This past week, while researching through Dr. Arturo Dávila’s personal library, I came across a stack of pamphlets, about 11 of them in total, sewn and bound in varied marbleized papers. Trim-wise, these are considerably small, ranging from 3×4.5 inches to 5.5×8 inches, and yet, they called my attention. Don Arturo, as wise as he is, felt as my eyes were drawn to the colorful spines. “Pick them up; take a look“. In the process, he explained that these reproductions were used by the Church to spread its message. Little did I know, my curiosity had brought me to a series of original 18th Century texts—printed versions of homilies recited by Catholic priests in Mexico.

To share these, I took the time to scan one of the leaflets in its entirety. Please note a curious type treatment that has been killing me since I became aware of it: at the end of every page the typesetter included the first few characters of the word that follows on the next page. I had never seen this kind of strategy employed, and it was used in almost all of the documents, printed in a range of many different years, which means it was not a one time thing.

In their time, these documents would have probably not attracted any aesthetic conversation, but today, I can’t help but see them with a clinical eye, and hold them in my hands with admiration. Right now, everything about them—texture, color, smell, sound—is just fantastic. More importantly, each and every one of them holds some kind of typographic lesson that I can learn from.

Click on any of the images for a larger look.

Commemorative piece given to the 2009 recipients of Puerto Rico's Architecture Awards. Design and concept by Alberto Rigau. Fabrication by Roberto Pérez.

This past Thursday, Puerto Rico’s professional college of architects and landscape architects awarded the 2009 medals in architecture. These awards, named after Ricardo Alegría, are given to individuals and/or entities who are not directly related to the discipline of architecture but who have contributed to the field in a way that can be evidenced in a substantial body of work.

Previously, this prestigious recognition had been given four times, and to my knowledge, recipients were given only a certificate. This year I volunteered and gifted the College with a design of commemorative piece to be handed out in the naming ceremony.

The initial challenge was to suggest the quality of the object. Even though the award uses the term “medal“, I inclined for a piece that could be exhibited by the recipient in a more efficient manner, thus the creation of a table-top piece.

Conceptually, the composition represents the larger social context (outer square) inside which architecture unfolds (smaller square). The recipient reaches out from this larger context and crosses the architectural field (diagonally placed piece of glass), leaving his mark (smaller aluminum triangle on the lower right side of the inner square). He or she eventually keeps moving into other aspects. (the extension of the piece of glass beyond the smaller square).

*For those of you with a nerdy inclination towards typography, the initials of the award’s name are abstractly embedded in the design, with a lower case r on the left side of the diagonal piece of glass and an upper case A it’s right side.

from Puerto Rico Ilustrado, 1915, No. 274

from Puerto Rico Ilustrado, 1915, No. 278

Before Sports Illustrated, Life and the image-based version of National Geographic (can you believe it began as a text-based academic publication?), Puerto Rico had it’s very own image-based weekly: Puerto Rico Ilustrado.

It was published from March 6th 1910 through December 27th 1952, a length of time during which it amassed a collection of 2227 issues. Content wise, the pages primarily chronicled life in the island, while it also included writings and images on international events of the time.¹ On average, these were about 16 pages, with about 6 of them dedicated to advertisements (which are fabulous in their own right). It was printed on a kind of dull paper, originally in black and white, but slowly 2 color printing makes its way into the covers. In the later years, covers are then produced in full color (which in many ways diminished the visual impact of earlier compositions)

During the last few weeks I have been scanning directly from about 15 years worth of issues, and the more I look at it the more I marvel at the typography contained in the mastheads of the issues, particularly their visual exploration which shows a struggle between looking man-made and machine-made, with an observed preference on the former.

My study on this publication is only beginning, but I have scanned a series of typographic treatments from a few years’ worth of the publication to begin a process of sharing them.

from Puerto Rico Ilustrado, 1915, No. 274

from Puerto Rico Ilustrado, 1916, No. 315

from Puerto Rico Ilustrado, 1916, No. 318

from Puerto Rico Ilustrado, 1921, No. 569

from Puerto Rico Ilustrado, 1922, No. 661

from Puerto Rico Ilustrado, 1923, No. 657

from Puerto Rico Ilustrado, 1923, No. 681

from Puerto Rico Ilustrado, 1923, No. 700

from Puerto Rico Ilustrado, 1924, No. 750

from Puerto Rico Ilustrado, 1926, No. 826

from Puerto Rico Ilustrado, 1926, No. 832

from Puerto Rico Ilustrado, 1926, No. 833

from Puerto Rico Ilustrado, 1926, No. 834

from Puerto Rico Ilustrado, 1926, No. 837

At the end of last semester the graduate class came together to work on a calendar for 2009. The project, headed by Caroline Prietz, Liese Zahabi and Lauren Waugh, was hand letterpressed and distributed to our family and friends. Each of the months was divided among the participants.

To showcase the process to the faculty, I made this short video which pretty much tells the story of that one particular weekend when thinner became our therapist and biscuits were king.

Recently, while watching some of these shows, I noted a change in the commercial advertising landscape: the automotive industry is trying to harness the power of typography and verbal communications to make its pitch to us.

Take this particular advertisement for Ford’s new F-150. The advertisement, clearly influenced by recent kinetic typography explorations found in almost every video portal site, uses scale, contrast, motion, rhythm, and verbal language to communicate its message to the screen-engaged viewers.

My issue? While I am very happy to see typography take a lead-actor role in contemporary motion-based advertising, I don’t want to see it become just another plastic jewel of a bedazzled composition. Seeing typography play a superficial role illustrates a weak command of the medium. In this previous example, I question the effectiveness of the strategy when the subject matter of the commercial is rendered almost invisible. What was this commercial about again?

The kinetic typography technique, in my opinion, works best when the visual cues offered by the images allow viewers to immerse in the story being told. Examples of it cover the whole spectrum of genres, from comedy…

Content cited is from the movie Wedding Crashers.

…to serious dramatic compositions… (sorry for the Spanish)

For Random House Mondadori.

…but no matter the thematic purpose of these two previous examples, the visual cues assert the typographic narrativs being told.

In the case of some of these recent vehicle commercials, there is a split between the visual and typographic stories, rendering the ads, in my opinion, ineffective. I don’t mean to insinuate that this is happening because of the technique being used. In 2006, The Brand New School produced The Car That Reads the Road campaign for Toyota in Australia.

These ads, while beautiful and rendered to the highest of technological standards, also fall into this fuzzy realm where I think typography and content are not quite peacefully having a conversation, and I think this happens again because no substantial story is being told. This lack of narrative provokes a superficial role for the typography and to its possibilities.

The sad thing is that the automotive industry has experienced the success of real storytelling (By storytelling I don’t mean those ads where cars are the main actors of unbelievable feats, but stories with a plot, actors, and process). The 2002 release of John Frankenheimer’s Ambush on the BMW Films website serves as a clear case study.

Ambush, by John Frankenheimer.

With the series, BMW delved into storytelling and was rewarded when it saw their 2002 sales numbers go up 12% from the previous year. The movies were viewed over 11 million times in four months. ¹ The films proved to be so popular, that BMW produced a few more seasons and showcased many more of its vehicles in action that it would have ever done with a standard advertising campaign.

Clearly the automotive industry is in the midst of an identity crisis, questioning the ways it does things. I just think it has been doing this for a while now… not finding a clear position for itself… and not understanding how to talk to its audience. There is no need for this move to superficial strategies. All is has to do is connect with the audience… provide stories… (and then bring in typography) and not only will it see itself rewarded, but also provide a more meaningful experience for those who have to see these spots repeated for weeks at a time, armed only with the weapons of changing a channel or muting the speakers.

Project
The best way to shape the future is to…

Created for
Option Shift Control Symposium
North Carolina State University
College of Design

Executed by
Gretchen Rinnert, Bryan Rinnert, Marty Lane, Alberto Rigau

November 30th 2007

Jaime Suárez and Joel Ramos keep working on the sculptural aspect of the Vieques Main Plaza Fountain designed by Jorge Rigau FAIA.

Click image for high resolution.

The future really caught our attention.


Robert Ruehlman

Samyul Kim

Gretchen Rinnert explains her future.

Denise made the conversation interesting.

Steve Harjula

The future really really caught our attention.

Marty Lane looks forward.

Kelly Cunningham makes us aware of the possibility of bio-sensitive suits.

I am confused about the future.

Rebbeca Tegtmeyer explains social relationships.

The future confuses all of us.

Michéle Wong wonders about a future with no schools.

Kelly Murdoch-Kitt makes commenting social.

[All of these images where drawn with light on a 30 second exposure photograph.]