Post Process: Mike Perry Poster

In my sketchbook I have a list of tenets I try to live by. One of them is "Enjoy the process." Oftentimes we perform a process only to get to the product. By doing this, I feel that we're cheating ourselves of existence. After all, life is simply one long process encapsulating innumerable smaller processes. Everything from brushing your teeth to getting a degree is a process we partake in, and if we don't learn to enjoy the micro-processes of life we can't possibly appreciate the one great macro-process: living. For all those who enjoy understanding the process I broke down the steps I took in making a recent poster.

Last semester I had a class slot to fill and I decided to pick one titled What's Your Type? Choosing solely based on the fact that it was the only class with an interesting name, I ended up in Lara McCormick's experimental typography class. I am glad I did, because her's turned out to be one of the most rewarding classes I have ever taken. Lara brings an excitement for design and typography to the classroom that rivals the vigor Richard Simmons brings to each workout. And her excitement is contagious. She also manages to perfectly traverse the practices of pushing us to do better and leading us to do better. I realized this when she worked with us through our first assignment.

The class was studying typographers and we were assigned to create a poster in an artist's style announcing his/her upcoming speech on typography. I chose Mike Perry. His designs are colorful, imaginative, loose (but at the same time incredibly tight), psychedelic at times, and creatively geometric. He toys with universes that seem to have no rules and characters that transcend normality in a heartbeat, all juxtaposed to tickle your eyes and slap your brain. His typography is created in the same vein, being loose and candid while still easy to look at and mingle with.

After going through his site I went back and did a little study of the recurring imagery/type, followed by my first ideas for a poster:

Here are many of the most common typefaces and elements in Perry's style. On the right you can see the eye and the blob growth that I used in my first draft. 

On the top left I listed the elements I felt were important for the assignment. On the right I narrowed down the copy I wanted on the poster. At the bottom you can see that I went back later on and did a small study on Perry's book cover typeface. 

A little more layout and type experimentation.

At first I thought the assignment was to be done without a computer, so what you are about to see is my sad first attempt that I would like to bury, but, for the sake of honesty and full disclosure, I'm including. I was initially attracted to the triangles around the type (the fourth Perry image) and I wanted to try to imitate it. Take a look at the small triangles near the SVA logo; after two hours of triangle making I realized I needed to make them bigger or I'd be drawing them for a very long time. A lot could be said about what I tried to do, but I think it's best for all of us if I just post the picture and get on with it. 

Hand-drawn attempt one.

The first thing Lara said to me when she saw the poster was, "Are you happy with it?" I said no and she told me to try working on it more. At the same time I realized some other students had done theirs on the computer and it was, in fact, allowed. I am much more comfortable designing on the computer - to each his own - and was excited to get back home and redo my work. The following images exhibit the process by which I ended up with the final design.

Several of his works had these simple, colorful mountains that I loved.

I decided to add the swirls he uses regularly as a sky. It also reminds me a little of Van Gogh's Starry Night.

Next, and the main part of the assignment, the typeface. I used Perry's simpler type for his name and redrew (not traced) "Hand Job" from his book (below). Since I try to include my own handwriting in my work whenever possible, I wrote "A Talk On Type" using my tablet and included it as a subtitle.

Mike Perry's book on handwritten typography.

Finally, I added the date/time and location over the squiggly slime/sludge/cloud design he uses.

When I sat back to look at the poster something felt off. I had notions that it might be a little bit too symmetric or empty, so I took the cloud from the first attempt and put it in the sky. I filled it black for two reasons: 1) I wanted to balance the black text on the bottom with a heavy black object on the top so that the viewer's eye wouldn't immediately go to the bottom, but, rather, start at the top and read down and 2) black clouds are ominous and it throws a little mystery into the design.

I ended up changing the background color at the end to something that contrasts with the type a little more effectively.

When Lara saw the new designs (I brought them both to class) she again asked me, "Are you happy with it?" I thought about it. "Happier," I said. While I don't think I'll ever consider anything I make finished, and thus will never be fully happy with what I produce, I liked it more than my first attempt. After all, "Art is never finished, it is merely abandoned" -  Leonardo Da Vinci.

Enjoy the process.