Y Design

As an undergrad, I never thought of the Woolsey Rotunda as a destination. It was a place to walk through quickly, doing my best to dodge the chaos of the Commons lunch crowd, or warm for a moment before braving the unknown winds of Science Hill, or avoid slipping in the watery footprints left on stone on rainy days. The Rotunda is a place of ceremony: it is the site of the Freshman Address, the Baccalaureate Address, and assorted casual bacchanals throughout the year.

It was only after graduation that I spent an afternoon in Woolsey, not in passing, but in admiration of the vast amount of labor and artistry required to handcut every letterform of every name inscribed in the marble walls of this memorial hall. Sculpted by Henry Hering and dedicated in 1915, the memorial grew with the increasing number of Yale men who died in service of this country. As new wars were fought, new panels were added to the memorial.

After observing the names and titles for a while, I began to notice the strange irregularities and flourishes in the letterforms that give the entire setting its energy. In the image above, note how the capital "A" form always stretches above the tops of the other letters -- a little unsettling, but almost unnoticeable at first glance. Also note the double "T" ligature in "Dutton" -- an unusual but formally logical choice. The swash capital italics combined with the medial "s" and fanciful flourish on the descender of the "y" add interest to the space between the lines.

It appears that multiple stonecutters have had their hand in this memorial. In the image above, the "f" in California looks unexpectedly thick; the legs of March's "M" disappear abruptly in a timid taper. The interior cuts of Frederick's "D" look almost hesitant in their uneasy curves. Letterspacing is uneven throughout. These inconsistencies across letterforms reveal a less sure hand than that of the first two images; instead of the active, highly embellished, intricate forms seen in the earlier examples, these letters are less elegantly articulated.

Despite -- or because of -- the inconsistencies across time and space, all of the stonecutting in the Woolsey Rotunda is worth closer investigation. The longer I looked at the letters, the more I noticed. The memorial is a destination in its own right.

The February YSO poster is so allusive. The gorgeous swirling blues and blacks of the background texture create a visual counterpoint to the smooth white columns of Woolsey Hall.

The seductive texture writhes with ambiguous mystery: are we looking at a puddle? an oilslick? a lunar landscape? The abstract imagery lets the viewer interact with the piece on an individual level. There is no single correct interpretation. Much like the music the poster is meant to advertise, the design is evocative, viscerally appealing, and deeply personal.

The high contrast of the type sizes expresses a clear visual hierarchy. The most important text elements (names and other essential information) come forward in the visual field due to their greater prominence, while the subsidiary information becomes apparent upon closer investigation. The size distinctions create visual interest and help organize information.

It's great to see the YSO continue its tradition of excellent design.

Among the responsibilities of our office is maintenance of the University’s print and online campus maps. This is the first of several entries examining the history of Yale maps.

Yale made its first appearance on a map in this plan of New Haven’s nine squares, drawn by James Wadsworth, Class of 1748, in his senior year. The College’s original building—erected in 1717 and known as Yale College House—is the large, gabled structure on the northwest corner of what are now College and Chapel Streets, where Bingham Hall now stands. A wooden building more than 170 feet long, it was both dormitory and academic hall, with a chapel, library, dining room, and kitchen. The home of Yale’s president, Thomas Clap, is to its left, across Chapel Street. The Wadsworth map’s orientation, with west rather than north at the top, established a standard that Yale campus maps would follow for more than two centuries.

John Trumbull’s plan for the development of the Brick Row, 1792, with alternating residence halls and academic buildings. Left to right: Union Hall (1794), College Chapel (1763), Connecticut Hall (1750–52), Lyceum (1802), and Berkeley Hall (1801).

Anonymous plan, ca. 1841. In the mid-nineteenth century, the residence halls were colloquially known as South, South Middle [Connecticut], North Middle, and North Colleges (1820). The Brick Row also included a new, larger Chapel (1824) and, at the north end, Divinity College (1835), the first home of Yale’s Divinity School; it was separated from the Yale College buildings by the new President’s House (1800). In the yard behind the Brick Row were coal yards and other service facilities, as well as the Laboratory (1782), built as a dining hall and converted to a chemical laboratory in 1820; the Cabinet (1819), with a dining hall on the ground floor and mineralogical and geological collections on the second floor; and the Trumbull Gallery (1830), the first art museum on an American college campus. Of the buildings shown in this plan, only Connecticut Hall would remain in 1901.

And we're back! This blog will be updated on a weekly (or more frequent) basis from now on.

As you returned to campus, you might have noticed that the transition to single stream recycling is well underway. Working closely with the Office of Facilities and the Office of Sustainability, our office worked to establish graphic standards for the new program. We've been busy designing everything from the new single stream signage in residential colleges, weatherproof labels for dumpsters, informational posters, and training materials.

I noticed these recycling bin labels in the wild as I walked around campus this morning. Below is a glimpse of the graphic icon system we developed to denote the four categories of single stream recyclable materials: glass, plastic, metal, and paper.

The four types of materials are all recyclable, with a few exceptions noted in black on the poster below.

If you've been to the new Center for Science and Social Science Information (CSSSI) In Kline Biology Tower, you might have seen these signs hanging above the new trash and recycling bins. They're made of recycled plastic and continue the campus-wide coding system of black receptacles for trash and green bins for recycling.

So how do you know when your area of campus has transitioned to single stream? If you see a poster like this,

you'll know that the single stream is on its way. If you see bright pink posters that announce "Single Stream is here!" you should notice newly labeled bins around your area. In the coming months, all of the bins around campus will be given new labels to reflect their single stream status. The graphic icon system we developed will be adapted to all existing bin types on campus. If you've been inside of any of the residential colleges since break, you'll notice that their signage for built-in stations has also been converted to single stream. 

Watch this space in the coming months -- we'll feature more of the work that we did for this project as it rolls out! For more information on Single Stream, check out the Yale Recycling website.