Como x Grapefruit
Fall Semester: 2020
Course: Typography
Direction: Nicola Vruwink
The design brief for this project was to choose a typeface and showcase it through a type specimen booklet. The challenge was coming up with a theme for the booklet that connected to typeface itself.
Inspiration
I had recently been looking into Japanese graphic styles and drooling over their unique use of color. In my search for Japanese type designers I found Ryoichi Tsunekawa. His typeface COMO was perfect for the modern playful theme I was envisioning.
Grapefruit
As design luck would have it, another project had me researching for a 70’s inspired music poster. I learned that John Lennon’s famous song Imagine was initially inspired by Yoko Ono’s book Grapefruit. Learning that Yoko was behind such a powerful song inspired me to explore her work. The quirky abstract poetry was the perfect compliment for the theme of the booklet. I wanted to bring Yoko’s words back to life with a modern Japanese inspired flair.
Ideation
The ideation phase started with thumbnail sketches. I tried to explore layouts with movement, repetition, and scale. I knew I wanted to play with some type of double exposure effect. Choosing which parts of Grapefruit to pull together was another important part that allowed the content to flow together. I wanted the abstract content to still feel like a story you were reading from Yoko.
