Last week I designed posters—now in the display cases in front of Woolsey Hall.

The objective of the project was to extend a cheerful welcome to Inauguration visitors while conveying simple messages about this celebration.

The diagonal tiling of the large roman numerals, XXIII, serves as a decorative “attractor,” and the much smaller “Celebrating the Inauguration of…” that runs between them provides informational payoff at close range. The “23” has been used in a variety of decorative typographic forms for President Salovey's Inauguration communications and keepsakes.

Designing this poster presented the problem of how to maintain a flush-left-ragged-right arrangement of presidents' names—essential to the clarity of the design—while dealing with the fact that several of the names run to two lines. Indenting or adding additional line space between names spoils the effect, but the solution of alternating the colors of names—blue and gray—adds some “cheer” while it solves the turnover problem.