Week 46: 414
The 411 on the 414
Happy Friday y’all!
I hope you all had a great week. I am very pleased with my project for this week as numbers are outside of my comfort zone. I’ve truly been avoiding them for this whole project. All credit goes to my sweet friend, Lauren, who requested I do something fun with these Milwaukee Transit Passes!
Can we talk about these for a second? Like who designed the first one? How did they have the budget to make every single one so colorful and unique?? I’d love to meet someone from the design team back then and have them teach me everything they know. My guess, not based in reality whatsoever, was that some ex-illustrator took a government “graphic artist” gig strictly for the benefits (maybe because they got married or had a baby) and became so bored that they badgered their boss into letting them have a little fun with this project. I hope they got the kudos they deserved.
When I was starting this project, I struggled so hard to figure out which direction to go. There’s so much content within these transit passes! I almost tried to do 2 sets of numbers which I quickly realized was unrealistic. Ultimately, I settled for one set of numbers with a 3D style and a set of dingbats. I could absolutely not ignore the playful layouts and quirky background shapes.
The process went as all revivals do: an overly optimistic start, followed by existential dread/problem-solving, and then trying to “make it my own”. The real struggle with these numbers was where to put the serifs. Based on my numbers research, the rule is that there are no rules. Everyone approaches serifs on numbers differently! Maybe I’m wrong and I missed that day of type school?? I had to have 2 whole friends look at my numbers to reassure me that they weren’t horrible. Probably dramatic but it definitely made me feel better.
All in all, I had a great time making these. Anything Wisconsin related is very sentimental for me (that’s where I went to college). And I fully relate to the poor bastard who had to bust their rump on a weekly basis. Worth it tho!!! Please use these — I made them for you! Also read this article about them and visit the Letterform Archive if you ever get the chance!!
5 Things I’m Into This Week:
The song, Seaside Woman by Linda McCartney.
Diving back into sewing some clothes after a yearlong hiatus. I made the All Well Studio Pants and a dress made out of colorful bandanas.
The font, Mara des Bois by friend, teacher, and colleague, Graham Bradley! I may or may not have peaked at the serif placement on his numbers. <3
These planner stencils that I bought forever ago but have been using a lot lately! I write to do lists on random pieces of scratch paper and these make it more aesthetically pleasing.
The wonderful warm weather we’ve been having!! Ily sunshine.
Kindest regards,
Libbie