A is for Athenaeum

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“a” is for athenaeum

MAY 15 · We’ve been spending quite a lot of time at the Providence Athenaeum recently—in the midst of an exciting identity redesign process, which has us combing through the stacks and uncovering all sorts of curiosities. This month, Emily extended that spirit of discovery to her typography students at RISD. Their assignment was to find a letter—any letter inside the Athenaeum, from books to magazines, fliers to signage—to transform it into 3D, and to photograph it situ. They paired those images with a book title of their choosing (beginning with the same letter, of course) to create striking posters which act like mini-advertisements for what’s hidden inside the stacks. Thanks to Kate Wodehouse, Collections Librarian, for welcoming us into the Athenaeum—many for the very first time!

“Hats off to Emily for conceiving such a layered and Ath-centric project and to the students for their beautiful work!” —Robin Wetherill, Communications Manager, Providence Athenaeum 

six more weeks of winter

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six more weeks of winter

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!

Humanities Lab

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The Rhode Island Visionary; vol.2

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?

Typographic Sound

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typographic sound

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

Introducing Staccato

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staccato

introducing Staccato

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.

Locally Made, RISD Museum

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Locally Made at the RISD Museum

SEPTEMBER 25 · At the center of the RISD Museum’s Locally Made exhibition was “One Room,” an experimental space which drew over 250 local artists, designers, performers, and community innovators to share their ideas in daily presentations. On the invitation of Patti Philips, RISD’s Dean of Graduate Studies, we developed an interactive workshop about our relationship to branding and our local visual landscape. Workshop attendees were given a pop quiz, asking them to identify brands they recognized in the alphabet we presented—and in turn to identify leaves from 26 of the most commonly planted trees in and around the museum. It sparked a conversation about what we notice in our environment and how a sense of curiosity (agency!) can help us become more deeply engaged with our community.

“What a fabulous and provocative experience you crafted for us today. You used a simple, polished, and thoughtful framework to make us reconsider what we’ve incorporated into our visual lexicon. Thank you for creating such a comfortable environment and accessible way of considering complex ideas.” —Hollis Mickey, RISD museum educator

Cooking School of Design

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the cooking school of design

OCTOBER 18 · It’s our opinion, that you can learn a lot about design through cooking. So when we were invited to be part of RISD’s Visiting Designer Series, our “studio” was a fully-equipped kitchen. Our three-day workshop centered around a simple prompt. Students were asked to swap family recipes—ones which had stories as rich as their ingredients—and to prepare those dishes, together. Their exchange mimicked a client relationship, so attentive listening and carefully considered questions were key. When you’re making (someone else’s) Mom’s chicken wings, you better get it right! Kitchens are a natural place for conversation. Ours centered around storytelling & narrative, our individual habits as designers (good & bad), and the importance of clear communication in the design process. Thanks to all the students who participated, and to visiting food critic Douglas Scott, for an amazing workshop. Bon appetite!

Better World by Design

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Better World by Design

OCTOBER 1 · For the past two years, we’ve participated in BWxD—a three-day internationally-acclaimed conference that connects students, professionals, and individuals from a variety of disciplines to “build a global community of socially conscious & passionate innovators.” Most recently, we were invited to speak as part of a panel on Persuasive Communication with sculptor Richard Fishman, type designer Cyrus Highsmith, & Amy Sanaman, Executive Director of The Groundswell Mural Project. Never ones to adhere strictly to a given topic, we spoke about the importance of conscious communication through an illustrated presentation about our recent work for New Urban Arts. The booklets above, we produced as handouts to introduce perspectives we believe are important to the conversation around design & social change.

RISD Workshop

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RISD workshop

APRIL 4 · Open, generous, and careful listening is essential for designers, but rarely discussed directly. We offered this day-long workshop, by invitation of Tom Okerse, for the course Relational Design—in which students were embarking on design ethnography project. Our public talk offered inspiration from listeners as divergent as Naomi Shihab Nye and Paul Rand; and as varied in their approach as Andy Goldsworthy and Thomas Starr. We followed it up with a workshop which included silent meditation and a sequence of guided prompts that helped spark conversation around the role of listening in the design process.

Thank you to the students (all 60 of you!) who made this such a fun day.

FSU Workshop

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FSU workshop

MARCH 15 · We visited advanced-level graphic design students at Framingham State University recently, for a workshop on collaboration & community-based design. The students were working with city officials on a very real project—to revitalize Farm Pond, an underutilized natural resource right in the heart of their city. We talked briefly about our own experiences, shared projects by other designers & community-based practitioners, and talked through the particular challenges they were facing. We brought out the Tinker Toys for an activity which highlighted the complexities of a collaborative design process. Our goal for this workshop, as in others, was to bring a greater level of consciousness to the way we communicate as designers.