Calligram Designers

by Laura Ruggeri STORY Here he is again, Antonio (Associazione Progetti Culturali), asking for another calligram. This time for the corporate image of a theatrical play that he and his friend Bruno Guerra wrote: Il blues di Monsieur Malaussene . "Laura, make it sexy!", Antonio said while he was walking away from my studio. "Sexy?" I thought, "Why sexy? What is this play about?". I close the door and went to read the play with curiosity. I chose the sexiest scene of the play for the calligram: Oh Julie . "What do you think, Antonio, is this sexy enough?" "Yes! I like it very much." So the sexy calligram went on street posters, flyers, invitation cards... and then in my portfolio online . I don't know why... or maybe I know exactly, but I was never comfortable with this calligram. "Too sexy...!? What if my yoga teacher see it? What can he think of me?" Many thoughts came to me for so many times, ...

by Laura Ruggeri STORY I designed this calligram in 1996 for the theatrical season Poeti Filosofi e Giullari. Antonio Molinari (Associazione Progetti Culturali), the actual client, came to my studio and asked: "Laura I need an unique image for the next season. You have a blank slate. Surprise me." I asked Antonio what was the main show of the season: "The Qohèlet - The Book of Ecclesiastes", he answered. I designed and patiently typeset by hand this calligram using all of the text of the book visualizing The Thinker of Rodin in type as a symbol of the human being who thinks "Completely meaningless, completely meaningless! Everything is meaningless" as Qohèlet said. It took 21 days to produce this calligram. TECHNIQUE The font used for the calligram is Helvetica Neue - from UltraLight to Black + ExtraBlack crafted just for this project. 7 weights in total. APPLICATION poster, libretto cover, flyer, invitation card