Sounds of Silence, set of three posters, 2019.

Type Specimens, 2019.

The Visual Communication Institute HGK, Basel

During summer of 2019, my MDES graphic design cohort had the opportunity to visit Basel, Switzerland and participate in the summer workshop series at The Visual Communication Institute HGK, Basel. I participated in the Poster Design workshop with Leander Eisenmann and the Type Design workshop with Philipp Stamm.

In the Poster Design workshop, we investigated the concept of silence, while tasked with creating posters for the Sounds of Silence exhibition held in the Museum Für Kommunication in Bern, Switzerland.

The exhibition, Sounds of Silence explores the concept of silence through various media, and perceptions of the idea of silence.  I found myself interested in the small sounds we might hear in a natural setting, when we feel far away from noise.

The colors of my poster set invoke the sky at dawn or dusk, when all is calm but there are stirring sounds if we pay close enough attention and we allow the quiet movement to register. The cloud-like shapes are taken from photos of starling flocks, birds that travel in tight clusters and create impressive, constantly changing shapes called “murmurations” as they move together in the sky.  

We think of these birds as quiet, through the light ruffling of so many flying together makes a delicate sound. Taken away from their original context, the glittering shapes become more abstractly cloud-like against the sky of my poster.

For the Type design workshop, I produced several letterforms for a sans serif based on my own handwriting. The forms are clean and crisp, yet evoke the playfulness and individuality of letters drawn by the human hand.