Borders for a Cause

My Chromatic Borders prints confront the hypocrisy of fossil fuel companies regarding climate change. By sandwiching a made-up quote - "Climate change is your fault you single-use-plastic-loving mother f*ckers" - between two context-providing sans-serif sentences, I highlight the absurdity of Big Business shaming and patronizing consumers instead of taking responsibility for their harmful practices. These prints aim to raise awareness of the urgent need for corporate accountability and environmental action.

Color Scheme

the colors of my prints reference the toxicity of both the chemicals and the rhetoric being spewed by Big Business. The fluorescent pink and green come together to create an icky cat vomit brown that accurately captures the obsurdity of pollution. Through this color scheme, I aimed to create prints that convey a powerful message while also visually representing the issue.

To create my prints, I used a mix of traditional wood and metal type as well as custom MDF board and acrylic forms. Using a laser cutter, I precisely die-cut the acrylic components before mounting them on MDF board for letterpress printing. By using transparent ink, I achieved an overlay effect that creates the illusion of using more colors than just two, resulting in visually stunning prints.

Type High

"Type high" is a term used in letterpress printing to describe the height of the printing surface. In letterpress, the type and image elements must be raised to the same height so that they can be printed together on the same sheet of paper. This height is standardized at 0.918 inches (23.32 mm), which is known as "type high." MDF board, metal or plastic bases used for mounting printing elements are usually made to this height for accurate printing.

Chromatic Letter Forms and Boarders

Chromatic printing is a letterpress technique that creates the impression of using more colors than are actually used. To achieve this effect, transparent inks in different colors are overlapped, creating the illusion of a new color where the inks overlap. This is similar to the multiply layer effect in Photoshop.

Letterpress and Activism

Letterpress activist posters have a long history of being used to amplify voices and advocate for social and political change. From the suffrage movement to civil rights to modern-day activism, letterpress posters have served as powerful tools for expressing dissent and promoting action. With their bold type and striking visuals, these posters have the ability to capture attention and inspire action. While digital technology has largely replaced letterpress printing in many contexts, the unique aesthetic and tactile quality of letterpress posters continue to make them a popular choice for activist organizations looking to create impactful and memorable messages.

Fall 2022