Tender Buttons : Final

The selection of poems is based entirely around the section, objects, from Gertrude Stein's Tender Buttons. The curation of the poems is base on the rhythm of language used in Stein's writing style. It can be explained as a stream of consciousness or thought. A train of thought carries and inherent rhythm. That rhythm is visually represented through the contrast of the form. From a distance the language turns to grey, functioning as pools of rhythm. The thought in functionality is that the viewer not only experiences the poems at once by putting them together but is also drawn in to the small typography, forcing them to bring it closer to understand it. The breaking up of the litterature into rhythmic proportions reinforces her ideas of cubism, fragmentation, and of course Rhythm and sound.

Tender Buttons: full mock up #1

"gut check time." —kidwell
Well we checked my gut. I think its going to be okay but I definitely need to take some time and step back and realize what I am truly trying to say with Gertrude Steins work. I think on some level I know but when explaining it comes out as mush. There are perhaps too many concepts being shown formally all at once. Although they all work with her text, they may not meld together well enough to solidify the concept. Counter-production? maybe . . . who knows. At an atomic level this is supposed to be about clarity and non clarity. How do I reformat this to make sense, drop the excess, and move forward with a solid idea executing it formally in a solid, communicative way? this is what i am asking myself these next few hours

tender buttons: 2

These are a few pages from my anthology. Well, just process screenshots. While composing these i was trying to thing of the overall composition speaking to the poem as well as having little moments of typographic flavor. Over all the poems are hard to digest but there are these little pieces that make all the sense in the world or for some reason just resonate in mind and soul. I want to call these out. Also, the book is no longer a "book." Focusing on fragmentation, it seemed counter productive to bind these poems. Also there is not a regulated page size. Size varies from poem to poem based on length and weight conceptually.

Tender Buttons 1

First round attempts at some expressive typography using Gertrude Stein's words from Tender Buttons. Specifically the objects section. My thought process was to emphasize the way I read the poems. Also I wanted to take cues from her ideals of Cubism, fragmentation, and rhythm. As of now the compositions are a bit small and a little timid and conservative. Perhaps they need a little more umph. The reason for a smaller page size (3x5.5) was initially to create an intimate experience, making the reader bring the text closer to get a better understanding. There is a little more work involved as a viewer, than traditionally. In the next iterations I want to focus on the spacial relationships and how there can be visual breaks to create pauses, forcing my reader to read like me.

amsterdam warm up

we were asked to create some typographic experiments using an excerpt provided to us via Kidwell. The compositions were supposed to capture the essence of the city.