose red, white and black, all colors being distinct enough from each other yet contrasting enough to stand out against each other in the various ways I’ve used all of them, so I could play around with overlap and movement better. I would also saddle stitch this book, and used its dashed-line aesthetic as a recurring visual element outside of the text.