An Interview with Tanner Woodford, Founder and Executive Director of the Design Museum of Chicago
As one of the more storied American cities, Chicago has a rich history of graphic art and design that is heavily influenced by the diverse mix of cultures that make up the city’s neighborhoods. Celebrating the legacy of this landscape is what inspired the Design Museum of Chicago to create Letters Beyond Form: Chicago Types, an expansive collection of design and typography that showcases the truly unique character of Chicago graphic art.
The success and scope of the six-month exhibit prompted the museum to document the show in a new book of the same name. This print collection — which also includes short essays and research notes to supplement the visuals of the exhibit — documents how communities, movements and the human experience can shape the look and feel of a city. The book also explores the role designers and graphic artists play in helping to tell the story of a city that has reinvented itself time and time again.
Design Museum of Chicago Founder and Executive Director Tanner Woodford discusses the role of experimentation in Chicago's typography landscape, the importance of collaboration in putting together the exhibit and what the Windy City’s letter landscape might look like 50 years from now.
Let’s start by defining Chicago design — what goes into this style of typography?
That’s a great question. In general, Chicago design and typography has a lot of grit behind it, a lot of detail and heart and soul. There’s so much history in Chicago and the city’s style of typography and design goes right along with that history.
The Chicago style began with hot lead and producing individual letters, then evolved to where it is today, with everyone having a typography studio on their laptop. The city’s style of design is rooted in experimentation.
The diversity of Chicago and the city’s neighborhoods also play a part. The exhibit started with research in two specific neighborhoods, Pilsen and Bronzeville. Particularly helpful were the Pilsen Arts and Community House, the South Side Community Art Center and the FOURTUNEHOUSE Art Center. You have to go into these neighborhoods, listen and spend time exploring them…in doing that, you find a very rich tapestry that helps tell a compelling story.
One thing that really stands out in the book is the collaborative nature of Chicago’s design and typography history. I assume there was a similar level of collaboration in putting this book together?
Oh for sure. Amira Hegazy [exhibit curator and book designer] and Paolina Montes [exhibit curatorial assistant book designer] deserve a ton of credit for putting together both the exhibit and the book. They were really at the core of the whole thing. But there was also a lot of collaboration with the various communities whose work we were showing. We commissioned five pieces specifically for the exhibit, and these artists worked closely with us to create pieces that fit with the show’s vision.
What’s the response been to both the exhibit and the book?
The primary response has been gratitude. People have been very gracious to the work we’ve done. Typography often feels like it’s one of things that just exists without a human ever touching it — people think it just falls from the sky or something. People don’t often think about the fact that a human hand has interacted with it. Someone had to kern the letters, for example.
A big part of the show and the book is a focus on the human hand behind the typography. We have a lot of graffiti, a typography that’s very expressive, where the hand is celebrated. I think that’s a very important part of the exhibit. People have also responded to the ‘Chicagoness’ of the exhibit, especially the graffiti.
If this book is reissued 50 years from now, what do you think it would look like? Basically, where do you think the future of Chicago typography and design is headed?
I think this comes back to what we started talking about at the beginning — this idea of experimentation. Innovation has been at the core of the Chicago scene since the beginning and I don’t imagine that will stop. I also think there’s a certain authenticity to the work that comes out of Chicago that you don’t often see in other cities. The creative work done in Chicago is so often done because someone wants to do it, not just because they’re getting paid to do it.
There’s a great Picasso quote that I’m going to butcher, but he basically said that if he was jailed and you took away all his art supplies, he’d still paint on the floor with his tongue.
One thing that’s unique about Chicago designers and artists is that they wouldn’t stop doing the work even if you were to take away all their resources — and I think the work would actually get even more interesting and authentic. It’s hard to say what shapes Chicago design and typography will take, but the human hand in design will always be valued in a city like this.
Thanks to Tanner for a great conversation. Visit the Design Museum of Chicago to learn more about their current exhibits or to order your copy of Letters Beyond Form. Learn more about this book or browse our library of projection inspiration.
