An experimentalist to look out for is Irma Puškarević, a graphic design educator at Wichita State University, KS.
Puškarević holds a Ph.D. in graphic engineering and design from University of Novi Sad, Serbia, where she studied philology and literary analysis. This builds on her academic and practice-based work in design to form cross-disciplinary research pursuits.
She writes that she “is invested in the study of the relationships between languages and alphabets in the field of graphic communication, and how these systems of codes embody and transmit cultural and social narratives.”
Puškarević has been working on the Letterform Network that centers around mapping the history of typography and graphic communication in Southeastern Europe. Letterform Network has been envisioned as an experimental startup project with multiple outcomes, all leading toward establishing a network of researchers and educators who will help create systematic and accessible archival practices, as well as recontextualize historical materials for contemporary knowledge production.
Her current project, Crabbylegs and the Three Shells / Patitas de cangrejo y los tres caparazones, a children’s book, tells the story of an eponymous hermit crab living on a polluted beach and using a soap dispenser pump as her shell. The following are some process shots that reveal the evolution of organic letterforms, along with the designer’s statement about the project.
This project was done for the Arts Partners organization based in Wichita. Arts Partners is a Pre-K–12 arts-in-education organization which develops comprehensive educational programs. Their goal is integration of visual and performing arts in all areas of the curriculum. At the end of 2021, Arts Partners, in collaboration with Storytime Village and the Wichita Public Library, published a call for paid Artist to Authors fellowship. The objective of the fellowship was to develop a culturally relevant book focused on increasing K–2nd grade literacy and social/emotional skills. My colleague Jennifer Ray, a photographer, and I, decided to apply. For a long time Jennifer had an idea to produce a children’s book using fotogram; I wanted to work on a project where experimental type would be utilized in a practical way.
After the call was closed, the board selected 15 artists and formed six groups to produce six books starting at the end of January 2022. As fellows, we were attending regular meetings once a week for three months where we received resources and guidelines on how to approach writing and structuring a book for, in my group’s case, the 2nd-grade level. We had presentation on literacy, publishing, and later in the program we worked with educators (visual and performing artists) who would use our books for teaching once the educational program starts. Arts Partners had a clear vision on what themes they wanted books to cover. They offered a list of topics and my group decided we wanted to tackle environmental quality. Another consideration was literacy of the 2nd grade. The choice of words, for example, was very important. Children at that level are still learning a lot words of the baseline vocabulary. Additionally, we decided we wanted to make a bilingual book (English/Spanish). We felt it was important to publish a bilingual book that will be distributed in schools in Wichita and surrounding areas, as it reflects the population.
In terms of making the book, Jennifer and I worked intuitively at the beginning. With limitations imposed by the process of making fotograms (one of them being production in black and white), we realized that the story could be set in an environment where a deep dark environment is a natural occurrence. Between the space and the sea, we set on the sea. This was important information for our third member, Jeremy, whose role was writing a story. Our process stayed experimental throughout. However, after the first explorations into the materials, we had a clearer scope of the approach we needed to follow.