Illustrated Calendar | Winston Kearney

Illustrated calendar © Winston Kearney (2014)

Above Proposal for a page from an illustrated calendar, using digital montages in response to poignant quotes, designed by Winston Kearney, undergraduate graphic design student at the University of Northern Iowa, in a course called Graphic Design 1, as taught by Roy R. Behrens.

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From H.G. Barnett, Innovation: The Basis of Cultural Change. NY: McGraw-Hill, 1953—

They [artists and designers] strive deliberately to transcend the commonplace—that is to say, the habitual—configurations rather than to conform to them. In this, artists do not differ from inventors; and they are similarly constrained by the number of available configurations within their cultural tradition and the degree to which the internal cohesion of these habitual configurations resists their efforts to break them down and reintegrate them into new units.

Russian Space Program | Austin Montelius

Timeline © Austin Montelius (2014)

Above Proposal for an infographic timeline about the Russian space program, designed by Austin Montelius, undergraduate graphic design student at the University of Northern Iowa, in a course called Graphic Design 2, as taught by Roy R. Behrens.

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Arthur Koestler in The Act of Creation. NY: Macmillan, 1964—

…Einstein's space is no closer to reality than Van Gogh's sky.…The scientist's discoveries impose his own order on chaos, as the composer or painter imposes his; an order that always refers to limited aspects of reality, and is biased by the observer's frame of reference, which differs from period to period, as a Rembrandt nude differs from a nude by Manet.

UNI Graphic Design Portfolio Night | 2014

Poster © Sara Heffernen 2014

Above Poster and information about this year's annual Graphic Design Portfolio Night at the University of Northern Iowa.

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Abraham Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being. New York: Van Nostrand, 1968—

I learned from her and others like her that a first-rate soup is more creative than a second-rate painting, and that, generally, cooking or parenting or making a home could be creative while poetry need not be; it could be uncreative.

Block of Postage Stamps | Tanner Heinrichs

Block of postage stamps © Tanner Heinrichs

Above and below Proposal for a block of postage stamps for an imaginary country called the Republic of Villanella, designed by Tanner Heinrichs, graphic design student at the University of Northern Iowa, in a course called Graphic Design I, as taught by Roy R. Behrens.

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Leslie Hall, quoted in Steven J. Zeitlin, et al., eds., A Celebration of American Family Folklore (NYC: Pantheon Books, 1982), p. 88—

About a year after my grandfather died I took a trip across the country and stopped in St Louis to see my grandmother. It turned out that they had a lot of money tucked away here and there—money under the mattress, in different banks, fifties here and there. It all added up to close to one hundred thousand dollars. When I stopped again on the way back, I went into the house and my grandmother says, "Oh, Leslie, I have something for you, upstairs. I had thought about giving it to you on your way across the country." And here I was, old greedy me thinking that maybe she had found a hundred dollar bill under the mattress and was thinking of giving it to me. So I followed her upstairs, toward the bedroom where she all of a sudden makes a cut into the bathroom, and she opens the cabinet and pulls out these two huge bottles of mouthwash and she says, "Your grandfather was going to use these but he didn't get a chance."

Labels, Stamps, Currency | Blake Schlawin

Luggage labels © Blake Schlawin 2014

Above and below Proposals for luggage labels, postage stamps and currency for an imaginary country called Sequitur, designed by Blake Schlawin, graphic design student at the University of Northern Iowa, in a course called Graphic Design I, as taught by Roy R. Behrens.

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William H. Gass, interviewed in Tom LeClair and Larry McGaffery, eds., Anything Can Happen (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1983), p. 158—

I think contemporary fiction is divided between those who are still writing performatively and those who are not. Writing for voice, in which you imagine a performance in the auditory sense going on, is traditional and dying. The new mode is not performative and  not auditory. It's destined for the printed page, and you are really supposed to read it the way they teach you to read in speed reading. You are supposed to crisscross the page with your eye, getting references and gists; you are supposed to see it flowing on the page, and not sound it in the head. If you do sound it, it is so bad you can hardly proceed… By the mouth for the ear: that's the way I like to write. I can still admire the other—the way I admire surgeons, broncobusters, and tight ends. As writing, it is that foreign to me.

Block of stamps © Blake Schlawin 2014

Currency © Blake Schlawin 2014

Postage & Currency | Andrew Struik

Block of stamps © Andrew Struik (2014)

Above and below Proposals for postage stamps and currency for an imaginary country called Fiasco, designed by Andrew Struik, graphic design student at the University of Northern Iowa, in a class called Graphic Design I, as taught by Roy R. Behrens.

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Thomas Berger, "Touring Western Europe, 1956: Excerpts from a Journal" in an issue of Antaeus devoted to journals, notebooks and diaries. No 61, Autumn 1988, p. 43—

Taken by Dr. Haas to find [Sigmund] Freud's house. He was not sure of the number and stopped at one point on the Berggasse to ask a woman who is sweeping the sidewalk, "Could you tell us which of these houses was Freud's?" She had no idea. "Doctor Freud?" No, sorry. She went on sweeping. "I'm sure it's along here somewhere," Dr. Haas told me. We were about to return to the car when he had a bright idea. "Actually," he said to the woman, "it was Professor Freud." "Ja!" said she. "Professor Freud lived just there," pointing.

Currency © Andrew Struik (2014)

Postage & Currency | Tony McDermott

Block of stamps © Tony McDermott (2014)

Above and below Proposals for postage stamps and currency for an imaginary country called Sfumato, designed by Tony McDermott, graphic design student at the University of Northern Iowa, in a class called Graphic Design I, as taught by Roy R. Behrens.

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Polly Gardner, quoted in Elizabeth Stone, Black Sheep and Kissing Cousins: How Our Family Stories Shape Us. New York: Times Books, 1988, p. 61—

In town, they called my grandfather Applejack. Do you known what applejack is? It's before moonshine becomes moonshine. If you won't wait for it to ferment, it's applejack. My grandfather just drank a whole lot of applejack. And dated other women. Finally my grandmother said, "Enough is enough," and she left him, which was pretty strange for the 1920s. She raised her six children herself. She did people's laundry by night and was waitress at the Greyhound bus station in the day. The one poignant note: even though she'd thrown him out, she did his laundry for him until the day he died.

Currency © Tony McDermott (2014)

Postage & Currency | Abby Michael

Block of stamps © Abby Michael (2014)

Above and below Proposals for postage stamps and currency for an imaginary country called the Republic of Lustspiel, designed by Abby Michael, graphic design student at the University of Northern Iowa, in a course called Graphic Design I, as taught by Roy R. Behrens.

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John Updike, The Centaur (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1963), pp. 80-81—

"The Founding Fathers," he explained, "in their wisdom decided that children were an unnatural strain on parents. So they provided jails called schools, equipped with tortures called an education. School is where you go between when your parents can't take you and industry can't keep you. [As a teacher] I am a paid keeper of Society's unusables—the lame, the halt, the insane, and the ignorant. The only incentive I can give you, kid, to behave yourself is this: If you don't buckle down and learn something, you'll be as dumb as I am, and you'll have to teach school to earn a living."

Currency © Abby Michael (2014)