Greatness Earned
Over the course of the 2009–10 academic year, a series of five promotional posters designed by faculty member Gail Anderson is appearing in the NYC subway system. Each one features a quote from President Barack Obama’s inaugural address—“In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned.”—with visuals that Anderson created with illustrator Terry Allen. As the third and fourth posters are beginning to show up on subway platforms across the city, Anderson spoke with the Briefs about the series.
How did you select the passage from President Obama’s speech that appears on the posters?
SVA’s Executive Vice President Anthony Rhodes gave me the quote. He said he looks at it every morning, which I thought was really interesting. I decided I’d do the same, so I wrote it on a Post-It and stuck it to the bathroom mirror, in hopes of finding a bit of inspiration.
What was your process for designing a visual to accompany the text?
I worked really closely with Terry Allen, whom I’ve known for over 25 years now. I wanted to create an uplifting, WPA-style poster to help brighten the mood of the city at the dawn of the new administration. We did a bunch of them and we were having such a good time working together. In the end, I showed Tony all five since they sort of made a nice little set. You can imagine my surprise when he decided to run them all.
What sort of reaction are you hoping these posters will elicit?
Connecting the message of aspiring to greatness to both the nation and the College is pretty powerful, but Terry and I wanted to make it playful at the same time. I hope it’s the sort of quote and poster that will make you feel a little better about your morning commute—and will stay with you over time. You’ll see it on five different posters over the course of the school year if you ride the subway, so that quote’s going to become a small part of your life and maybe a source of inspiration.
Image: Gail Anderson, SVA subway posters, 2009. ©Visual Arts Press, Ltd.
April 6th, 2010 at 9:06 am
[...] Format Book category; and the Type Directors Club awarded faculty member Gail Anderson’s recent subway poster campaign a Certificate of Typographic [...]
January 24th, 2011 at 12:45 pm
[...] penchant for items becoming a part of her life also ties into her work, such as promotional posters Anderson designed for SVA where she hoped an quote from President Barack Obama would become a [...]
March 22nd, 2011 at 12:25 pm
[...] addition, the article showcases one of Anderson’s 2009 SVA subway posters, which was built around a quote from the inaugural speech by President Barack [...]
April 11th, 2011 at 1:17 pm
[...] President Barack Obama has nominated designer and MFA Design Department faculty member Edwin Schlossberg to join the Commission of Fine Arts, which oversees the development of public buildings, statues, fountains and monuments in Washington, DC. The commission is charged with giving expert advice to the President, Congress and the heads of departments and agencies of the Federal and District of Columbia governments on matters of design and aesthetics. [...]