Grand Gesture

SCOPE
Design a comprehensive brand for an upcoming exhibition featuring women artists from the Port of Seattle’s collection — produced by ARCADE.

TOOLS
Illustrator, Figma, Photoshop

TEAM
Dustin Mara
Vivian Cho
Cameron Reeder

Grand Gesture’s brand was conceived to complement 5 women artists at the height of their careers. The exhibit borrows pieces from the Port of Seattle’s collection, featuring Holly Ballard Martz, Soo Sunny Park, Barbara Earl Thomas, Sabine Marcelis, and Jennifer Steinkamp. Grand Gesture is a reference to the work itself, the gesture of the artist, but also the gesture of this all-female and international show where works of large-scale installation are shown.

The Grand Gesture logo features an elegant script typeface. Selected for its intricate visual details and bold swoops, Louise is an open-source font from Velvetyne designed by Ange Degheest.

Louise was the perfect fit for the exhibition, aligning both visually and conceptually.

*Type design history has retained very few women before the 1980s, even though they were very active, especially as drawing clerks in typographic drawing offices. Current research, such as the Women in Type project, is trying to bring them out of oblivion, but much of the history of these designers is lost forever, due to a lack of archives. Ange Degheest was invented in their memory, to bear witness to their forgotten stories.

Learn more about the exhibition at arcadenw.org.