AIGA Design Archives

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Design Category
Promotional design and advertising, 1998
Design firm
EAI/Atlanta (Atlanta, Georgia)
Collection
(1999) Communication Graphics: 20

Description

In 1690, philosopher John Locke penned “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding,” in which he established the idea of tabula rasa. Locke claimed (controversially, at the time) that ideas are not an innate part of our minds, but something gained only through experience. Using Locke’s premise as the point of departure, we depicted the creative process as it often unfolds: unpredictably. The resulting piece, targeted at designers, positions Utopia as the only constant in the organic process of finding a great idea: a blank slate that offers infinite possibilities, a tabula rasa that dares one to begin.

Credits
Creative director: Matt Rollins
Designers: Todd Simmons, Lea Nichols, Matt Rollins
Photographer: Ken Schles
Copywriter: Matt Rollins
Typefaces: Helvetica Neue, Franklin Gothic
Printer: Hennegan
Papers: Appleton Utopia One, Blue White Dull
Client: Appleton Papers, Inc.