Purpose

Shortly after joining the UMHB Art Department as a new faculty member, the biannual faculty showcase took place. Being one of two design faculty I felt the need to showcase not only functional, client driven work but self prompted, creative work for our students to reference.

In studying the history of this institution I had become part of, I fell in love with a founding member, Eli Moore Townsend, and her history of activism, equity-building, and work for accessible higher education despite her affluent background and gender in the late 1800s.

I chose to showcase an interview quote from Eli near the end of her life, as my purpose as an educator so closely aligns to her viewpoint—I can only hope that at the end of my life, I have impacted as many students lives as she.

To stay true to the styles of her lifetime while keeping with her forward-thinking approach and movement driven lifestyle I created an 11x16" poster which used an illustrated border and Quaver Debutante, a swash alternates cut I created based on Quaver Serif, created by Tippletype and found on Lost Type Co-op, with added contrast between the thicks and thins of each letterform to add to the drama of the swash style. It is meant to be utilized as an accent with the Quaver family as a display typeface. Check out the process documentation.

Layout + Type Designer:  Mikaela Buck