monogram monogram process book Aug 28–Sept 13, 2018 Lily Greenwald
“Process is still relevant.” -Gail Anderson
The research process was fairly simple. Fortunately, Gail Anderson is still alive and she has a website full of all the wonderful projects she has done. I was able to use the images of her work featured on the website as a visual resource to capture what her style was like. I looked in depth at her work in playbills for Broadway. Although it took an extra glance to truely find a recurring theme in such a diverse portfolio, I was able to sense Gail’s playfulness in her designs. She tends to stagger hand-drawn type so letters do not always have the same base line. However, before I found this key aspect to Gail’s designs, I explored monograms that were geared more toward her personality. I was able to find an interview with Gail in which she described her non-stop work ethic and passion for type desig, as well as fun facts like how her love for design began (with a Magic Slate).
“I initially thought the hand-drawn type thing was a trend that was ready to wane once it began appearing in advertising. But now I’m thinking that the authenticity it brings to projects makes it more of a movement than a trend.” -Gail Anderson
After making plenty of thumbnails basing the monogram off of existing typefaces, I decided to scrap that idea entirely. Instead of trying to capture “gaily curl” with a cursive typeface filled with swooshes and swashes or mimic the way writing looks on a Magic Slate I decided to follow Gail’s steps and look towards hand-drawn type. Instead of relying on existing typefaces, I decided to draw the letters on my own. Of course, this idea originated in me playing off of Sign Painter in my original thumbnails. For some iterations, I used the similar lettering that I saw in her playbills. In this process, I discovered color is a major part of the Gail Anderson brand. I used this opportunity to explore bright colors that ranged from warm to cool. While doing so I created some marks that were bold and others that were less successful in forming a succint but interesting monogram.
“Getting students to slow down and try lots of directions with their typography is not easy...� -Gail Anderson
After I had a good idea of the colors I was going to use for my monogram, I edited the letterform of each to perfect the mark. Once I felt confident in the actual design for the focal point of the business card, I moved on to design a visually interesting and informative card for Gail. I used the complementary colors of purple and yellow because it allowed for high contrast. While making the cards, I saw that to be true. At the beginning, I was thinking of the card as something with only one side. This limited me in many ways in terms of composition and balancing information. However, the ideas for those one-sided cards were good stepping stones for when I moved on to designing a proper card with a front and a back. When I made that step, I also made the step away from purple and yellow (Go Saints!) and towards choosing the more successful monogram of the previous top two.
“When working digitally, it’s too easy to go right to what you think is the finish line.�
-Gail Anderson
One thing that I struggled with was typeface decisions. I wanted something that spoke to the playfulness of Gail while still allowing for contrast. I eventually chose a serif that was nice against my sans-serif monogram. With the business card, there were multiple moments of defeat when it came to displaying the information both effectively and in an interesting manner. I stuck to a white background for the most part, but when it was suggested to invert one side of the business card I took that idea and ran with it. After the final critique, I noticed ther was an overwhelming consesus on what was done well and what needed some work. Color was complemented while the way the G was drawn in the monogram as well as how it was place on the business card was critiqued.