Poem Broadside
For this project, my typography class collaborated with SDSU’s English and Comparative Literature Department to reinterpret a selected poem using the broadside format. Through multiple iterations, I refined the layout and finalized the piece as a poster. From there, I explored a digital application of the design, distilling an excerpt of the text while preserving the core visual elements from the poster.
I chose the poem 'Still and Living Nature' by Paola Loreto, translated from the Italian by Haley Gross.
The poem explores the contrast between what appears cold, still, or lifeless on the surface and the warmth and movement that continue underneath. Although its imagery initially suggests fading and death, the poem gradually reveals that life continues to flow beneath the ice, transforming the expected coldness into a feeling of love.
To reflect this meaning, I placed a translucent, ice-like layer over warm autumn imagery, allowing hints of color and nature to remain visible beneath the surface. The foliage revealed through the title’s letterforms represents the life that continues underneath the cold exterior.
And then there’s this water with a color
I can’t quit describe that flows under layers of ice, framed, stained in fading yellow fragrant larch needles finally fallen.
It would be in theory death, but instead it is life that runs, keeps going, ripples through the laughter in your voice you feel flowing, readily to your throat, and savor.
It is the cold you thought you feared, but love.
Poem transcript:
