Design “In the World of the Living”
Designer and Yale fellow Jessica Helfand wrote about her “struggle to reconcile form with emotion” in this notable Design Observer piece published last year. She finds examples of how design and story come together in interesting places—in war propaganda and public health posters, for instance:
Some years ago, I asked my students if graphic design ever made them cry. Particularly with regard to graphic design that lived online — where the cacaphony of competing messages makes a single, immersive experience unlikely — was such a thing even remotely possible?
And why, they countered, was this a goal?
The goal, I explained, was to join the manufactured thing — graphic design as an external representation of something else — to the world of the living. The goal was to connect, to enlighten, to more deeply understand, and how can you act if you can’t remember? You remember when you feel something, like I felt terror as a child in a world of public health posters. But as much as I was haunted by them, I was mesmerized by their beauty, their theatricality, their humanity — and that memory has never left me. Who among us does not hope to create work with such indelible, lasting power?
For Marquand Books, working in the museum publishing world adds a particular responsibility to translating design elements—font selection, color palette and typesetting—into a memorable book.
On top of being mindful of, as Helfand calls it, “the value of human narrative in the context of graphic design,” it means appropriately preserving the work and aesthetic of each of the artists represented in our publications. And doing so while achieving classic and flawless design. As always, we’re up for the challenge.
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