About
Experience & Education
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Public Mechanics
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Publications
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In Defense of Inconvenience
Design Observer
See publicationSeductively efficient, easy-to-use products are the gold standard within design and tech. But is this convenient, frictionless user experience actually what we’ve been looking for?
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Fonts and Leading on the Campaign Trail
TYPE Magazine
See publicationWe survey the state of political campaign design and typography for the 2018 mid-term elections. While the majority of candidates' branding is forgettable, some exciting work emerged as diverse new candidates like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Beto O'Rourke, and Deb Haaland adopted unconventional colors and typefaces to set themselves apart from the establishment. Will their success inspire more candidates to embrace savvy branding and design?
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Ocasio-Cortez scored a victory — for well-designed campaign posters
Washington Post
See publicationProgressive politics meets progressive design: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's bold posters are a rare example of good graphic design on the campaign trail and certainly played a supporting role in her upset victory.
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Prioritizing civic innovation in Baltimore
Baltimore Sun
See publicationI worked with Jennifer Goold, Director of The Neighborhood Design Center, to advocate for the establishment of a civic innovation office in Baltimore. In addition to meeting with municipal and political stakeholders and speaking with founders of other civic innovation offices, we penned this editorial in the Baltimore Sun. Baltimore's Mayor-elect, Catherine Pugh, was impressed with our proposal (we shared the editorial through some of her staff and confidants). And the City established its…
I worked with Jennifer Goold, Director of The Neighborhood Design Center, to advocate for the establishment of a civic innovation office in Baltimore. In addition to meeting with municipal and political stakeholders and speaking with founders of other civic innovation offices, we penned this editorial in the Baltimore Sun. Baltimore's Mayor-elect, Catherine Pugh, was impressed with our proposal (we shared the editorial through some of her staff and confidants). And the City established its civic innovation office in 2017, after Mayor Pugh took office.
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Decoding the 2016 Presidential candidates logos
Washington Post
The Washington Post asked us to review the 2016 presidential candidate logos in the early stages of the primary campaign.* Within their format, we also provide brief context on the other elements that make up a political branding campaign.
*Written prior to the entry of Donald Trump into the presidential race. While Trump's campaign logo was nondescript, much has been penned about the significance of his iconic "Make America Great Again" hats, which became the predominant graphic…The Washington Post asked us to review the 2016 presidential candidate logos in the early stages of the primary campaign.* Within their format, we also provide brief context on the other elements that make up a political branding campaign.
*Written prior to the entry of Donald Trump into the presidential race. While Trump's campaign logo was nondescript, much has been penned about the significance of his iconic "Make America Great Again" hats, which became the predominant graphic image of the 2016 election.Other authors -
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Essay included in Maharam Stories
Rizzoli
See publicationEngaging, revealing, and idiosyncratic stories on design from 100 top luminaries of the design world. Maharam Stories contains engaging, revealing, and inspiring texts by the most significant designers and writers working today.
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Post Typography Artist Music Journal
Soundscreen Design
Artist Music Journal are a limited-edition art book series created by visual artists with connections to music. Post Typography (Volume #7) included a collection of rare posters for shows by our various bands and the stories behind each design and show. Other volumes in the series included Daniel Higgs, Brian Roettinger, and Hisham Bharoocha.
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Lettering & Type: Creating Letters and Designing Typefaces
Princeton Architectural Press
By Bruce Willen and Nolen Strals (with a forward by Ellen Lupton)
Lettering & Type is a smart-but-not-dense guide to creating and bending letters to one’s will.
No component of graphic design has attracted as much interest or inspired as much innovation in recent years as lettering and type. These foundations of design, once the exclusive domain of professional typographers, have become an essential starting point for anyone looking for a fresh way to…By Bruce Willen and Nolen Strals (with a forward by Ellen Lupton)
Lettering & Type is a smart-but-not-dense guide to creating and bending letters to one’s will.
No component of graphic design has attracted as much interest or inspired as much innovation in recent years as lettering and type. These foundations of design, once the exclusive domain of professional typographers, have become an essential starting point for anyone looking for a fresh way to communicate.
Lettering & Type features hundreds of images and examples of work by designers, artists, and illustrators, including Marian Bantjes, Matthew Carter, Emigre, Ed Fella, Sibylle Hagmann, House Industries, Margaret Kilgallen, Christoph Niemann, Steve Powers (ESPO), Stefan Sagmeister, Christian Schwartz, Alex Trochut, Underware, James Victore, and many more. Throughout the book interviews with type designers, artists, and graphic designers provide real-world perspective from contemporary practitioners.
More than just another pretty survey, it is a powerful how-to book full of relevant theory, history, explanatory diagrams, and exercises. While other type design books often get hung up on the technical and technological issues of type design and lettering, Lettering & Type features the context and creativity that shape letters and make them interesting.Other authors -
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Le lettrage à la main vit encore
Étapes
Post Typography partner Nolen Strals and I co-authored this cover feature in the premier French design magazine Étapes. Our article looks at the historical context behind trends in contemporary lettering and type design and includes visual examples of contemporary and historical work. (English with French translation)
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Post Typography monograph
Pyramyd Éditions
See publicationThis monograph collects Post Typography’s early output — from eye-melting hand-printed concert posters to witty typographic illustration and sly political artwork.
“Nolen Strals and Bruce Willen, who founded the Post Typography studio, are inveterate media mixers who handle digital animation as comfortably as a good ol’ ink filled pen. Their graphic design makes use of lettering whether for posters, illustrations or CD covers and assiduously avoids typographic neutrality. The studio’s…This monograph collects Post Typography’s early output — from eye-melting hand-printed concert posters to witty typographic illustration and sly political artwork.
“Nolen Strals and Bruce Willen, who founded the Post Typography studio, are inveterate media mixers who handle digital animation as comfortably as a good ol’ ink filled pen. Their graphic design makes use of lettering whether for posters, illustrations or CD covers and assiduously avoids typographic neutrality. The studio’s work sums up what’s missing from much of contemporary graphic design a conscientious bent that is balanced with a healthy dose of humor.” — Pyramyd Éditions
Nolen Strals and Bruce Willen
(with an introduction by Ken Barber)
Pyramyd Éditions, 2008
Designer&design series: 071 -
Alphabet: An Exhibition of Hand Lettering and Experimental Typography
Exhibition catalog for Alphabet, a traveling art show curated by Bruce Willen and Nolen Strals featuring work by over 50 internationally known artists, typographers, and designers.
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Projects
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Old Goucher Neighborhood Vision Plan
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See projectInitiated and helped lead multi-year urban planning project for this central Baltimore neighborhood in collaboration with residents and the Neighborhood Design Center. I led the design team, was a contributing writer and editor, and organized community workshops.
Organizations
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Baltimore Design School Board of Trustees
Board Member
- PresentBaltimore Design School is a Baltimore City public transformation school for grades 6–12 that offers a comprehensive college preparatory program that integrates design throughout the academic curriculum and provides Career and Technology Education (CTE) pathways. BDS fosters creativity and critical thinking skills while preparing students for admission to college and careers in the design fields of architecture, fashion, and graphic design.
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