extra, extra—read all about it!

OCTOBER 15 · Communicating effectively with funders is an ongoing (and sometimes perplexing) question for non-profits. Occasionally, we work with a client who’s willing to try something completely different to get their point across. We designed this newspaper for The Rhode Island Council for the Humanities as a way to share outcomes of a proposed grant to the vanBeuren Charitable Foundation. The newspaper spoke directly, providing prompts for conversation and questions during their meeting and also as an engaging take-away for grant officers after the meeting was over. One month later, RICH announced it had secured the funding—a three-year, $500,000 grant for its Catalyzing Culture initiative which leverages Newport’s history to build an innovative cultural and economic sector for the city and state. While we’re not taking credit for the grant itself, we believe strongly that non-profits benefit from the ways in which design helps to tell their story, gives form to their intentions, and brings them closer to achieving their goals.

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updating a classic

The Rhode Island Council for the Humanities keeps close track of our state’s culture and history—but, at first, no one could pin down exactly where, or when, its own logo first surfaced. Like a fixture in your childhood home, it had always just been there. A little sleuthing into their archives revealed that the mark was nearly as old as the organization itself—designed in the late 1970’s by a student studying with Malcolm Grear. It would surprise any undergraduate student that one of their designs was still going strong 30+ years later…I think they’d also agree, that a little polishing was in order. So we set about redrawing the mark—transforming line into plane and surfacing its internal geometry—to allow for more dynamic use across the materials we were designing for their 40th Celebration. (& check out the logo in quilt form!)

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wedding bells

SEPTEMBER 28 · Alongside our client-based work this fall, we were busy designing a full suite of materials for Emily and Jesse’s big day. Like any designer, who also happens to be the bride, Emily went to town on the concept for the wedding—hand-made and vintage aesthetics; a palette of greens to balance out the fall foliage in Vermont; puzzle-like fun for the invitations. Like any good urban farmer, who also happens to be the groom, Jesse got busy canning and pickling gifts for their guests. The rest of us were happy to play our own parts—Jane hand-painting the signs, Sara Raffo scavenging seasonal foliage for the flowers, Emily Steffian designing the rings (like any good friends would be!). A wedding, when you think about, is just one big visual system played out across print materials, event spaces and virtual ones too. It’s no different from what we do every other day of the year at Design Agency—though we can’t help but hold this particular project close to our hearts. Congrats Mr. & Mrs. Rye!

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the letters in your neighborhood

MARCH 8 · The Studio Art Faculty exhibit at Clark University, Form + Content + Context, featured work from 14 artists, including this typographic installation by Jane. Her work began as a sort-of scavenger hunt—just she and her camera, capturing letterforms on street signs & storefronts, manhole covers & newspaper boxes in the vicinity of the gallery. Here’s an excerpt from the statement which accompanied the piece: Typography is designed to be silent; invisible. We see right through it to the declaration underneath the form. But typography also coveys feeling and style—it speaks in its own voice. So in a city we know well, we sometimes need to pull these forms out in order to see them more clearly. When we do, we find they’re as beautiful as calligraphy, full of personality and presence. These letterforms are just a small selection of the millions that make up the face of this city, and this particular neighborhood. If you’re looking carefully enough, you’ll find them somewhere between the corner of Main & Hammond Streets. This is the route I drive to campus everyday. On a recent morning, I walked this route for the first time. It feels entirely different to me now, just for going more slowly, for looking with more curiosity, for letting myself be a traveler in a familiar place.