The clock is ticking and a deadline looms. Moments ago it was only 7 p.m. and I was surrounded by our designers and Robert Louey, my partner of nearly 30 years. Now it is 9 p.m. and in a flash it is close to midnight and only a few of us remain.
But my concern is not necessarily time. I want to get this project right. And by right I mean everything has its place, and the relationship between image and typography is exquisite, unquestionably balanced, and just so. Do I expect my client or each person who chooses between Silver Needle, Jade Sword or Whole Chamomile Flowers Tea to notice? Not necessarily. But I'll notice. We'll notice.
The project is an afternoon tea menu for Rosewood London, just open. The text is a Lewis Carroll Dialogue in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
The round-about conversation perfectly reflects the craziness we experience as we dive down the rabbit hole, come up for air, and then dive again. And the questions we throw back and forth are every bit as disorienting as was the tea party to Alice.
Do we need more or less? Is less actually more? Should the type be larger, smaller, in between, and do we need to adjust the leading? The tracking? Shift a hair to the left to hang the periods... Shift a hair to the right to hang the punctuation. Italic emphasis. Small caps, not all caps. Oldstyle. Oh's instead of zeros.
It’s a typographic twisted and twisting journey through a creative process that fortunately included a perfect cup of tea at nine o’clock. Throughout the day we reset the Carroll passage a dozen times, and printed and cut out the opening page over and over until it was just right. Then we moved on to the Teas...
Perfection may be impossible to achieve but that does not mean we should not aspire to the dizzying heights of its sublime state. Even if we miss the mark now and then, we cannot entirely embrace a world that does not at least try.
My colleague Kathleen was with me (and others) ‘til the end. Her love of typography kept her engaged throughout our zany pursuit. Her insights were invaluable.
“The menu opens on a beautiful quote. We wanted to encourage guests to read the text before proceeding through multiple pages so that they would grasp the spirit of the setting. So we were looking at point size and leading and font. The design is not only about the look of what we are creating; pacing is also an important element. If the type is too large or small, that may impact how the reader feels, thinks, experiences the choices they are about to consider. I think we all felt like Mad Hatters by the time we finished. We were trying to measure the impact our work would have on people we will likely never meet.”
Needless to say, Robert, Christy, me and each of us designers all had different points of view. This plethora of opinion might drive some people crazy. To me it is all part of the time/creative equation I mentioned above: as many iterations as are needed to achieve perfection; and just one short of falling through that rabbit hole.
Even if some never fully grasp the “wonderland” effect of being a designer, at least we hope they will know that we care enough to reach for the perfect cup of tea.
