Every two or three years the Minneapolis College of Art and Design produces a new viewbook. Used as a primary recruitment tool for the college, they are distributed to prospective students via MCAD’s web site and at various admissions events around the country. The viewbooks have a rich history of being very expressive and experimental — their short shelf life of only a few years eliminates the need for a timeless design, allowing the designer(s) more freedom to investigate new ways of working. Often designed by design faculty or alumni, they also become historic markers — time capsules of MCAD-centric design.
For this viewbook, the core of my design concept was informed by the symbiotic relationship between the students and their surroundings at MCAD — how they migrate to the college and transform the space around them as they themselves are transformed by their experiences as they create, learn, and — quite literally — live in their new academic environment. Through low-tech, on-demand means (letterforms were printed in black & white on standard paper sizes) design and photography converged as the spaces around MCAD were converted from their “ordinary” state into temporary typographic and language-based installations. These spaces were then documented photographically — essentially transforming the studios, work tables, libraries, classrooms, faculty, and students of MCAD into full-bleed photographic spreads. To contrast the realism inherent in the photography, simple geometric graphic forms — based on various forms of art making (brush strokes, paint drips, flash bulbs, pixels, tape, etc) — were used throughout to create space for detailed typographic information.
6.5" x 8.75", 192 pages
perfect bound, softcover, 4/4 throughout
Concept & Art Direction: Matthew Rezac
Design: Matthew Rezac & Alex DeArmond
Photography: Patrick Kelley
Minneapolis College of Art and Design
On Demand, Photography, Transformation