FRIDA TYPOGRAPHY

Frida Typography is a striking portrait of the influential Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, crafted entirely from her famous quotes & significant facts. This artwork captures Kahlo's likeness through a mosaic of her own empowering words & achievements.

Despite enduring severe health issues, Kahlo channeled her pain & resilience into her art, using it as a medium to reflect her struggles & celebrate her strength as a female icon. Although many contemporaries labeled her work as Surrealist, Kahlo contested this label, asserting that her art was not a depiction of dreams but a representation of her stark reality. Despite a tumultuous marriage & ongoing physical challenges, her vivid, symbolic paintings & poignant commentary continue to inspire & empower women well beyond her early passing. Frida Kahlo's work remains a testament to her enduring legacy of strength & empowerment, vividly illustrated in this dynamic portrait.

PROJECT INFORMATION

SKILLS: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop
FOCUS: Typography, Design, Illustration
CLIENT: GRA340 Typography
CONTACT: Professor Jennifer Silverman
PROJECT DATE: 2022
PROJECT URL: N/A

BACKGROUND

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

EMPOWERING MEXICAN PAINTER

Born Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo Calderón, Frida Kahlo, was born July 6, 1907, in Mexico City, Mexico. At the age of eighteen, she suffered a traumatic car accident that secured a lifetime of pain & suffering through no less than thirty-two surgeries, & it took away her ability to reproduce. Struggling with these physical limitations, she also endured a tumultuous marriage to fellow Mexican artist Diego Rivera & spent the remaining few years of her life painting from her bed. She is known as a very influential artist, for her role in Mexican American Civil Rights (as well as the Mexican Communist Party) & being a strong female role model. Her home, Blue House, is a tourist destination.

Plagued by her poor health, Kahlo used her art to show her struggles & true beauty as a strong female role model. Many artists from her time labeled her work Surrealist, a term which she argued was not accurate, in that her art wasn’t a dream but her reality. Plagued by a bad relationship & marriage, alongside her physical issues, Kahlo painted beautiful images & her dramatic commentary still empowers women, long after her early death. Her images are full of symbolism, vibrant color, & have an overall powerful and empowering female message.

PARAMETERS

PROJECT OVERVIEW

PROBLEM:

Creating a print-ready PDF design for a typography portrait poster.

TARGET AUDIENCE:

At any age, Kahlo garners the interest of men & women alike, for her numerous, highly-colorful artworks. This print would be of interest to anyone with a strong taste for type-based art.

CONSTRAINTS:

Turn around time for project was roughly three weeks.

TASKS:

Initial audience & content analysis, Frida Portrait design (Made in Adobe Illustrator. 11" x 17"), & mock-ups made in Adobe Photoshop.

DESIGN RATIONALE:

To create the portrait, a selected black-and-white image of Frida Kahlo was simplified in Adobe Illustrator to reduce complexity, making it easier to replace imagery with typography. Colors were chosen to match the vibrant hues of her work. The Berlin Sans FB font, reflecting the early to mid-1900s, was selected to align with Kahlo's era. Famous quotes, sourced from various sites including her official website, were incorporated into the design, which was entirely made of typography in solely the Berlin Sans FB font. Mock-ups of the portrait were then created in Adobe Photoshop.

SPECIFICATIONS

DESIGN GUIDANCE

Starting with a chosen image of Frida, a black & white scale image was generated in Adobe Illustrator. This image was adjusted to lessen complexity of range of value, to be able to assign typography to effectively replace actual imagery. The color family was loosely selected to coordinate with the vibrant color she used in her work. The font family Berlin Sans FB (by artist Lucian Bernhard, reworked by David Berlow for digital use) was chosen to reflect the timeline of Kahlo's life. The timeframe of her work, the early to mid 1900's, was strongly influenced by her approximately 200 artworks (143 paintings, of which 55 are self-portraits) & often explore her personal experiences, vividly portraying her physical & emotional pain, as well as her tumultuous relationship with her husband, Diego Rivera, whom she married twice. The formation of the characters allowed for period-defining character to the artwork. Famous quotes were researched from many sites, including her own artist website, FridaKahlo.org. Mock-ups of the portrait artwork were created as necessary in Adobe Photoshop.