Folio ‘21
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Fun, Typehike

#experience_strategy
#enterprise_web
#consulting
#transformation
#experience_design
#2019

I dug deep into researching Saarinen, midcentury Modern design, and the semiotics of St. Louis, to create a minimal poster design that won the fan-judged contest.

Whether he designed chairs, buildings, or 660 foot-tall national monuments, Eero Saarinen always looked to reduce complexity and focus the experience of the human viewer. Thus, my thought process around designing something that would make him proud was succinct—don’t overthink the concept, and use as little as possible to make the most impact.

But try as I might, some other influences crept in. When I was a child, I came across a poster leaning on a dumpster outside of an old church, so like any sensible miscreant adolescent would, I liberated it from the landfill and hung it in my room next to my upside-down American flag and Nirvana mall-rock glossies. That poster was for the film Empire of the Sun, and was designed by John Alvin.


Saarinen’s one-legged Tulip Chair; EotS Poster; St. Louis Flag

I also wanted to connect this deisgn to St. Louis pride. After all, of the 60 artists in the friendly contest, only a few of us were from St. Louis. So I wanted to have echoes of the St. Louis flag work their way into the design as well.

And now the final product: like any successful design, I spent more time thinking, testing, and revising than I did painstakingly crafting the details. Inspired by Eero Saarinen, childhood signal interference, and the St. Louis flag (one of the most admirable flags ever designed BTW)....


This poster is permanently installed at the base of The Gateway Arch. <3

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→ This project took place over holiday break in 2019, and Jad would like to thank Stumptown Cold Brew Coffee for lending a hand.

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