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Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Hand-Painted Produce Signs...



More and more I am being drawn back to handwritten typography and calligraphy. After a few decades of slick, photostat- or computer-generated type, and just about slick-everything, the green/organic/crafty movements have brought handwriting back in style!

In the produce section at my local Whole Foods Market, mixed in with all the white chalk marker prices and descriptions, I spied some incredible signs painted by children. I asked the store's Team Leader, Mindy, how the kids came to paint them, and she told me the store had recently held an event to raise money for their Whole Kids Foundation, which puts gardens in local schools and increases nutrition education for young people. Mindy asked kids in the store that day to help make the signs, an idea she got from Alice Waters's book Edible Schoolyard. I would be willing to bet that when each child was given a piece of wood and a paint brush, they didn't ask Mindy, "What color should I use?" And instead painted whatever they thought was appropriate for the type of produce they were "assigned". These signs are so beautifully primitive and were created with such innocence, and most importantly, by hand (like the way you'd pick vegetables from a garden). They are, I think, examples of a perfect graphic design solution.

Here's a color palette inspired by the kids' signs! ;-)

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