Graphic designers Nolen Strals and Bruce Willen of Post Typography take an approach cribbed directly from the post-punk syllabus, rejecting the hegemony of dry contemporary graphic design with work that is vibrant and defiantly avant-garde. With a rough-hewn visual aesthetic that can be bludgeoning in its impact, Strals and Willen expertly bridge the divide between photocopier and Photoshop, drawing upon their punk backgrounds to create digital work that calls back to the resourcefulness of their glue-stick and X-acto knife roots.

When the two began working together at the Maryland Institute College of Art, they declared a manifesto that stands in stark opposition to the tyranny of design — just as Gang of Four fractured punk’s assault into an oblique, intellectualized abstract, Strals and Willen consider their work to be a shattering of the methods of the “Graphic Design Elite”. The two argue for an egalitarian aesthetic that considers the work of non-professional designers — the community letter-writers, the zinesters, the self-taught designers — to be just as legitimate a source of influence and inspiration.

In their manifesto, Strals and Willen refer to a “new caste system composed of the Graphic Design Elite and the Desktop Publishing Proletariat.” They declare, “…we will liberate typography from the stuffy shackles of classicism and rigid mores of modernism. We will shun too the ironic and forced eclecticism of post-modernism in favor of a valiant and noble design democracy. The delicate crystal goblet of modernism cannot contain the volume and passion of our humanity. We do not seek to create works of grace, sublimity, and legibility. We only answer to the ultimate satisfaction of our own Dionysian impulses…”

“…like a farmer tilling the soil,” they write, “we are also unafraid to get our hands dirty to reap the fruits of our labor. We dispel the myth of the invisible designer. We each will carve our own visage from the faceless screen, and let the ink from our pens bleed onto our hands and paper. We will not hesitate to discard X-heights and baselines to achieve our Post Typographic ideals, casting off the shackles of Photoshop to return to the freedom of letters without rules.”

The two design iconoclasts answered a few of our questions about their work and philosophy.

Can you give me a bit of background on Post-Typography and the people involved in the studio?

BRUCE WILLEN: Post Typography is a two person design studio comprised of Nolen Strals and Bruce Willen. We have a small circle of collaborators who we work with occasionally, but mostly it’s just the two of us. We met while in school at Maryland Institute College of Art. Nolen was mainly doing printmaking and posters, while I was focused on design and photography. We started a short-lived “metal” band together called League of Death, which brought the two of us together in various visual endeavors like screenprinted concert posters, T-shirts, logo design, CD packaging, etc. League of Death’s posters were much better than its music (although we always played pretty fun and chaotic shows). Gradually our collaborations took on more varied projects like film posters, illustrations, and other freelance work. After awhile this morphed into a “real” design studio.

What is the defining visual philosophy of your work and the studio?

WILLEN: I’d like to think that we don’t have a specific visual style. While there are definitely visual themes and elements that we gravitate towards, I think the the end result visually is informed more by the concept or the specifics of each project rather than a particular style. Obviously we’re graphic designers, so we care about how the end result looks, but we’re just as happy doing a very clean modernist design as we are with something less legible and pristine, as long as they’re the right solution.

What’s the origin of the name Post-Typography? A provocative rebuke to design standards?

WILLEN: The name came from the idea for a design movement and manifesto that we dreamed up one night while working on a poster. The whole concept of Post Typography was very anti-design (at least in the way that we saw it as art students), and it does rebuke the self-seriousness and boringness of graphic design. In the big scheme of things, graphic design isn’t particularly important. Only once in a while do we work on a design project that’s actually meaningful beyond the narrow boundaries of the design world, and those projects are rarely either high profile or financially rewarding.

NOLEN STRALS: It’s also a way of saying we do more than just graphic design, we’re not just this one thing. If you really want to read into it, maybe it’s like Post Punk… okay, I’ve done that, what can I do after this, but still with the same sort of root?

One of the compelling things about your work is the mixture of the handdrawn and photocopied punk/zine look and digital work, how did you come across this approach? Is this still a guiding principle in your work or was that merely a step in the evolution of your work?

WILLEN: We choose the tools we use on a project by project basis. Specific ideas or clients may call for work that’s much cleaner and digitally-based. For a project that needs to convey precision and authority, creating something that looks messy or hand-drawn would be the wrong solution. Other times, the project or the solution we come up with may really need a hand-made execution or element to give it more warmth and softness.

STRALS: The hand-drawn and computer mix just occurred naturally. We were into punk and indie rock in high school. Because of that, we first designed with hand-drawn and photocopied elements, because that’s what was available. Then when we became familiar with digital design, we didn’t throw away our past knowledge, but incorporated it. Instead of thinking “Design is not possible without a Mac” we see computers as just another tool, like a pencil or a pair of scissors (or Swiss Army Knife might be more accurate).

As the DIY/indie/punk look becomes more commonplace, it loses much of its visual impact due to overuse. How do you find ways to push your aesthetic in ways that are new and compelling?

WILLEN: When possible, we try and base our work more on the idea behind it than its ultimate look.

STRALS: Since early on we have tried not to be just two more designers who develop a style and stick with it. All of our projects do start as an idea, and we draw from a wide range of influences and skills to figure out the best approach. Yes, we do stuff that looks DIY/punk occasionally, but it’s not the only thing we do, so we’re not worried about it’s passing in or out of fashion.

What are some of the main visual touchstones/influences/inspirations that come to mind?

WILLEN: The work the compels us the most is visually exciting and smart. A few designers and studios who I think have inspired us at one point or another are Robert Brownjohn, Experimental Jetset, 2×4, Art Chantry, Underware, Alvin Lustig, Lance Wyman, Stefan Sagmeister, James Victore, Fred Woodward, and Serigraphie Populaire though that list is no where near complete. Also, general stuff like hand painted signs, concert posters, modern architecture, and music (mainly indie/punk/noisey/weird stuff). Artists like Tom Friedman, Richard Misrach, Luke Ramsey, Cornelia Parker, Michael Cataldi… again I could keep going.

STRALS: I probably learned as much about dynamic composition from comic books as I did in any class I took in college. One of my favorite designers is the late comic book artist Will Eisner. The way he built a page, the way he made type and image one thing, that was hugely influential. OF course EC Comics artists like Wally Wood and John Severin. John’s sister Marie Severin was the main colorist for EC and the way she so skillfully used such a simple color palette in so many brilliant ways still inspires me.

I could keep going, but suffice it to say we have so many influences and interests outside of the world of design we could fill an entire interview just on that. I think that’s one thing that makes our work so diverse and gives it a lot of its character, that we draw from far more than just the world of design.

Check out Post-Typography online here