The Small Letter

The Small Letter is a type primer produced by Desmond and Libertad Jeffery in 1956. It was donated to the BA (Hons) Graphic Design course at UCS for its book archive recently, along with various other books, and it has become an object of fascination to me. With an introduction that states: "We do not expect this booklet to be of any use to anybody, except possibly as a Dreadful Warning to the thoughtful against undue distortion & ornamentation of basic letterforms," how could it not?

So intrigued by this, and other such books that have either been donated or I've personally acquired, that I have started a research/archive project on Tumblr. At this stage, I'm intending it to consist of pre-digital print, type, and graphic design related books, although this may change depending on what I uncover. The blog is titled after Jeffery's booklet.

The Small Letter project

The Inside Out Project

A friend & colleague sent me a link to the video below stating how much it moved him. Cynical as ever, I watched and waited to be moved. Around the point that the shanty town is featured with the roof tops adorned with posters of their inhabitants, that's when it got me—the vinyl prints also help keep the rain out you see.

Then there's the shot of the train passing above posters on an embankment completing the picture, a thing of beauty where there isn't much. Watch for yourself:



Inside Out is impressive enough to have won the TED Prize 2011, an annual award that goes to a person whose one wish is to change the world.

As the project's website details: "INSIDE OUT is a large-scale participatory art project that transforms messages of personal identity into pieces of artistic work. Everyone is challenged to use black and white photographic portraits to discover, reveal and share the untold stories and images of people around the world. These digitally uploaded images will be made into posters and sent back to the project’s co-creators for them to exhibit in their own communities".

Where will you be exhibiting your portraits?

Links:
The Inside Out Project
TEDPrize

Thanks Dave.