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Americanah Pamphlets & Poster
A series of three foldable posters containing excerpts from blog posts in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah. These posters act as a sampler of the book before the final book launch and the goal is to capture the themes and intent of Adichie’s writing.
Specifically, these posters will highlight the theme of authenticity and what it means to be black in America. I also wanted to make the layout of the posters uncomfortable for readers to emphasize that discomfort is necessary for change. This project was printed on cream paper, and the design lacks both white and black to illustrate the the issues discussed are not black and white.
Roles For This Project
Typography
Poster Design
Course
Word & Image
Inspiration
I wanted the posters to be in the style of 1960’s protest signs to connect back to American history. I also looked into using collage to illustrate the multiple layers of the problem. Lastly, I looked to typographic examples where the designer intentionally broke the grid layout or created a unique flow for readers.
Typography
The display typefaces used in this project were both from Vocal Type Foundry. Vocal Type Foundry was founded with the mission to increase diversity in the design industry and their typefaces all highlight a piece of history from an underrepresented group. Both VTC Bayard and VTC Marsha were created with 1960s political movements in mind, and their bold sans serif styles lend themselves well to the feel of protest signs.
I paired this two typefaces with Adobe Caslon Pro because the delicate serif typeface has its roots in colonial America. The Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were both set in Caslon and the traditional associations of this typeface contrast well with the bold Vocal Type typefaces.
Pamphlet One: The Problem
As the beginning of the series, this foldable poster uses the color of red to convey the “heat” of the problem. The layout in all the posters is formatted in a 3 column grid, however the grid is often broken to create an uncomfortable viewing experience. The red bars symbolize the trapped feeling that the narrator is describing.
Pamphlet 2: The History
This foldable poster mentions the deep-rooted history of slavery and discrimination. The history pamphlet is between the problem and the solution because it is starting a conversation about WHY the experience of blacks in America is the way it is. Thus, the use of purple parallelograms illustrates the beginning of an escape from the prison of pamphlet 1.
Pamphlet 3: The Solution
This pamphlet and poster use the color blue to convey the “calmer” resolution to the issues discussed in Americanah. This last pamphlet intentionally has much less content then the other two books to allow space for readers to reflect. The lack of content also exemplifies how the problem is not yet solved and there is no full solution. The progressively smaller round shapes in this pamphlet illustrate rising up and away from the constraints of the previous pamphlets, and how listening is a step in the right direction.
Posters
When all the pamphlets are unfolded, they create posters that combine to form a larger poster. From afar it is easy to assume that the poster reads the same right side up as it does upside down. However, when someone reads it closer they will find that right side up says “African American” and upside down says “American African”. In her book Adichie discusses how the experiences of these two identities are very different and how it is important to be authentic to yourself.
