Tuesday, October 07, 2008

...Will Shortz Calling

The New York Times contacted me with a fun challenge: design an icon for a new Crossword Blog, launching this month on their website.



This is a small sample of the sketches I did for the final icon. It was a process where I learned a lot about the various habits of the crossword obsessed. One example would be the proverbial Crossword Moment, reflected in some of the conjuring concepts. We settled on a kind of coat of arms. The final icon reflects one of the fundamental crossword litmus tests: Pen or Pencil?

8 comments:

De Nichols said...

Hey John,

I REALLY like the thumbnails that you have made for this project. Many of them are really cool. This would be such a cool assignment to have in class, lol!

-De Nichols

Carlee said...

My favorite sketch is the pencil piercing the newspaper. good job.

John Hendrix said...

Thanks De and Carlee

C, did you notice the pencil and paper make an X ?
Clever!

Carlee said...

I did, J! and it is quite clever. X-word.

The Tilted Tulip said...

Pen. Definitely pen. Especially ball point as it writes so nicely on newsprint. Pencils are for sissies.

John Hendrix said...

Yes, the pen people are the most vocal too. Pencils are just ashamed.

Francis Vallejo said...

fun solution!

abbiegrace said...

How fun! I love the result.

If I were you, I would have considered this a nifty excuse to rent (again) the documentary "Wordplay" as research.