ARTISTS FOR EDUCATION

good (visual) chemistry for a good cause

Artists for Education is an organization that rallies designers to create engaging, thoughtfully-crafted educational artwork for classrooms. I was lucky to be approached by one of AFE’s founders—my buddy Brad Woodard of Brave the Woods—to create a poster for the project on the periodic table of the elements. You know, protons, neutrons, electrons—the whole deal.

Designer Midnight Umbrella
Project Form Poster
Client Artists for Education
Dimensions 24x36-inches
Process Digital Lithography
Year 2016
Four pixel art cross-stitch patterns of a smiling yellow bird with a red hat, blue glasses, and yellow beak, arranged on a light blue background.
An illustration of two helium element tiles from the periodic table, with the text "The Periodic Table of the Elements" below

finding a format that works.

A cornucopia of historical ARTIFACTS

Acting as both a blessing and potential curse, there were plenty of accepted conventions displaying the information contained within the periodic table. I wanted to stay true to these familiar forms, while making sure the design was both engaging and affable. It was a beast, but eventually a layout emerged that had a nice character to it. In addition to the table’s form, using some bright colors (with some killer suggestions from my good buddy Brad), helped bring things to life.

I also wanted to employ a typeface that was legible, but not too monotonous. Again, friendly. Affable. Kind. Eventually the Neuzeit Grotesk type family rose to the challenge, with a supporting cast of ITC Lubalin Graph and Fenway Park JF typefaces to round out the rest of the poster's typographic character.  

An infographic titled 'Reading the Table' showing information about the element Americium, including atomic number 95, chemical symbol 'Am', atomic weight 243.0, and atomic name 'Americium'.
A periodic table of elements highlighting the main group elements with their chemical symbols, atomic numbers, and atomic weights.

lots of letters, a boatload of numbers.

Is the atomic weight of cobalt 58.9?

118 iterations and lots of kerning later, each element had its proper atomic number, chemical symbol atomic name, and atomic weight properly documented. So get out there—go learn more about the natural world and the science that surrounds you!

Colorful periodic table of the elements on a dark background, with boxes representing each element containing atomic number, chemical symbol, element name, and atomic weight.