American River Review 2019 - Flipbook - Page 161
Colophon
For much of the time during the Fall 2018 semester, American River
College has been in a state of flux. Buildings have been torn down to
make way for new ones. Among those buildings are the rooms where
American River Review has been created in past years, disrupting our
editorial and design processes. On a larger and more tragic scale, there
have been devastating wild fires throughout California. While these
fires forced the closure of American River College and impacted our
production schedule, the inconvenience we worked through is minimal
compared with the suffering of our fellow Californians.
A mix of old and new is reflected in our titles and bylines through
the use of Averia Sans Libre and Helvetica. Averia Sans Libre was
created by Dan Sayers and is an averaging of all the typefaces on his
computer. I chose it because it looks like the contemplative ballpoint
pen typography many people scribble in their notebooks. It is an
amalgamation of chaos, boredom, and beauty. When contrasted with
the clean and architectural lines of Helvetica, it creates a surreal feeling
that reflects the world today.
For the body type, I chose to use Helvetica for short poetry and
Times for longer poetry and prose. This version of Times has a
darker type, but, at 10/13, leaves enough negative space to be read
comfortably. For most of the pieces using Helvetica, we also chose
10/13. A few very short pieces have been bumped up to 11.5 to avoid
getting lost on their page.
With the art direction, I was inspired by the underground zines and
illustrations of the late 1970s and early 80s. I brought in a torn paper
effect for much of the literature, sometimes combining it with knockedout type to give it the edge that it deserves. With a diverse and talented
skeleton crew on our design team, we produced highly stylized literary
treatments, ranging from raw illustrations to fine images.
Anthony Barbaria
Art Director
American River Review
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