for this project, michelle had to create a short book.
she chose two short stories by Julio Cortazar: La Noche Boca Arriba (The Night Upside Down)
and, Continuidad de los Parques (Continuity of the Parks), which
is a circular meta-story, meaning it ends the same way it begins.
the book's organization reflects the structure of the stories as well as the meaning of their titles. open it from either end and you read either story. moreover, the text for Continuidad de los Parques wraps around itself: you begin reading the story along the top part of the pages, and the last page is the title; you then turn the booklet around and re-read the story as it runs upside down along the same pages.
another aspect is an image representing the story, which reveals itself when you spread out the entire book and unfold the pages. the pages form a connected path, although upon closer look it is evident it is not continuous in reality.
completed, april 2006
the lambda alliance at the university of pennsylvania is the new umbrella organization of all the lgbt groups on campus. to boost this organization's visibility, michelle created a logo for lambda alliance which is symbolic, simple and at the same time conveys what lambda alliance is all about.
completed, october 2008
her first time using the letterpress michelle had to design a namecard. she stayed away from the common serif fonts,and miraculously found enough letters in a large sans typeface to put together an original namecard with... her name. it was rough to wash away the ink, and her arm was sore after so much rolling, but the result was a unique, personalized card.
later on, the class was asked to designed a keepsake for The Historical Society of Pennsylvania Annual Founders' Celebration in honor of Ben Franklin's birthday. each member of the class had to pick one of Franklin's virtues, and then pick a quote related to it. each designed one card, with the front in a preset design, and the back in free form.
the cards were printed at the University of Pennsylvania letterpress. the class printed 350 of each card and pasted 350 wrappers and put together 350 neat little packets of this handmade, limited edition keepsake.
completed, march 2006
the Kelly Writers House, a literary arts center, commissioned the graphic design class to design a logo for the 15th Room Press, their letterpress publishing division. michelle and her class visited the client various times and picked up on themes from the spirit of the people and the Writers House.
two of the logos that michelle designed were picked as part of the final five.
the first is a 15 in the shape of a leaf, symbolizing nature, one of the major themes at the Writers House. the second one is a purely typographical rendering of a 15 forming a P, for 15th Press, with the shape reminiscent of a house as well as an acorn (they also had a thing for squirrels).
completed, february 2006
Type and Space was the first project for michelle's graphic design class. they had to explore all the variations of type, including font face, size, weight, kerning, location on page, line spacing, etc. it was a fun exercise infused with her own silly quirks.
