Recently the recipient of Typography Annual’s Best in Show award, BYU professor Linda Reynolds has lead a successful career in design and over the years developed valuable and powerful talents. However, her work is just as motivated by personal expression and creativity as it is achievement and professional pursuits.
Her interview with the Annual expounds on the reasons and emotions behind her award-winning poster and how it helped her work through the conflict sparked by George Floyd’s murder two years ago. As many evaluated and reacted to the tense climate which followed, Reynolds approached it with the mind of an artist. “Making art was a way to process profound injustices that are all too common,” she says.
Reynold’s poster was a personal method meant to ease the process of working through the emotions of what was going on in the world. “[This project] compelled me to confront my complicity in my own silence and pushed me to respond to it and toward more intentional action,” she says. The poster didn’t only represent a moment in history, but a moment for herself to grow and learn through her own talents and skills.
Her poster wasn’t meant to just sit on a wall; during protests, she walked throughout the community and posted them in public. For her, posters make the street “the museum of the people,” and she saw an opportunity to make her voice heard.
“My distinct purpose was to affect others in a creative or thought-provoking way.” Reynolds points out how posters are more than just an aesthetic decoration or an outlet for self-expression. They accomplish more than simply pleasing the eye. Beyond the realm of words, art and design can influence and inspire. The unique ability of visual art to catch the eye makes it a powerful resource and tool in today’s world.
Reynold’s poster represents BYU’s commitment not only to excellence in art and the design industry but to addressing exigent topics important to artists and everyday people.
“The letterforms of the No Justice No Peace BLM poster, along with the composition, colors, and illustration, make a united, coherent, bold piece that uses simplicity to communicate openly and camply, but with a solid graphic voice and stronghanded lettered visuality. Overall, timeless original graphic design.”- Petra Docekalova, acclaimed typographer and editor of the Typography Annual
To read Professor Reynold’s full interview, see the January/ February 2022 issue of Illustration Annual at https://www.commarts.com/magazines.