Paula Scher Response

Paula Scher is a designer located in New York City. She has been located there for most of her career. Her work is heavily influenced by the city itself. She talks about this rich melting pot of cultures influencing her work which is interesting because not only is the physicality of the city influencing her work, the human demographic is influencing her work. In the sense of physicality, the cities tall slender buildings are mimicked in her condensed san-serif typography. The compact, intricate grid system of the city is reflected in some of her posters. A good example is the jazz fest poster. She makes the analogy of her work being like the gridlock and traffic jams at a stand still. Some said it was influenced by constructivist but she argues it was 90% New York that influenced it. undoubtedly the constructivist had a hand in influence but not as much as the city itself. New York is a loud in your face city and this is seen in Paula's work. The large text and colorful designs say NEW YORK. As far as correlation to the project we are doing, there is a lot. We found lines within these neighborhoods and throughout the city and tied typography into it. She is doing the same but on a larger, more physical level. Instead of making a poster and aligning text to the architecture and line work of the city, she actually does it in real life. She designs a lot of the signs in new york for store fronts and businesses. Each is different according to the business or area. Just like each of our posters and typography is different according to the characteristics of the neighborhood. This video was really interesting. I definitely drew some inspiration from this.