www.pen.

org

or: My adventures in the not-for-profit world of the PEN American Center.

WEEK 3
Tuesday, Oct. 21 – Wednesday Oct. 22.- The 11th Pen America
Journal is about to be released, and the launch party will be on
Monday the 26th. This means that promotional materials - fly-
ers, posters, and postcards will have to be created for it. Noth-
ing major, as I just have to re-format the journal cover for various
sizes/uses. Still, I try to put my own spin on it, feathering the back-
ground and isolating elements on the artwork. I’m not sure that
the designer who did the cover would approve, but that’s the risk
when you give over your work to someone else. I can’t say that
I’m a stronger designer than him, but I feel like even though I had
much more type to work with, I used the space better.
At the regular Tuesday morning traffic meeting, it’s mentioned
that the Shawshank Redemption cast (including Tim Robbins and
Morgan Freeman) will be involved in one of Pen’s Prison Writing
events over in L.A. The idea of me creating a flyer for this event
is floated. My stomach does pirhouette. But Pen L.A. has its own
office and probably its own unpaid design intern. An Adrian for
Los Angeles. I try to imagine what L.A. Adrian looks like. He’s got
highlights in his goatee and skateboards to work. He probably
goes by Adriano and never uses Futura or Century Gothic. I hate
L.A. Adrian and resent him for getting to do a Shawshank-themed
poster.
The idea of the annual report comes up briefly. It’s being handles
somewhere else. Everyday I hear Robyn in the next office hag-
gling over the phone over some detail in the production of the
annual report. It seems like a mess and I’m not really sure I want to
get involved. I do like the idea of having an annual report in my
portfolio though.
I finish the promotional ephemera for the journal befor the end
of the day, and show it to Antonio and David Haglund, who is in
charge of the Pen America journal. He floats the idea of putting
some of the poetry inside the journal on the back of the postcard.
This little suggestion ends up creating a whole’s day of work for
me, as it turns out. David is extremely nitpicky, and I find myself
constantly revising the postcard to his liking. In principle I don’t
mind doing changes, but when it’s this many, it gets annoying
as it prevents me from working on any of the other projects that
Antonio handed out. It gets to the point where I don’t even care
what the design looks like, I just want to be done with it. Two years
of my working life were spent like this. Luckily I’m able to get him
to sign off on it by 3 pm on Wednesday and move on to other
stuff.
Antonio wants me to rebrand the Freedom to Write page, which
deals with Pen’s advocacy work, fighting for journalists and writers
who are imprisoned, marginalized, or censored overseas. I have
fun creating a bunch of little icons to encapsulate the words
“Torture”, “Secrecy”, and “Surveillance”. Antonio’s usually not in
on Wednesdays, so e-mail what I come up with at the end of the
day. Not sure how he’s going to react to my graphics, which have
a slightly satyrical tone, but I figure I can always do something
more conservative later on.
Additional thoughts: I can’t print straight from my workstation, I
have to jump on to Antonio’s PC in order to do so. It’s extremely
inconvenient for both of us, as he’s got no end of work to do. I try
my best to set up my own remote printer connection but so far, no
luck. Hopefully this will get resolved soon.
rom David Haglund <David@pen.org>
to Adrian Camoens <adrian.camoens@gmail.com>
date Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 10:56 AM
subject RE: PA#11 Postcard back
mailed-by pen.org
Adrian,
I like this. A few changes: Let’s drop the title of the poem (it’s actually untitled, we just used the first line)
and put the poet’s and the translator’s names below the text of them poem; “From PEN America 11: Make Believe”
can go below just those names, aligned with them (“From” should be roman, rather than italics). I’m thinking the
first line of the poem should probably line up with “PEN AMERICA #11” on the right side, which should leave room,
I think, for that text below.
Does that make sense? Also, there appears to be some extra space between the first two stanzas? There should be
the same amount of space between each of the stanzas.
And maybe add the phrase “on reverse” so that the Bewley attribution reads “Cover art on reverse by”
Thanks!
David
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________
from David Haglund <David@pen.org>
to Adrian Camoens <adrian.camoens@gmail.com>
date Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 10:58 AM
subject RE: PA#11 Postcard back
mailed-by pen.org
Oh – obviously I only looked at the first one. I think the other two are good just as they are – though I think
the Kabir one works best. -- DH
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________
from David Haglund <David@pen.org>
to Adrian Camoens <adrian.camoens@gmail.com>
date Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 12:52 PM
subject RE: PA#11 Postcard back
mailed-by pen.org
Thanks, Adrian. A couple last thoughts: maybe move the text of the poem to the right, so that it’s aligned on
the left with the text below (“Kabir,” etc)? And then maybe move “Kabir” and what follows down slightly? And I
would tweak the “from” line a bit, so that 1) it’s in black, rather than gray, 2) “From” is all lowercase and in
Times Roman (like the poem) rather than Arial, 3) and it’s preceded by an m-dash, like so:
— from PEN America 11: Make Believe
What do you think?
Thanks again –
David
PS. Something seems to have happened to the second version of the postcard, with Forrest Gander’s remarks, at
least in the file from the email below—the text on the left got all blurry.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________
from David Haglund <David@pen.org>
to Adrian Camoens <adrian.camoens@gmail.com>
date Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 2:18 PM
subject RE: PA#11 Postcard back
mailed-by pen.org
Last thought: can we make the text of the poem (perhaps all the text on the lefthand side) a little bigger? It
seems like there’s room and I find it a little hard to read at this size.
PROJECT BRIEF: PEN America 11: Journal Launch Party PROJECT BRIEF: Freedom to Write Web Site

COPY: Freedom to Write

COPY
Event Title: Launch party for PEN American 11: Make Believe
Date: Monday October 26, 6:30 IMPORTANT IDEAS TO COMMUNICATE: This is a branding assignment to create a powerful yet simple image to rep-
Venue Address: Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker Street, New York, NY resent PEN’s human rights advocacy work. The graphic will brand the FTW landing page on PEN.org and will could
Tickets: FREE also be used to brand print materials such as action alert flyers, postcards, and other postcards. It could also be
Participants: Paul Auster, Roxana Robinson, Lynne Tillman, Cynthia Cruz, and Saïd Sayrafiezadeh. used for print-on-demand t-shirts, poster, bumper stickers, etc.
Brief description: Celebrate “make believe”—and writers who make us believe in the worlds of their own creation—with
contributors Cynthia Cruz, Said Sayrafiezadeh, and Lynne Tillman. Special guests Paul Auster and Roxana Robinson will read
from the new issue. SPECS
Logos: See attached Approximately 300 x 300 pixels at 72 resolution.

IMPORTANT IDEAS TO COMMUNICATE OTHER NOTES (NOT COPY):

Free party for new issue http://www.pen.org/userfiles/image/pa11-cover.jpg Please use the FTW test page located at http://www.pen.org/page.php/prmID/1355. It’s a text heavy page, and
we’re trying to engage visitors, not discourage them from reading on. Ultimately, the graphic and design should
not push content too far down the page.

SPECS Other graphic elements:

1) 8 ½ x 11 flyer * 50x48 pixel (or something comparable) graphics for the domestic and international campaigns listed on the
2) 5 ½ x 4 ¼ postcard laid out for print on 8 ½ x 11 paper current page. These will include: Torture and Basic Human Rights, Surveillance and Privacy, Secrecy and Access to
(not mentioned in brief: 18”x25” display poster) Information, Individual Cases, Rapid Action Network, China Campaign, and Iraqi Translators Campaign.
* Take Action graphic to be incorporated into the top page design or into the left margin

NEW ISSUE ON SALE

Make Believe

FREEDOM
to WRITE

LAUNCH PARTY for

It’s a mess,
But you’re there
To sort it out. Make Believe Surveillance Secrecy Torture China Rapid Action Network
Cock of the walk,
In great shape, Monday October 26, 6:30 PM
Cover art by Tyler Bewley Keeping the best

A C TIO N
Company:
That’s me. Le Poisson Rouge
158 Bleecker Street
Listen, says Kabir, New York, NY
I have a prayer to make.
I’m handcuffed to death. Celebrate “make believe”—and writers who make
Throw me the key. us believe in the worlds of their own creation—
with contributors
Cynthia Cruz,
New writing from China, Colombia, Poland, the US and elsewhere. Kabir Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, and
Translated by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra
Plus conversations with Nadeem Aslam, J.M.G. Le Clezio, Lynne Tillman.
— from PEN America 11: Make Believe
Richard Ford, Nam Le—and much more. Special guests

www.pen.org/journal
Paul Auster and
Roxana Robinson
Cover art on reverse by Tyler Bewley will read from the new issue. www.pen.org

POSTER POSTCARD