Getting the band back together... for the first time...

For some time now I've had this idea... Well, okay, it's more like a dream, really.

I've wanted to sing.

Maybe I should clarify. You see, I can sing. In fact I don't suck at it, all that much. Well, at least from what I can tell by the silly drunks at the bars when I go a karaoke-in', anyway.

But I've also had the pension for writing silly prose and humming a tune. Though I never did much with either, I've always thought it'd be neat to someday learn the guitar and maybe do a tune, or two.

Well, as all things are want to, when given time to percolate in my mind, this little notion has started turning into something more. And, with the big Four-Oh just under a year and a half away, I've decided that now's as good as time as ever to move this idea over to the win column; along side of get my degree and start actually publishing my comics.

And so, it's with great enthusiasm, I give you 2013's new project from Neverland Transit Authority; it's first in station band...

As many who visit the station know, I have a very diverse collection of musical tastes. National Railway Sound Project would be the synthesis of that. As an ensemble group, the genres and themes of the music would slide around and even cross over with each other. It would be fairly common for one track to be a blues number, followed by a driving rock tune, and finished with something a bit folky. From jazz to a waltz, and everything in between; nearly the entire musical landscape could be covered.

I've begun scribbling down some lyrics and will be picking up the old guitar, again, for another go at learning to play. So far I have just a couple of track ideas; "Take It from Me", "Somewhere", "Boxcar Stomp", and doing a cover of either a Who song, or Peter Gabriel. Obviously that list will grow, over time.

So, I have my concept, and I'm building material. Now I just need to learn to how to play, figure out how to put a working band together, and convince a few talented musicians to join up.

Oh boy...

You Pretencious Bastards! ~or~ Bauhaus and then new Graphic Design movement of the 20th century...

There comes a point, in the study of any realm of art, and artistic communication, where you have to stop and say... HUH?!

And here, as out train ride through the Graphic Arts reaches the beginning of the 20th century, does your dear Conductor take pause to ask: 'Wait... What the Hell are they talking about?!"

The Bauhaus  - originally Das Staatliche Bauhaus (State Home for Building) - was the German school of Design originally founded in Weimer; built from the foundations of the Weimar Arts and Crafts School and the Weimar Fine Arts Academy. Set forth in its manifesto, the school declared; "In rare moments of inspiration, transcending his conscious will, the grace of heaven may cause his work to blossom into art..."

In a nut shell, the Bauhaus movement sought a Utopia of spirit and design; the pinnacle of the path taken from the Art Nouveau period until that point. There was talk of  the "exalted craftsman" and buildings as entities...

HUH?!

If you've ever endured a museum or gallery open, I think you may get what I'm getting at. Pouring on the concepts of  meaningful composition, and compelling investigation of design unity and the expression of this or that political philosophy - or resistance against it, if you happen to be Jan "Is that Jack Boots I hear at my door" Tschichold.

In today's modern Graphic Design world, the main stay of those who work the trade aren't so much into trying to make geopolitical statements, or even seeking any sort of design/life/metaphysical unity of existence in communication. For the most part, those in the craft I know, and myself, are more interested in the practical side of design; creating an image for the client, and getting paid.

Now, don't get me wrong; there's something to be said in the creation of a branding image for a client - whether it's whipping up a color themed logo, or setting tone and voice to a product centric narrative. Yeah, that does take an understanding of basic technique, that might include the foundations of Bauhaus, or anything leading up to, or immediately after it. The concepts of color theory and design are, in that case, quite compelling. And, one could spend a great deal of time, and energy in pursuit of it.

But, let's face it; today's Graphic Designer wants to get paid. Well, maybe a little notoriety, too. But, for the most part, it's a practical business; we don't have time to trip out to concepts of regimes, inner turmoils, and the idea of spiritualism locked away in a typographical lay out. We're here to get some work done, earn some scratch, and maybe have a little fun.

But wait; that's what the world of today's Graphic Designer pretty much is. However, consider life for the German designer straddling that precarious time between two great global conflicts. The times leading up to, and through Art Nouveau and Victorian times and into the Bauhaus movement and Modern Movement in America were fraught with change, upheaval, and conflict. as much in the arts as communication, the tides were turning, and thematic expression - such as propaganda (As I talked about last week) were blending in a way not seen since even Gutenberg's time.

we may see an ad for sneakers, or perhaps a car, or other product or service, and identify it as a selling motif for a commercial culture or interest. But, in their time, Moholy-Nagy, Gyorgy Kepes, Herbert Bayer, and their contemporaries weren't just selling an image, they were conveying national pride, letting stride philosophy, and, at times, even striking out against repressive government movements.

Sure, maybe to us, today, these guys might sound like pretentious bastards; with their talk of design unity, spiritual Utopia's, and exalted craftsmen with planes of color, pictographic design iconography, and architectural entities. But the language of their time was fevered with change, nationalisms, and a world in and out of war.

I don't know about you, but that makes me want to spend just a little more time, at least, considering the impact of that curl in tail of my "e".

Propagating Heroic Realism

Propaganda. Possibly nowhere else in history will you find the biggest, most notable cross over between Graphic Design and the the world of political philosophy. In fact, of all the movements in art, this one's got to be the longest lived one; still, in many cases, with us today, nearly intact - though with a redirected purpose.

The style that most folks call "propaganda style" is actually referred to as Heroic Realism. Much like it sounds, the look is defined by a realistic style that then gets an exaggerated treatment of over embolden lines, angles; basically romanticizing an ideal.

The origins of the style draw from many places. Some authors and researchers I've read point all the way back to ancient Rome and the idyllic statuary. Others add the use of the regal royal portraits of the 16th and 17th centuries.

1914 British recruitment
poster by Alfred Leete;
considered first
heroic Idealistic image

Whatever the reasons how, or why, the style came to be, it's not difficult why it took so well; especially in the charged times of the early 20th century. After all, it's common for the weak and powerless to exalt their perceived saviors and heroes. It's not a hard leap to make, really; moral and philosophical strengths equated to physical prowess. from the knights of old, to the soldiers of today, the act of creating the hero - taking the ordinary into the extraordinary - often includes inflating the stature of the person why seek to idealize.

But what Heroic Realism had going for it, in the political climate of Europe of the time wasn't just how well it conformed to the archetypes of hero making and worship. As Socialism, and other similar political philosophies took hold, Heroic Realism found itself falling into place as the representational language of the manifesto.

Political art and media was rife with the idea of the heroic worker; the foundation of their new world movement. Lenin, like many, found insurrection in other forms of art; denouncing abstract and nonrepresentational expression. Maybe he thought this new form of imagery would serve to confuse a more undereducated class of worker; counter his "hero of labor" message. When Stalin rose to power after Lenin, he used the style in posters and adverts that found themself plastered everywhere in the new Soviet Union; reaching out to the illiterate masses with images that not only instructed them on the ways of life, but also reinforced the philosophy of his party.

When Hitler came to power in Germany, he condemned the modern art movement; calling it degenerate. (Folks might note the humor in a failed art student condemning art.) The Nazi party embraced Heroic Realism as it was effective in communicating the Nazi social ideals of sacrifice, duty, and devotion.
But don't think that this was just an thing limited to the Eastern Block. Over here in the United States of America, Heroic Realism was flexing its muscle. Most recognizably in the recruitment posters for the Army showing "Uncle Sam" - who was the idealized personification of American Value - calling young men to enlist. From warning us of the dangers of gossip - where spy action may cost American lives, to the plea to support war efforts with bonds, Heroic Realism was everywhere. And not just in the war effort, but also in the depiction of everyday life...

Norman Rockwell's "Thanksgiving"

 

For most of its run, there after, Heroic realism has usually conjured up fear of Fascism and Socialist threats. Rightly so, with its abundant use, it's become one of the stereotypical hallmarks of an evil empire or regime in movies and television. Oh yeah, and, of course, in my opinion, one other very notable medium...

In 1933 Seigel and Shuster unleashed onto America, and, eventually, the world, the very first "super hero".  Superman was the story of the mythical hero with a twist of Moses thrown in; created by the two Jewish Americans during the depression, as a science fiction answer to the idea of the Nazi Aryan man. Originally championing the every man against crime, politicians, and crooked industrialism, he was very much the form and function of Heroic Idealism; being bigger and bolder than those around him. he also set a mold for main stream comics that it would, pretty much, never break from; heavily built men and overly endowed women of nearly impossible proportions. Even today, comics come under fire for this depiction of their characters as unrealistic and unhealthy.



Cover snipet: IDW's All Hail Megatron
from Transformers comic series

But, as I began with, eventually the imagery would take an interesting turn into the realm of the cliche. You see, as the fall of the Soviet Union and the fading away of the Eastern Block faded into our past, the use of Heroic Idealism transformed, yet again, in the consciousness of the Graphic Arts medium... into commercial parody.


Mars sales campaign for
M&M brand sweets

Today Heroic Idealism is more a visual tool to sell rather than to communicate any form of philosophy. Or, it finds itself in some sort of hipster lexicon as the silly retro symbol, used, in some sense -if not often wrongly - ironically. It's come a long way since the opening of the 20th century, and the potent political movements that rocked the world to an iconic tool used in merchandising. Maybe its message has changed over the past century, but not the language of its form, for sure.

Maybe, in the feverish political climate of the 21st century, it might, once again, take hold of its lost aesthetic values. or, perhaps it'll serve more as a warning against those viewed more in line with the Fascist and Socialist threats of our grandparents time. But either way, with its strong lines, bold blocks,and punctuated color schemes, the visual style of Heroic Idealism is here to stay.

Star Wars propaganda parody by Cliff Chiang

The Glasgow Institute and "The Four"

Leave it to Scotland to pipe in their say in the field of Graphic Design...

Okay, so not what I meant.

Anyway, during the 1890's there was a gathering in Scotland...

No, a gathering, not a...

Seriously? Can we do this, or not?

Like I said, in the 1890's, on the heals of the American Architect Frank Loyd Wright, there was a move away from the heavy influence of curvilinear lines into something more rectilinear, in the Art Nouveau movement.
 

Wright had always thought that an organic design would be “something in which the part is to the whole as the whole is to the part, and which is all devoted to a purpose.” Basically, Wright saw the design as rooted in the spaces where people actually lived and worked, not just the facades out front. Some could argue that his use of space was honed by his time running a printing press as a young man.

Wright's use of line was noted by a group of young design students at the Glasgow School of Art.


Margaret MacDonald was a diverse artists, having her hands in embroidery, metal work, and textiles. She partnered with her husband, architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh, on collaborations he would credit her with for providing much of the inspiration; saying “Margaret has genius, I only have talent.” 

She also collaborated with her sister Frances on projects. Frances met and soon married designer and teacher Herbet MacNair; they all attending night classes at the Glasgow Art Institute. With Margaret in prominence, they formed a collective often referred to in, in the art and design world, as “The Four”; helping develop what would come to known as “The Glasgow Style” in the late 1890's and early twentieth century

The May Queen by Margaret and Frances MacDonalnd

Well, it wasn't too well received, at first, that's for sure. In fact, The Four were often referred to as The Spook School for the ghostly ghoulish images they showed portraying hobgoblins by misty moonlight; at least as the critics saw it rom their works displayed at the 1896 Arts and Crafts Exhibition in London.

Inspired heavily on ancient mysticism, folklore, and Celtic symbology, The Glasgow Style did, eventually prove influential, however. It spawned a host of artists that worked in the new way, and made its mark on designers, and their designs.

Personally, I love Art Nouveau. But I also hold a special place in my heart for the "Glasgow Style". Perhaps it's the affinity for the bold lines and symbolic styling that I can relate to, in comics. The use of negative spaces, and the binding of the more rectangular lay out does smack of panels, for sure.

There's, also, a peculiar way that the sweeping lines play well against these edged boxes that compliments each other, very well.  And, as I've said, before, this influence made its way down through all sort of design applications; still being felt, today.



Pictured above; works from a recent Glasgow Style show.

Again, I love this particular style. Not only are the design elements esthetically pleasing, but they also have the kind of storytelling character that the MacDonald sisters first drew from, back in the late 1890's. Married with Wright's sensibilities for negative space, and playing the line versus curve effectively, The Glasgow Style has a unique look that stands out well in the history of art and design.

Of course, I have to admit, as bearing some small piece of Scottish decent, that, besides its essential design and influence through out the world of graphic design and art, there may be another reason I'm so particular to this style for the Art Nouveau movement...

 And who's going to argue with him?



The Return of All Hallows Rock 2012

It's with ghoulish pride that Neverland Transit Authority announces the arrival of the

1313 Ghost Train Special!

 

Our destination?

A seriously rockin' haunted house party!

In the past years, Neverland Transit Authority has provided its ridership with the sound track to a swinging good wake, each and every Halloween, since our first train rolled out of the station, four years ago.

This year we return to our roots, making your All Hallows a frightfully festive affair. This disc is only for those brave souls who dare to rouse the spirits of funk and fun.

Fifteen tracks running and just under an hour; perfect for leading up to the witching hour, for you brave and foolish mortals. Plus, as always, our usual coffin box of fun, too.

 

Seating is limited on the Ghost Train Special, so hurry and raise an undead conductor near you!



Run Away Typography: Less is More

 

Back when Gutenberg first built the printing press, there was pretty much just a single lettering style; better known as a "font". Based off of a basic German scribe type, Textura was pretty much the go to lettering. Eventually, as printing caught on, a few more fonts were introduced. Essentially, they covered a couple of different languages and usages. But that was, to say, pretty much that. That is, until around 1760.

Somewhere... or is that "some when"?... around the mid 18th century a shift began in England. Mechanization of tasks started making things; started making things in a lot more abundance than even a whole room full of skilled labor could. And once James Watts' perfected steam engine was introduced around 1780? Well, that was it.

And as the shift in living turned more toward textile and factory jobs, and away from things like farming, there was, also, a huge shift in the way Graphic Design would advertise goods, services, attractions, and print words to any given page. Letters, and the words they formed, were becoming not just informative, but also ornamental. The were taking on character, and other attributes.

Soon words went from this...

TO THIS! (Along with other advances
in printing, of course.)

Many look back to William Caslon as "the grandfather of  the typographic revolution". And, as follows from apprentice to apprentice, advancements in casting techniques continued to yield more and more designs; intent on being the next big font.

Around 1800, typography really exploded. Styles included Egyptian, Iconic, Antique and Clarendon; each posting serifs, or not, flourishes, and wide ranges of variation in thick and thin lines and curves. Some letters had inlaid designs in them, while others had intricate boarders. And, of course, some were just pure bold types faces of precise, unvaried fashions.

And when color finally made its way into the mix? Well, then it was on!

Of course, things did slow down a little bit during the Victorian period; which saw a resurgence, for a time, into the realm of more hand made, and artsy craftsy sort of things. But, by the early 1900's, things were back in swing; even across the pond into America. Morris Benton, head of typeface development for the American Type Founders Company got busy reviving the old styles; creating new competitors to Bodoni and Garamond. Meanwhile, Thomas Cleland, Benton's long time collaborator, found inspiration in the lettering ot the Renaissance. By the time the 1960's were rolling in, fonts were spewing forth like hippie love children and social protest.

Fast forward to today and it's nearly impossible to get a handle on the sheer number of fonts available. And not just to professional printers, either. processing programs like Word and Open Office come armed with a hundred different fonts, easily. And anyone, with a quick internet search, can increase their font count a hundred fold in an afternoon. With the advent of modern computer based publishing, the sky's the limit with words.

When fonts go bad:
choose your kerning wisely.

But is this really such a good thing?

Most of the pros I've talked to, including my own instructors, pretty much agree; if you can't get it done with one or two fonts, then you can't get it done.

 

That's not to say I don't enjoy all the choices. It's great to make a cover for a Halloween CD in a haunted house style - something reminiscent of a forgotten Gothic banner, or a big, bold sale sign. But, honestly, there's no way to count all the different fonts, theses days.

 And when they all end up together in one single design? 

Happy birthday, Kevin;
your typorgraphy sucks!

Falling of the Scribes; Revolutions in Graphic Design - then and now

Cycles...

No, not those cycles. I meant event cycles.

Cycles are important; both in sales, and in history. Nowhere, in Graphic Design, can I see that more than in the comparative trends between the invention and inception of printing, and the Graphic Design trade, as a whole, back in Europe's Renaissance, and the growing domination of the World Wide Web and then new wave of conversion to the electronic medium.

 

Chapter six of Megg's History of Graphic Design – The German Illustrated Book (p. 80-97) - opens with the account of the push back that the new printing press got as it entered into the public eye; offering its books, readers, and cards. In Genoa, scribes sought to have printing band. Parisian Illuminators tried to sue printers for damages; claiming unfair competition. These groups worked to convince the public of print's inferior standard to calligraphy. An appeal, in 1492, to the soon to be Pope Julies II, got him to even order books for the Vatican library be transcribed from their printed form, just to be included.

Wait; maybe we should back track a little, here? After all, many folks, today, may not understand all the fuss over printing. And, in some ways, that is part of today's little review.

Portrait of Jean Miélot by Jean Le Tavernier 

 

You see, until Gutenberg's printing press – and all the subsequent presses to follow - books were transcribed and illuminated by hand; using skilled, sometimes monastic, labor. Regardless if by clergy, or skilled artisan, the creation of books was, then, a time consuming, laborious task. It was in the hands of the very skilled elite. They, pretty much, controlled the flow of knowledge.

And if there's anything Schoolhouse Rocky has taught us, during every Saturday morning sugar infused cartoon fest, it's that knowledge is power.

In all the cases of resistance to printing, you saw a small, specifically skilled set of folks poised to lose, not only their livelihood, but a hold on power and influence in their society. And, as the new technology developed, this would later expanded to the illustrator; who, until the early 1500's, enjoyed the security of the press not being able to add pictures to text. (Until then, books were printed, and illustration, and other flourishes, were then added in by hand, directly to the page.)

Despite all the arguments, we pretty much know how the whole printing thing turned out. Today we enjoy books, magazines, comics, and a vast array of printed advertising. But, in the past few years, there's been a push from a new technology. A new medium of Graphic Design has entered the foray, and in a huge way; reaching not only into how and when we get our books, but also our news, advertising, and even our mail.

The Internet.

 

In the past decade, the World Wide Web, first thought of as the “Information Super Highway”, has grown from chat rooms and picture sharing into the dominate force of the dissemination of news, information, and entertainment. And this has had much the same impact, today, as those poor scribes felt some 600 years ago.

In June of 2011, the Newspaper Association of America reported the slide of print sales by nearly 10%; dropping it to near 1983 levels, as the trend of online news took to full swing. And,with that drop, too revenues associated with print advertisers. The then chairman of the NAA, John Strum, however, did report that online revenues made up for some 15% of newspaper ad sales.

Currently, most major publishers of periodicals now offer both a hard copy – via news stand or subscription, and an electronic version that can be viewed on any home PC, tablet, or smart phone. And, analysts predict, is where the largest bulk of business is now pushing.

Add to that the surge in the new online “blog”, and the availability of anyone, and everyone, to suddenly find and share information, and you might be able to see the parallel between the scribe of then, and the newspaper men of today.



Sure, but let's see him dog ear those pages.

But, what about those books, you might be asking. Well, there's another interesting story. Foner Books reports that government figures tracking the overall sales of books has fallen, gradually, and is currently down 23% since 2004. On the flip side, the Guardian reported, in May of this year, that e-book sales were up nearly 366% in the UK; offsetting the decline in printing. In August they reported that, for every 100 printed books Amazon sold, it sold 114 e-books for its popular Kindle e-reader. In the Unites States, Mashable Media (www.mashable.com) reported, also in June, that e-book sales overtook hard cover sales for the first time, ever; up over 28% from this time last year. (Audio books saw an even greater rise, they reported; climbing nearly 36%.)

These trends, of course, aren't without their nay-sayers. Corespondents for old news agencies are quick to point out that most of the online reporting is just a regurge of their work. Most avid print companies point out the limits of e-readers and e-books over traditional print media.

 



This was what my grandpa thought of as a "reader".

Myself, like many American, as well, I'd venture, readers world wide, still prefer books and comics on paper, under a cover, free from the limits of batteries, to be read anywhere, any time we want. For me, as many others, print media is just more comfortable; whether tactilely, or esthetically. Trends may come, and go, but we'll always prefer our books and magazines.

The trend, though, is here to stay. And it's far reaching. My degree course is now called “Graphic Interface Design” (GID), for example. Courses still cover print, but mostly focus now on the new media of internet design; including on online publishing, web design, and marketing. The tools of the trade have changed; from cut ups, cameras, and paste boards to Adobe creative software like In Design, Photoshop, and Dreamweaver.

Typography has now a catalog of thousands of type faces to choose from. And, thanks to the nearly unlimited canvas of the web browser, layout and design has expanded in never before thought of ways. All this new and easily available technology and tools at the ready, have – much like the scribes of yore – taken the power out of the old print giants, and in control of the young, fresh, upstarts.

As in the days of the scribe and hand illuminator, the power has started shifting, driven by new technology, in the field of Graphic Design. Old, established print houses are clutching at their power and prestige slipping away, taken by the new online media of the Internet. It will be interesting to see how the impact of this, and of the newly empowered independent publishing front – also Internet powered, will affect the markets and media, as well as the spread of ideas and knowledge.

 

Picturing a thousand words; the Graphic Design of language in the 21st century

This past week, in my Graphic Design history class, we've been going over the creation and development of writing; from its inception all the way up to pretty much now. There's been a lot on type, movable type, characters, alphabets, and how they've changed, over the generations; mostly the evolution from pictograph to the modern abstract representation of sounds.

No doubt scholars, as well as my fellow class mates will go on about aspects of these changes. There'll be talk about Chinese calligraphy, spelling, the standardizing of presentation, and so forth. And these are all very noteworthy, sure. But me? Well, as always, I've sort have moved a little right field, again.

The humble, ancient beginnings of Amazon;
you know, before the internet.

You see, what I find most interesting about the written language - as a whole, at any rate - is how cyclical its progress has become. To get this, we need to go back to the beginning of the written word.



Bulgarian Magura cave painting, which may, or may not,
depict the world's first commuter report.

Writing is a convention of necessity. Back at the beginning - any random neolithic french cave, for example - the primitive act of artistic iconic expression... cave paintings... was good enough for the more simple concepts of nature, the hunt, and so on. It was a vocabulary that could reach just about anyone that saw it. Bison were bison, hunters were hunters, and so on. Rudimentary, sure; but very useful, and practical.

Of course, given time, family groups split, grow, spread, and settle. And, much like how these groups become larger hunting cooperatives, nomadic tribes, and take their first steps into becoming a village, the ideas and vocabulary they share grow with them. There's a need to keep records, divide up resources to meet needs, etc.

Hieroglyphic inscription reads; "there once was a pharoh
from Nepal who had only one hairy..." and the rest was
lost due to damage.

We can easily watch, as these groups separated and settled, how each region went about developing written communication. Ancient Egypt had two forms of writing; Hieroglyphs - for the regal, official stuff commemorating tombs and public works, and a more accessible style known as hieratic - equitable to a cursive style. In Asian cultures, pictograms slowly developed into the various forms of kanji we see, today. In fact, it's argued as much that just about the whole of all written language has risen from such origins.

Guess there's something to all the talk of derivative works, huh?

Hey, it's all Greek to me.

At any rate, the concept of written language took off. And boy did it. As villages took to towns, which grew into cities, then city-states, and off into sovereign countries, the written word became as unique and diverse as the separate cultures that created and used them.

But, for me, as a budding Graphic Designer, here's the kick...

Today the world has sort of run out of room. That is, we're becoming a giant global society. (I'm writing this for a Graphic Design class, not Social Science; I'm not going to get into all the political stuff, here.)  As cultures step all over each other, what with business, travel, and all that, there's been a growing need for a simple, universal, written vocabulary. Something that can tell anyone, anywhere everything from "this way to the men's room", "wash in cold", and "don't wizz on the electric rail".

Or, is that "don't touch the electric rail"; I'm always a little bit fuzzy on that one...

So, where do we, as a global society, turn?

Well, yes; sort of. But, more specifically... Which, I guess depends on how you look at it (Yep, full of puns, all the sudden.)... icons.

Even if you have no idea what the words are, I bet you know where to get some coffee.

In today's crashing cultural world - mostly found in the throws of Europe and Asia - signs have begun the shift from long, multi-language monstrosities to more iconic representational pictographs; a trend started some years back in the fashion world on the care tags.

So, what we have, now, is this fascinating trend where writing, to meet the challenges of breaking language barriers, has come full circle back to the earliest of days in its history - the pictograph - to convey basic instructions, alert, and inform. We're back on the cave wall; not because of a simple vocabulary, but to bridge an ever complex cacophony of rich ones.



You have no idea how confusing
this sign is in Scotland...

Ironic? Perhaps. Even if this is our best answer, though, it's by no means an easy one. After all, you still need to figure out what symbols get applied to what words, or actions, to say the most to the largest amount of people. And that looks like a job for a Graphic Designer!

A new world of talking pictures? Man, I love my work.