Letting Go
Curating and story telling from the bottom up
Curating and story telling from the bottom up
In September 2011, The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage published Letting Go? Sharing Historical Authority in a User-Generated World. The book investigates path-breaking public history practices at a time when the traditional expertise of museums and historical institutions is constantly challenged by evolving trends in technology, community-based programming, oral histories, and contemporary art.
The anthology features 26 newly commissioned thought pieces, case studies, conversations, and artworks by 19 leading cultural practitioners, including Nina Simon, Michael Frisch, Kathleen McLean, Fred Wilson, and more. These contributors address questions of ownership in the world of Web 2.0 and social media—can everyone be a storyteller or curator?
To help investigate these questions, I needed to design a book that highlighted the diversity of content and opinions that the book contained, while simultaneously alluding to the uniqueness of each of their voices. To do this, I utilized a broad color palette, and assigned a unique color to each of the specific themes that the book covered. This allows the reader to thread specific themes together throughout the publication. I also used a mix of typefaces, ranging from serif, sans-serif to grotesque and slab-serif, each representing the emergence of new perspectives that consistently challenge the status quo in the museum world.
Project
Services
Industries
1 Heartworm Reader Issue One
Book Design
Arts & Culture
2 Slagerij DeSchuyt
Branding Identity
Cafe & Restaurant
3 Faster Than_
Global Advertising Campaign
Adidas Running
4 Carbon Social Club
Identity Design
Podcast
5 Digital Anthropomorphism
Book Design
Branding
6 PSFK
Digital Design & Strategy
Trend Forecasting
7 256
Digital Design & Strategy
Gaming
8 Good For One Fare
Installation and Book
Self-Initiated
9 Strategic HR
Book Design
Strategy & Business
10 Adidas Ultraboost 19
Global Advertising Campaign
Running Sports
11 City as Character
Book Design
Self-Initiated
12 Asian Arts Initiative
Book Design
Arts & Culture
13 Kill Screen
Digital Design & Strategy
Gaming
14 The World by Train
Book Design
Self Initiated
15 Next City Anniversary
Editorial Design
Urbanism
16 An Inaccurate, Incomplete and Absolutely True History of the City of Philadelphia
Installation and Publication
Self-Initiated
17 Philagrafika
Book Design
Publishing
18 Michael Snow / Photo-Centric
Book Design
Arts & Culture
19 LoDown x Radical Cutup
Editorial Design
Fashion, Arts & Culture
20 The Pool
Graphic Identity
Fashion
21 The World Stage
Strategic Design, Publishing
Non-Profit
22 Next City
Strategic Design
Urbanism
23 Akustikplatten
Identity Design
Music
24 Heartworm Press
Book Design
Publishing
25 Letting Go
Book Design
Arts & Culture
26 Steve Powers
Strategic Design, Publishing
Art
27 The Stumbling Present
Book Design
Arts & Culture
28 Swindle
Art Direction, Design
Arts & Culture, Fashion
29 Common Touch
Art Direction, Book Design
Arts & Culture
30 City Limits
Art Direction, Design
Urbanism, Publishing
31 Minimal Risk
Graphic Identity
Fashion
32 Riverview
Web Design, Graphic Identity
Real Estate
33 Fels Policy Research Initiative
Web Design, Graphic Identity
Education
34 Red Collective
Graphic Identity
Real Estate
35 Room 21
Web Design, Graphic Identity
Arts & Culture
36 ICPH
Web Design
Non-Profit