MARCH 23 · Forget the groundhog, you can’t really be sure winter’s over until the Farmers Market moves back outdoors for the season. So from now until that day comes (May 16th to be precise), our poster for the Wintertime Market will be there to remind you that, just a few stops ahead, you can hop off the bus for a bit of spring’s bounty…indoors!
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OCTOBER 9 · The Rhode Island Council for the Humanities celebrated its 41st anniversary Thursday night at the Biltmore, with the people and projects that make Rhode Island, well….awesome. As with their 40th Anniversary, we designed the logo, invitation, and program for the event. The board of directors surprised us by encasing the event’s logo inside an ice sculpture! So cool. Get the full wrap-up on the event at the Council’s all new website (just launched by yours truly…a’hem).
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OCTOBER 1 · We were glad to be introduced recently to the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School (better known simply as, the Phil). Since our first tour of their campus, we’ve made many trips across the river to East Providence—drawn in by the energy of musicians, young and old, buzzing through their rehearsal spaces. This 16-page booklet, hot off the press, is designed to reflect that energy and to share it, in a format that’s both novel and familiar to the Phil’s musicians and its audiences—you guessed it, an accordion! We couldn’t resist.
p.s. for all you registered Rhode Island voters out there, the Phil encourages you to VOTE YES on #5!
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AUGUST 5 · Farm Fresh Rhode Island hosts its annual fundraiser each summer at the height of the growing season, at the idyllic Castle Hill Inn in Newport (when isn’t the sun shining off the water there?). The event brings together Rhode Island farmers, fishermen and food artisans with top chefs from around the state. Our contribution? Helping Farm Fresh look its best for the occasion. In collaboration with the event committee, we designed a suite of print materials to support the event—programs, raffle tags, silent auction materials, signage and wayfinding, gift certificates, and thank you cards. All of it building from the design of this year’s Summer Farmers Market poster. Living up to this posh event, didn’t mean we couldn’t also keep things humble. We produced all of this using one-color printing, on 100{176d5342f51c0889aa47f68a729fae28e4935f86138d8933c256a24867a3e35b} recycled paper stock, and enlisted lots of home-grown help before the event, to trim, fold and assemble the materials at Farm Fresh HQ. When the big day finally rolled around, we were on hand to stage the event….and to sample the grub! Perennial favorites: Tullulah’s Tacos & Pat’s Pastured, and Humble Pie (the pie guy with the lobster tie!).
photo credit (images 2 & 3): Alex Braunstein
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JUNE 17 · We’ll admit, when we produced Volume One of this homegrown rag for the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, we thought it really was a Special Edition. That “newspaper” was designed as a way to share proposed outcomes of one of the Council’s major grants, Catalyzing Culture. But for a recent series of strategy sessions hosted by the Council (dubbed The Humanities Lab), we rolled out a second volume, and a completely different set of visionary headlines, which related to the proposed areas of the Council’s 2015 Strategic Plan (currently in development). Session participants—Rhode Island scholars, artists, and entrepreneurs—engaged in conversation about the impact of the humanities in Rhode Island, using headlines related to areas such as visual storytelling, the digital humanities, neighborhood renaissance, and innovative partnerships. Together, small groups wrote “the lead” for one headline’s story, which were in turn, shared with the larger group. What can we say, there’s something about putting a vision into print, that makes it all the more real…who doesn’t want to write the story about their own future?
MAY 29 · After an exceedingly long winter, the Summer Farmer’s Market season is finally here! We’ve designed a few variations on the Farm Fresh Rhode Island market poster over the years, but 2014’s has an extra fun twist. While proofing the poster in our studio….we couldn’t help but notice that it also made for some pretty fun coloring. The Farm Fresh staff has been having fun with it too—this impromptu coloring session took place during their most recent staff meeting. So check out the Armory Market today, 3:30-7 (and bring your crayons!).
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APRIL 24 · There is resonance in the sounds of secrets, in the names of those we love, in the things we long for. At the RISD Museum’s recent Design the Night event, we offered museum-goers a chance to give voice these prompts…by transforming typography into sound! The typeface they used was Staccato (an Emily Rye original), which is designed to adhere a 15-line musical staff—corresponding to the pins, or notes, inside a hand-cranked music box. During the workshop, we gave each participant a staff, a type specimen, and a punch in order to spell out the names of friends or family; to give voice to their hopes or secrets. Intermittently, the click of paper punches would quiet and a “score” would sound out from one of the music boxes in the space. Each was as variable, and personal, as is was beautiful. As for us, we couldn’t think of a better way to learn about typography, than to make some music together. (Many thanks to Erik Gould at the museum for the photos…check out his new book!).
“What a truly spectacular evening. Design Agency created something that was at once simple, beautiful and utterly delightful. It was a pleasure to see all ages engaged, strangers feel comfortable talking, and to watch people leave with looks of sheer pleasure on their faces.” —Hollis Mickey, RISD museum educator
APRIL 17 · Staccato is a typeface designed to be both seen and heard. More specifically, we’ve designed it to be part of our upcoming Artist’s Lab workshop at the RISD Museum—Typographic Sound. The workshop will be offered as part of the Museum’s Design the Night series and in celebration of the exhibit Graphic Design: Now in Production. Drop by on Thursday April 17th, between 7-8:30, to hear Staccato for yourself! The event is free and open to the public, and includes lots of other friends and worthwhile happenings.
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JANUARY 31 · To celebrate the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities 40th Anniversary, we designed this limited edition chapbook of poems by State Poet Laureate Rick Benjamin. Each of three poems—In a Small State of Humanity, The Art of Being Human, and One Trimester in the Humanities—commemorate the milestone and were written in celebration of Arts & Humanities month in Rhode Island. 25 copies, pamphlet-stitched, with slipcover.
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JANUARY 20 · Farm Fresh Rhode Island just may be our favorite neighbor in Hope Artiste Village (shhh…don’t tell New Harvest). So when they decided to expand the wintertime farmer’s market to both sides of our rambling mill building, we pitched in with some down-home wayfinding. Hand-stitched flags adorn each entrance, pennants thread through the hallways, and hand-panted signs are propped near doorways—all of them featuring Farm Fresh’s famous tomato on a backdrop of either green or yellow (depending on which hallway you’re in). Where we could, we used materials we had close at hand (the signs are made of reclaimed palettes from their warehouse) and braved some tall ladders, too. Good fun was had by all.
