Front and back outside covers of the 2010 What Where When.

Front and back inside covers of the 2010 What Where When.

Since the booklet was printed on a 4-color press, we were able to upgrade to a tritone at no extra cost for the cover (exciting!) and use two different spot colors on the inside pages, which we used to indicate whether an event was a repeating event or a one-time event.

The design template for this year’s version remained the same at 96 pages with a pull-out art map in the center. After reading Jost Hochuli’s Detail in Typography earlier this year, I realized that I could apply some of Hochuli’s teachings for better layout and readability.

The bulk of editing work during production of the What Where When is to fit event descriptions into a very tiny space. More space for body copy hopefully could mean less production time. Last year’s version was certainly readable and an improvement on what I did for 2008, but the body copy still seemed a little large for the page size, and I was certain I could fit in more copy yet still retain enough white space for balance. Fitting the titles of events into the 2009 template meant for negative kerning at an extreme, enough to worry the printer about resolution when printed in a spot color and resulting in a few frantic phone calls at press time. The locations of the events were too faint as well, making it hard to pick out that key detail. Knowing where an event is supposed to be, even in a place as fluid and ever changing as Black Rock City, certainly increases the odds of actually finding it.

The 2009 template had Corpid Condensed body copy at 8 points with a 9 point line space. Please note some events listed have copy which could be considered NSFW. Below is an inside page from 2009:

For 2010 I updated the body copy to be 7.5/8.5. I also changed the font for the location of the event from Corpid Condensed Regular to Corpid Condensed Heavy to make it easier to see when printed as a spot color.

Inside page from 2010 What Where When

These two changes made a big difference in parsing information on the page for 2010. The extra room from the slightly smaller font size also meant less of a need for kerning and less editing for copy length overall, greatly reducing production time. Pages that had a full set of events  did not crowd against the bottom of the page, increased margins meant for better visual balance.

As a side note, editing participant copy always remains a challenge in preserving the wonderfully enthusiastic tone of each event while applying some basic editorial standards.

The new site uses Django as a framework, enabling us to set up user accounts, permissions and workflow states for submitting and viewing items. I worked on building the XHTML page templates and CSS3 style sheets based on my designs. A wider content area has been integrated into the page layout under the narrower existing main navigation. The challenge with these gallery pages is to keep them as simple and usable as possible, given that there are multiple levels of site navigation that are required to be visible at one time.

Photoshop template of home page.

Single item view photoshop template.

The Galleries collections allow for multiple media types searchable by type, category and contributor. Single item views show expanded meta information.

We moved to a smaller size in 2009 to make the guide more portable. I’ve been delighted to use Corpid Condensed for the main typeface in the event calendar both years, the italic weight has been playful for headers and the regular condensed weight extremely readable and versatile. In 2009 I added Mayo Borders and Regular to the cover and inside pages, as the ornaments and borders added an evocative organic twist to the theme of evolution without using visual cliches. I found many of the glyphs in Mayo reminded me both of cellular division and wayfinding icons.

I used my own photographs on the cover; taxidermy groupings of cape hunting dogs and oryx. Their positioning and social nature reminded me of packs of people on the playa, organizing themselves according to their own purposes, be it tracking down an art project, going to a bar or finding music.

The 2009 edition totaled 96 pages and included a pull-out art map.

The pull-out art map for 2009 included a new feature to aid in the location of art installations around the city. The city is arranged in a circle where the center point is the Man himself. Blocks of the city are laid out in radiating arcs that form a horseshoe shape. Where the city isn’t, the art is. By including the distance from the Man, noted in feet on the art map, participants could orient themselves more easily to find installations.

The cover for the 2008 event is an exploded vector stock illustration of an engine. City streets in 2008 were named after defunct or highly impractical car models, in line with the art theme of The American Dream. The engine worked well with that theme, as an idealized image that stood in for the disillusionment of mechanical marvels. I added graphics that evoke engraved marks and stamped numbers, referencing the currency we use to chase after our material dreams. The 2008 edition was 78 pages, with a pull-out art map.

2008 folded open cover.

The position of the girl in the illustration is to comment on the idea that all species are evolving, and that there is no tree of evolution that has humanity as its pinnacle. The girl is among all the other lifeforms, from prehistoric ferns, to living species of plants. She is one of many, not an isolated apex. There is a progression of lifeforms from the ocean to the stars, moving left to right. The girl wears a cyborg helmet to illustrate how dependent our species is to technology and how that will shape us in generations to come.

I was very interested in illustrations and images that were not the typical monkey-to-human pen and ink idea of evolution. I looked at single-celled organisms and selected the volvox to sprinkle on the back of the mailer. Volvox is an aquatic organism that is often used in scientific experiments to test evolutionary theory.

I implemented a few subtle design changes to separate the blog from the look and feel of the main site. I changed the body font for increased readability. I added more white space to define main content areas and let the content breathe, and created a unique color scheme of smoke and gray tones not used by other sections of the site. Retaining the iconic flame motifs from the rest of the site, I used small flames in the side bar and button graphics.

The blog successfully repeats the major design elements of the new site while feeling like a distinct entity. Repeating the visual language is key to consistency and authenticity of voice.

Screen capture of blog homepage.