Illustrators are a fun breed. Much like graphic designers, their minds race with ideas and techniques some can only dream about. And when you mix in the fact that these talented individuals all teach at the amazing Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture program, it takes dreaming to a whole other level. I was asked to design the identity for Blind Spots, a symposium that brings together researchers, faculty, and graduate students in the United States and abroad to explore different facets of modern illustration through workshops, panels, and tours of the Dowd Illustration Research Archive in Washington University Libraries. I explored three unique methods of using expressive typography to convey a sense of void (blind) while layering color, shape and illustrative imagery to convey the art (spots). What transpired in the final solution is a playful and simple mix of elements that’s meant to be memorable yet functions as a dynamic system.
