Occasionally they collide. Like now. I’m working on a cover for boundary 2. These covers are great to work on from a design perspective: challenging.

For this next issue, American Poetry After 1975, I found myself looking for graffiti, largely for textures to build a cover from. In Raleigh, the most accessible (and reliable) graffiti is the Free Expression Tunnel on NCSU’s campus.

Now, the chore of editing these and finding a way to make them work as duotones. On a cover.

(Oh. And I’ll probably loosen up a bit on posting design related stuff here. At least until the Sky2x site is launched. Which, is actually in production. Shocking.)

It seems the right solution is to shoot them. (Which is why I’m posting about it here.) This isn’t easy. Do I shoot it straight up? (If that’s the case am I just taking the long way to deliver, flat, boring, two dimensional images?) Or do I play with depth of field and try to make them interesting beyond just a simple design sample? I think it’s the later. If I throw in the towel and acknowledge that there’s nothing the same as holding a sample in your hands, pawing through the pages, seeing the way the piece comes together, etc. Then I get some creative license.

That’s good. And horrible all at the same time.

Anyhow, this is a cover for boundary 2 a journal published by Duke University Press. Ed. offices up at the University of Pittsburgh. Speaking of design, I need to get back to it. There’s another of these covers on the horizon.

Off to Atlanta tomorrow for the Doublecross challenge. Sadly, I’ll more than likely not bring the big camera so no action shots.