A Conversation with Kurt Woerpel

Myself and Ollantay Avila (RISD GD ‘24) jointly interviewed NYC-based graphic designer, illustrator, and art director Kurt Woerpel to learn about his creative practice, compiled into a 4-page newspaper print. My takeaways from our conversation include the importance of playing with typography, viewing your own work in an open-ended attitude, setting clear or inspired goals, and ultimately, being and trusting yourself in your work.

Category – Editorial, Publication, Type
Client – RISD Graphic Design
Year – 2023

For this project, I’ve created two custom typefaces that, to me, captured the two spectrums of work that Kurt Woerpel does. The first is the blocky, pixel-like letters, inspired by some of Kurt’s lower-res approaches to graphic design; the second is a completely handwritten typeface speaking to Kurt’s illustration style, which I adapted into a functional font through Glyphs. My own illustrations also served as a backdrop that echo gestures done by Kurt during our interview.

Created in RISD Graphic Design
Design Studio 4 instructed by
Hammett Nurosi and Yisheng Yuan

Process

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