The above image pretty much says it all.

I decided to post this after sending out an email campaign for the new year. I have an odd feeling I missed some people in the blast. This was the focal image included in the email. So I wish you a Happy New Year or Bonne Année which ever you like.

If you haven’t received your New Years email – the reason is that I probably don’t have your address. Feel free to send me a message with your email address. I’ll be happy to add you to my list for future mailings.

Over the years I have become, if I dare say, proficient in my understanding and utilization of letter forms in the the western cultures, specifically English, French, German and Spanish. It is a fair assumption to make – that in order to communicate through graphic design and typography you need to understand the culture, but more importantly the reason behind why letter forms are the way they are.

But what happens when you take letter forms from an alphabet you don’t understand and play with them? Chances are you are going to have a mess on your hands. I tried to “play” around with the Cyrillic Alphabet. On one hand it was probably a bad idea in the sense that I am not familiar with any Slov languages. I arbitrarily used letter forms without knowing the meaning of the words (if any) that I typed. On the other hand this started out as an exercise in type centered around an alphabet I found to be beautiful in a mystical sort of way. I learned a couple things that I will try and point out throughout this post.

Here Goes:

Russian TV Channel

The idea behind this is simple. I tried to emulate the idea of a TV station for their identity. The goal was to portray a strong knowledgeable persona. The directional arrows used are to illustrate the reciprication of news. It comes in to us and we send it back out to you.

Event at St. Basil’s Cathedral

original photo found here: tinou bao link to actual photo here.

Here’s where I started to notice some of my misconceptions or stereotypes of a culture I don’t fully understand.
The original idea behind this was to create a poster / flyer for an open air event (celebration). It doesn’t look too celebratory now does it? Rather than go back and redesign it I felt it would be a good opportunity to talk about how misconceptions dictate design. I have never been to Russia. I have seen some examples of Russian design from my school days, and usually it was Constructivist, Avant-Garde or DadDa in nature. Another issue I noticed was how dark and gloomy I adjusted the photo to be (with a cheesy LOMO filter). This probably stems from a misconception of poverty and political unjustness that was instilled upon me at an early age, but more on that later. The choice of typeface is somewhat oppressive too. In hind site I find it to give a feeling of pain with religious and cultural suppression.

The Odd Couple Comes to Russia

A popular TV show from my childhood as it would be in Russia. That mirrors the sentiment of the continuous stream of meetings and summits between Gorbachev and Reagan.

The True Odd Couple

While “playing” around with this idea on type I noticed my stereotypes becoming evident in how I treated the designs. It got me thinking about what little I actually knew about the Russian and in general the Slov cultures. I grew up in the seventies and eighties in the United States with the threat of nuclear holocaust around every corner. The U.S. government and media painted a picture of “the evil Russian Empire” and the KGB locking citizens away in Siberia and prisons for the rest of their lives. I along with the rest of the American population was taught to fear and “save the world” from the oppressive Russian regime. Then Reagan and Gorbachev finally signed arms agreements and the “Wall” later came tumbling down, but the damage was already done. I along with countless other Americans was left with a misconception of a culture and peoples that could last a lifetime.

What started out as an innocent exercise in typography turned out to teach me about who I am and what little I actually understand about the world I live in. I look forward to trying to learn more about the Russian and Slov cultures not only to learn more about typography and design, but to break the cycle of the stereotypes I have.

Additional Notes on the Typography

Please remember that the words or characters were arbitrarily used. If I inadvertently told you to go screw your mother or something like that; please accept my apologies.