DESIGNING

S ORIES
Chris Ware as the Intersection
of Comics and Graphic Design

LITA LEDESMA
DESIGNING
STORIES

Chris Ware as the Intersection

of Comics and Graphic Design

LITA LEDESMA
VI
For my brother, Ben, who
LET ME STEAL HIS comics.
2
 comic books as
3

design
The disciplines of graphic designers and comic
book artists share many similarities. While
their histories and purposes are very different,
both mediums aim to express a direct message
to an audience using forms and text. Both
serve a dual purpose of communication and
aesthetic quality—and ideally, these two things
enhance one another. Popular and celebrated
in both fields, Chris Ware deftly utilizes the
techniques of traditional graphic design to
inform and enhance his work as a comic book
artist. His highly controlled, geometric forms
are constructed in harmony with elaborate,
hand-lettered type in a masterful expression
Left: detail from of self-discipline and rigor more frequently
cover of Jimmy
Corrigan: the associated with graphic design, not comic
Smartest Kid on books. The work of Chris Ware is particularly
Earth. Next page:
detail from the exemplary of the close relationship between
cover of Action
Comics No. 1, comic art and graphic design and the ways in
which was the which the tools and techniques of the latter
first example of a
Superhero comic. benefit the comics medium.
 5

A brief HISTORY of

comics
To understand and better appreciate Ware’s
particular style, and indeed, comics as a
whole, one must have a clear understanding
of the definition of comics and at least
briefly consider the origins of this type of
artwork. In his book Understanding Comics,
Scott McCloud devotes an entire chapter to
an analysis of the definition of comics. His
illustrated explication is useful in noting
that while comics are generally accepted
to have certain characteristics, like any
art form, their definition is malleable. Still,
for the purposes of formal analysis, his
description seems an excellent starting
point: “comics (komiks) N. plural in form,
used with a singular verb. 1. Juxtaposed
6 pictorial and other images in deliberate
sequence, intended to convey information
and/or to produce an aesthetic response
in the viewer.” (Conscious of the sterility of
his cautious definition, McCloud includes
three alternate definitions that riff on
dominant stereotypical ideas of comics: “2.
Superheroes in bright colorful costumes,
fighting dastardly villains who want to
conquer the world in violent sensational
pulse-pounding action sequences!! 3. Cute
cuddly bunnies, mice and roly-poly bears,
dancing to and fro, hippity hop, hippity hop.
4. Corruptor of our Nation’s Youth.” (9).

When we comb backward in history, we can

find no obvious moment when fully realized
comic books suddenly appeared ex nihilo.
Rather, as is the case with many other
linguistic modes of communication—and
there are some, Ware included, who would
consider comics a kind of language—it
would seem that comics evolved over
time, eventually taking on the distinctive
and consistent characteristics they have
presently. While McCloud includes ancient
hieroglyphics as among some of the
earliest examples of proto-comics, other
 7

Above: Töpffer’s comic historians such as Art Spiegelman

early comic
works showed an tend to point to an event in time far more
innovative use closely connected to our own. In 1837,
of sequential art
to tell a story, a Swiss man by the name of Rudolphe
such as this
example from Töpffer published an illustrated story,
Histoire de M. Histoire de M. Vieux Bois. Distinctive in its
Vieux Bois.
method of employing a sequential pictorial
narrative, this work of Töpffer is seen as
the predecessor to the comic book medium
as we know it. Spiegelman notes in his
historical essay on the origins of “commix,”
that Töpffer “made brilliant use of his
limited drawing ability to create a kind of
shorthand picture-writing” (61). Before
Töpffer’s work, there had been books with
illustrations to accompany them, but his
work differed in its intentionality; Töpffer’s
8
Katzengammer images were using sequencing as a method 9
Kids was one of the
earliest serialized of expressing time to further his story. This
comics which served
as inspiration for
“language of signs” as Töpffer dubbed it,
later artists such was “hard to define but easy to understand.
as Chris Ware.
Next page: detail They were simple enough that all who
from Little Nemo in
Slumberland.
saw them immediately understood them...
Töpffer’s picture stories were powered not
by individual signs but by combinations
of signs working together in sequence”
(Raeburn, Chris Ware 7). As an aside,
despite the art form’s present-day struggle
for a place of legitimacy in the realms of art
and literature, the famous author Goethe
was an early endorser of comic books;
Töpffer sent his work to the ailing author
when he was on his deathbed, and received
high praise from Goethe for the work, who
believed that the form had a tremendous
amount of potential, particularly if the
subject matter were elevated to something
beyond mere amusement (McCloud 17).

Töpffer’s seminal work would go on to

inspire a great deal of early 20th Century
comic artists, including Rudolf Dirk,
the artist behind the comic strip The
Katzenjammer Kids. Publishing magnate
William Randolph Hearst took a liking to
10 his comics, and chose to feature Dirk’s
work regularly in his newspapers—a
marriage that would further the popularity
of comics, but also solidify the notion of
comics as throwaway ephemeral art.

Despite this dubious place of honor in

print, many comics artists of the period
were highly skilled illustrators and writers,
engaging in sophisticated work which
explored and expanded the boundaries
of this relatively new medium. Winsor
McCay, the creator of Little Nemo in
Slumberland, was a masterful illustrator,
but more importantly, as Spiegelman notes
in his analysis, “McCay understood the
storytelling possibilities of the comic strip’s
unique formal elements: the narrative as
well as design significance of a panel’s
size and shape, and how these individual
panels combined to form a coherent
visual whole” (64). The work of early comic
artists such as McCay benefitted from a
relative freedom from expectation; the
 format was still a frontier in many respects, 11

and thus artists working in this medium

were able to define it for themselves.

In 1918, the long-lasting serial comic

Gasoline Alley appeared on the funnies
scene. This lighthearted family-themed
strip concealed behind its simplicity a
subtle sophistication. Frank King, its
creator, frequently experimented with

“McCay understood
the storytelling
possibilities of the
comic strip’s unique
formal elements.”
12

layouts and color to great effect, and more

uniquely, created a real-time narrative for
his characters, such that they aged over
time along with the comic’s audience.

Tintin, first published in 1929, is also

notable in the history of the medium.
Created by Georges Remil, professionally
known as Hergé, this world-beloved series
is distinctive for its clean, crisp line
and savvy storyline. Hergé’s illustration
technique was also characterized by his
detailed and highly realistic backgrounds
in contrast to simplified character
illustrations. This technique underscores
the relationship that the comic book reader
has with the characters; the “shorthand”
character illustrations in Hergé’s work
are characteristic of many comics, and
are effective insofar as they allow the
reader to better place him or herself in

Hergé’s TinTin,
pictured at right,
had a clean
look that would
influence Ware’s
illustration style.
13
14 the storyline. When, for example, a face is
simplified, the character in the story can
become a sort of everyman, as McCloud
notes in Understanding Comics (44).

In 1938 the game-changing Action Comics

made its debut to the world, introducing
Superman for the first time. The birth of
this publication marked the beginning
of the superhero genre of comics (Muir
538). Characterized by simple dramatic
story arcs and cinematic pictorial styles,
the superhero comic shares a close
relationship to the action film. This genre’s
popularity would eventually engulf the
comics world, defining them for many
creators and readers alike. Today the
superhero genre is more popular than
ever, with associated films churning out
of Hollywood at a breathless pace.

Though the superhero genre certainly has

had a powerful influence on the comic
book medium as a whole, early comic book
artists like Dirk, Frank and Hergé have a
much closer relationship to contemporary
comic artists like Chris Ware, and it is in
these pioneer comic artists that we see
 15

Chris Ware’s cover more clearly the formal techniques of

illustration of Lambiek
No. 30, by McCloud’s graphic design. Though Ware’s work does
tongue in cheek defini- not dismiss the superhero comic genre
tion of comics, passes
with flying colors. (indeed, his work continuously references
and parodies aspects of the genre), his
narrative structures and illustration style
are far more evocative of the work of
these early 20th century comic artists.
16
THE UNDERGROUND
17

REVOLUTION
It would take a whole book to cover the history
of the underground comic movement alone,
but it is necessary to mention a few key figures
in this important revolution in the medium
as they relate to Ware. Following the cultural
tide of rebellion at the time, artists such as
Robert Crumb, founder of the independent
Zap Comics and the widely popular Fritz
the Cat emerged in the late 1960s with a
daring new approach to content and delivery
within the comic milieu. Crumb’s tense,
aggressively sexualized characters inhabited
a dense world of emotionally expressive,
culturally challenging images and stories.

Left: “I’m not here to be

polite.” Robert Crumb
self-portrait from the
R. Crumb Handbook.
18 Later, Crumb would collaborate on a comic
with his friend, Harvey Pekar. Pekar crafted
bleak, confessional narratives on the
banalities of the human condition, often
with no conciliatory resolution. Coupled
with Crumb’s anxious illustration style,
their co-creation of American Splendor can
certainly be seen as an important step in
the realm of the graphic novel, particularly
for the genre of literary, character-driven
material exemplified in Chris Ware’s oeuvre.
Work of artists such as Crumb and Pekar
recaptured significant territory from the
likes of Marvel and D.C. Comics, allowing
for other artists in their time, and future
artists such as Chris Ware, to consider
the medium apart from the formulaic
narrative and compositional conventions
of the superhero genre (Cassel 39).

What is the stylistic difference between

“superhero” comics and “underground” or
“independent” comics such as Crumb’s
and now Ware’s? They both have certain
similar characteristics, to be sure. They
are both sequential art, and combine word
and image; both kinds of comics easily
fall under McCloud’s definition of comics.
 19

Above: Crumb’s Frequently, “superhero” comics are

illustration
from Pekar’s produced by teams of multiple people for
American
Splendor #4.
a large publishing studio. One comic might
include the efforts of one or more script
writers, pencilers, inkers, colorists, and
letterers. Often, the characters in the
stories are owned by the publisher, as is
the case for many of the more famous
superheroes, like Batman of D.C. Comics
fame, and thus control over the storyline
and visual representation of the storyline
must meet the approval of the publishing
company. This scenario allows for much
less innovation in narrative structure and
technique, particularly as the end product
is frequently serialized and intended for an
“their illustrations are boldly
expressive, hyperbolic and
cinematic in composition.”
audience that expects a consistent product 21

over an extended period of time. Generally,

the stories in this genre of comic are
action-filled conflicts between archetypical
hero figures and their counterpart villains.
The themes in such stories are typically
man vs. man variations. Their illustrations
are boldly expressive, hyperbolic and
cinematic in composition. Typographical
treatments of the words in this genre are
simple and formulaic, expressive only
within the conventions of the genre, and
generally within the norms of the comics
language; screams might be drawn with
larger, jagged letterforms, for example.
This type treatment is almost a form of
punctuation or stage direction, and type
design generally seems an afterthought
to the images in the story (Khordoc 163).

In contrast, comics that are not of the

superhero genre are very broad in style
and content, particularly those produced in
Europe and the United States. (For example,
Japanese manga comics bear a much
closer relationship to superhero comics,
though there are notable differences in
narrative structure and style). Largely,
22 these “independent” comics are created Facing page:
an example of
by a single person, who serves as the a traditional
contemporary
author, illustrator, and designer of the work. superhero comic,
Somewhat less common for independent in this case from
Batman #345.
comics is a collaboration between a writer
and an illustrator. In the past, comics of this
type have frequently been self-published
or produced by small publishing houses.
However, in the past two decades especially,
independent comic book publishing
companies have emerged and more
recently, major book publishers have begun
to include some comics in their catalog.
Whether self-published (in print or on the
web) or published by a major book house,
the creators of these comics tend
to have control over most if not all aspects
of the product. This distinction from
traditional comic “factory” style studios
allows independent comic artists freedom
to explore the idiom of comics without the
burden of conventional expectations in
form or content, resulting in a broad range
of unique works by artists with distinctive
approaches to the formal qualities of comics.
23
24
 25

INTRODUCING
CHRIS WARE
Chris Ware emerged on the independent
comic book scene in the early 1990s as a
young college student. His first published
work, an experimental comic called
Quimby the Mouse which was featured
in the Daily Texan, explored and played
with traditional comic book narrative
structures by manipulating time and
continuity through layout and story. A
tribute to George Herriman’s long-running
comic strip, Krazy Kat, Ware’s Quimby
the Mouse is a clever juxtaposition of
the classic “funny pages” comic genre
with a turbid emotional quality more
common in formal literature. By combining
these two contrasting aspects, Ware
employs a visual and messaging irony that
enhances the effect of each component.
26 In addition to publishing his comics, Ware
also had a brief stint as an art director for a
newspaper. While not his calling, it proved
useful and formative. In an interview, Ware
notes that this “taught [him] a lot about
creating images for reproduction and
about printing—an invaluable experience...
The full-time pressmen and production
people working there as integral to [his]
education as [his] professors were” (Irving).

The celebrated comic artist Art Spiegelman

took notice of Ware’s work and invited him
to contribute to his publication, Raw. One of
Ware’s submissions to the publication,
a wry send-off of the superhero genre
entitled Thrilling Adventure Stories, displayed
an impressively accurate visual parody of
a typical 1940s superhero comic. On the
surface, the strip appears to be about a
classic hero who frequently rescues damsels
from assorted evil villains. However, the
text used to accompany these stories is
unusual. Seemingly unrelated, the word
bubbles describe the protagonist’s troubled
relationship with his family members, who
have distant or difficult relationships with
the person narrating. Using the images in
 27

Above: excerpt from each panel as a counterpoint to the text,

Ware’s Thrilling
Adventure Stories. Ware uses contrasting themes to enhance
Previous page:
portrait of Ware in
the message of his creation. Ware’s visual
his home. tropes serve as cues to the reader and
convey the complicated dichotomy of the
narrator’s emotional associations with
the stories in this series. Since the stories
being relayed are reflections on events
from childhood, this dissonance (the
protagonist is both a child without power
and an action hero with unusual power)
allows the reader to infer the internal
pathos of the protagonist (Kannenberg).
28 Years later, Ware would create his most Illustration from
Ware’s Jimmy
celebrated work to date, Jimmy Corrigan: Corrigan: the
Smartest Kid
The Smartest Kid on Earth. Originally on Earth.
published as a serial comic for the Chicago
paper, New City, this comic saga spanning
multiple generations of Corrigan men has
received numerous accolades and awards,
including the American Book Award and
the British Guardian First Book Award (a
first for the comic genre), both in 2001.
Praised by critics across the disciplines
of literature, art, and design, Ware is
considered by many to be the preeminent
example of excellence and achievement
in the contemporary comic arena.
29
30

CHRIS WARE AS

DESIGNER
As part of Ware’s explorations with visual
and typographical narratives, Ware has
employed a number of graphic design
techniques in his comics work. Steven
Heller observes that “Ware has refined
a unique illustrative and typographic
language that bridges comic art and
graphic design” (Heller, Eye Magazine 20).
Indeed, Chris Ware has brought the two
disciplines together more uniquely and
effectively than any other comic artist.

Book display
concept for Ware’s
Quimby the Mouse.
31
32 In the body of work associated with Jimmy
Corrigan (both the single volume and the
individual, serialized books produced
under the series title Acme Novelty Library),
Chris Ware implements many of the
techniques of type designers to enhance
and even become a part of the story:

“In the same ways that a typographer

physically transforms the words in display
and logo type to make them embody the
meaning in the words themselves, Ware
transformed the storylines of his strips

CORRIGAN’S life is compact and controlled,

frequently not by him, and he is not equipped
to access the passion he craves.

into headlines, choosing colors, typefaces,

and the occasional rebus to symbolize
the emotions warranted by the words.
He then used these headlines to move
the story forwards, using typography to
tell not only the verbal story but also the
visual story.” (Raeburn, Chris Ware 19).

Immensely attuned to the nuances of

typographical expression, Ware peppers
his work with elaborately designed, 33

hand-painted letterforms. Frequently,

the typography in his work, particularly
headings, has an expressive, emotional
content: bombastic, romantic, nostalgic,
or highly kinetic. This contrasts profoundly
with the stillness, slow pace and flatness
of expression which his illustrations of
Jimmy Corrigan convey. Corrigan’s life is
compact and controlled, frequently not
by him, and he is not equipped to access
the passion he craves. Ware illustrates
his hapless protagonist accordingly, with
a tight, precise line that leaves no egress
for feelings. It is hard to believe that such
clean and elegant linework comes from
a handheld brush; many have mistakenly
believed his delicately inked artwork to be
digitally illustrated (Eggers 309). As Steven
Heller notes in Stylepedia, “Indeed, Ware
argues that his cartooning is not drawing;
it’s more like typography,
a mechanical sort of ‘picture lettering’”
(329). This “mechanical” illustration style
has been noted by some critics, Douglas
Wolk included, as somewhat cold and
unsympathetic (Reading Comics 347), but
34 Ware insists that his desire is to generate Right: Ware’s
experimental
empathy in the reader, emotion being the type treatments
add layers of
primary focus of his stories. Ware explains irony to his work
that his distinctive illustration style is for in this excerpt
from Ware’s Acme
the sake of clarity of comprehension: Novelty Library #4.
“What I’m hoping to do is just to make it
a clear as possible what’s going on in
the page and make the images really
not necessarily that interesting, but just
easily readable so that the story can
be as confusing and difficult to sort out
as my own experiences are” (Alfano).

As a counterweight to the flat emotional

effect of his structured illustration
technique, which Ware feels is a “sensible
distance” that, inspired by typographical
disciplines, “governs the way that he draws,”
(Bengal 1), Ware employs a startling array
of typographical designs in conjunction with
these illustrations. Fascinated by hand-
lettered typography, particularly from the
mid-19th century and earlier, Ware is a self-
taught typographer who uses the stylistic
conventions of previous eras to evoke a
sense of nostalgia and humanistic warmth:
“I steal constantly from all sorts of things,
35
36
Left: infographic especially when something emotionally
techniques carry
the narrative affects me, either for reasons of color,
forward in this
example from
composition, letterstyle—sometimes it’s
Ware’s Build- even something as simple as an ascender
ing Stories.
and descender width relative to each
other. I’m sure that if I’d taken a class
about this stuff I’d know much better why
it all works the way it does, and I wouldn’t
have to fumble around in the dark so
much” (Heller, Eye Magazine 326).

Yet another formal graphic design element

which Ware effectively employs in a fresh
way is the infographic. Typically reserved
the for the conveying of complex data in
a visually concise, easy to understand
manner, this diagrammatic method of
depicting information is used by Ware
throughout Jimmy Corrigan and his other
works to further his narrative, flesh out his
characters, as well as play with the idea
of infographics and diagrams themselves.
In one illustration, we see the building
that is the setting for much of his recently
published work, Building Stories. Ware
uses circles connected by lines, filled with
small illustrations, which reveal details
38

The small print on

one such page reveals
Ware’s sardonic sense
of humor, as each ad
undermines itself with

A morbid twist.
about the building’s denizens. Rather 39

than convey quantifiable information, the

circular panels serve as narrative elements.
This clinical technique has an intriguing
effect, particularly when the material
being explored is of a strong emotional
content. By employing an illustration style
that is associated with simple explanatory
visualizations of factual information, Ware
creates a formalistic barrier between
the emotional content and the reader,
which, interestingly, only serves to make
those scenes that much more poignant.

In a similar way, Ware has created a number

of papercraft artworks for his comics.
These complex, fully functional pages—one
part diagram, one part unrealized three-
dimensional object—appear as narrative
enhancements and entice the reader to
participate in the protagonist’s experience
in a tangible way. One such example of
Ware’s papercraft illustrations can be
found in Jimmy Corrigan. Here, the reader
is invited to fabricate a zoetrope from his
drawings, which, if made well, will animate
a crutch-bearing robot—a metaphorical
40

representation of Jimmy. Ware notes that

the act of cutting out and assembling such
papercraft projects is inherently a task of
isolation and relative futility, thus making
it a fitting activity to further imbue the
reader with a sense of loneliness and ennui,
much like the protagonist in the comic
(Alfano). The instructions for this toy include
several derogatory statements aimed
at the reader (who, in this case, is also
Jimmy) as well as stream-of-consciousness
text concerning his estranged father.
Thus, Ware knits pathos into his
information design and diagrammatic
illustrations with compelling results.
 41

Above: papercraft Ware also raids the design closet for

illustration from
Jimmy Corrigan: The clichés in the advertising and branding
Smartest Kid on
Earth. Previous page:
techniques employed by graphic designers
detail from Ware’s and copywriters. Particularly fond of
Building Stories.
mid-twentieth century advertising, Ware
frequently employs the kitschy sincerity
of this period in his Acme Novelty Library.
In one example, Ware parodies the back
page advertisements often found in comic
books from the 1960s and 1970s. Using
period-appropriate typography, layouts
and copy language, Ware mimics the ads
perfectly in the service of his message. A
close reading of the small print on one
such page reveals Ware’s sardonic sense
Left: “Make of humor, as each ad undermines itself 43
Mistakes Get
Children and with a morbid twist. Much as in his earlier
Forever Alter the
Flavor of Your Life”
work, Thrilling Adventure Stories, here
—Ware’s parody Ware relies on the reader’s exposure to
of mid-century
comics-pages the design technique being parodied. In
advertising from
Acme Novelty
this case, the crowded page, primary
Library #3. colors, and plain typography all express
a particular time and place for graphic
design, and it is precisely this that
Ware cleverly manipulates to enhance
the reader’s experience of the story.
The exciting
Conclusion
Comics artists would benefit greatly
by following Chris Ware’s example and
taking a more considered approach in
their typographical and design choices.
Though not a graphic designer by training,
Chris Ware has been lauded by graphic
designers all over the world for his comic
work, largely because of how well he
implements the techniques of graphic
designers in his comics.
45
46 By harvesting graphic design tools such Right: in-store
display for Jimmy
as hand lettered and designed type, Corrigan: The
Smartest Kid
infographics, and traditional advertising on Earth.
and branding conventions, Ware is Previous spread:
detail from
able to enhance his visual and textual Building Stories.
narrative to great effect. With the skills
and historical understanding of traditional
graphic design techniques for creating
form and content at his disposal, Chris
Ware is able to communicate a richer,
more sophisticated message to his
audience within the comic medium. More
clearly than perhaps any other comic
artist, Chris Ware’s work demonstrates
the close relationship that graphic design
and comic books share. Furthermore,
Ware has been a pioneer in exploiting
that connection and expanding upon its
possibilities, pushing the boundaries of
both disciplines to create a distinctive
body of work that is unparalleled in the
world of comics and graphic design.
47
INTERVIEW WITH 49

CHRIS WARE
In an interview with Stephen Heller you
mention that you have no interest in being
a graphic designer, though you have
done some graphic design (album covers,
book jackets, et al.) Yet your comics work
looks incredibly well-designed and has
an aesthetic that resonates with graphic
designers. Can you talk about your
impressions/thoughts about the relationship
your work has to graphic design, and what
inspires your distinctive style?

Whatever work I’ve done as a graphic

designer sort of follows a graph that roughly
plots my need to pay my rent versus the
time/tolerance I have available for it, with
that curve rolling off over the past few
years only into projects for friends (the
occasional CD cover) graphic-design-as
necessity (my own weird periodical The Rag
Time Ephemeralist) and projects which I
am happy to be involved with (the book
and record set for the Paragon Ragtime
50
Orchestra’s orchestration of Scott Joplin’s
“Treemonisha.”) None of them have
anything to do with comics-writing, however,
which, as an art of composition and nearly
always reproduction, inevitably involves
graphic design as an integral approach and
component, but not as an end in itself.

You mentioned in several interviews how much

you love 19th century typography, particularly
for its human, expressive character—
something which often lies in contrast to the
controlled, clean linework of your illustrations.
Can you discuss the reasons you choose to use
typography in this way?

Even if my artwork appears to be clean

and controlled, it’s still hand-drawn and
nowhere near as clean and controlled as
the hand-drawn typography of the 19th
century. I hand draw typography in my
comics because it’s an expressive part of
the comics themselves, and I want it as
much as possible to be an unconscious
part of the writing, as well; i.e. to be “born”
at the same time as the drawing and the
writing, not applied apart from it.
Chris Ware’s 51
record label
design for Sub-Pop
records. Previous
spread: detail from
Ware’s illustration
for the Brooklyn
Comics and
Graphics Festival
held in 2012.

I was just recently at a book fair in Germany

and spent a good part of the time looking
at modern publisher’s booths and their
pleasantly-designed covers, but discovered
a section of book dealers which left me
astonished anew at the superiority of the
work of one hundred years ago, especially
the clarity, fineness and beauty it embodied
and which our time period almost entirely
ignores, or more properly, lacks the facility
to any longer fully understand.
52
 53

Some of the lettering in your work is so small I

need a magnifying glass to read it, and I have
20/20 vision! Can you talk about this intriguing
and amusing design choice?

This is going to sound pretentious, but in a leaf

of a tree one can see the structure, shape and
growth of the tree itself, and
I guess I’m in some way trying to model the
same recursiveness in the structure
of my panel, pages and ultimately the books
themselves. (I also don’t like to waste space.)

Much of your work references ads, signage and

branding from previous decades, incorporating
these ordinary and often beautifully kitschy
things into your narrative in a lyrical way. Can
you talk about the relationship that advertising
and branding has to your storytelling methods?

Well, aside form the fact that I loathe

advertising, it’s also an integral, living part of
my memories and my consciousness, just as it
is for nearly everyone in the “developed” world.
It’s so difficult in any urban area to not be free
of something to read, or to compare oneself
54 to, or to wonder about what it is exactly that
these people who make these ads think will
appeal to or sell something to a stranger.
These images, phrases, typefaces, music
and films linger in the consciousness,
fester, take roots and infect real memories,
leeching what should be honest nostalgia for
people and places and then replacing it with
a jingle or a clever camera trick. YouTube is
full of television commercials that remind

“If I’ve potentially got all the graphic tools of

expression at my fingertips, I should make use
of as many of them as possible.”

me of my parents and my grandparents,

a whole relationship which is sinister and
sickening. At the same time, I fondly and
deeply remember so many of these ads,
and few experiences other than opening the
cabinet in which I’ve kept all the objects I
collected from my grandmother’s house and
inhaling the collective odor take me back to
that time more fully. Lastly, the designers
who work in advertising make fabulously
serious amounts of money, so they assume
what they do must be important. And it is, 55

ironically. Maybe it’s even the real art of our

time, in a way. James Joyce employed the
repeated banal phrase threading through
the thoughts of Leopold Bloom in “Ulysses”
to suggest advertising’s insidious infiltration
of experience, and that book is only set in
1904; imagine how poisoned and bilge-
choked our minds are now.

You employ the use of infographic charts in

your work—most recently in Building Stories.
Can you talk about your reasons for using
this technique as a narrative device?

It’s simply one way out of many to present

relationships (whether between people,
places, ideas or falsehoods) in a manner
that is non-verbal; it’s another way of writing
in pictures that’s not theatrical, but spatial
and relative. I figure that if I’ve potentially
got all the graphic tools of expression at my
fingertips I should make use of as many of
them as possible.
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64

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Acknowledgements
This book is a thesis publication as part
of the undergraduate program in Graphic
Design at the Corcoran College of Art +
Design in Washington D.C.

Greatest thanks to Mr. Chris Ware, who

graciously gave of his time for the interview.

Much gratitude for the invaluable editorial

and stylistic guidance of Antonio Alcalá and
Alice Powers, my thesis advisors for this book
and its accompanying exhibition.